New Hadrian\'s Wall map

[mcbishop]

For years, scholars have bemoaned the passing of the old Ordnance Survey Two-Inch map of Hadrian's Wall (characterised by a sort of pea-soup green cover) and its replacement in 1989 by a psychedelic, multiple-scaled mishmash, that characterised the dumbing down of all things historical in the eyes/minds of 'content providers'. It is difficult to find words to describe how bad the replacement OS map was, but not as difficult as finding original copies of the older map (which anybody like me, who needed it and had an old battered copy of the original, sought on Ebay - in my case successfully). Apart from the gratuitous changes in scale, the conventions used made it difficult to tell what one was looking at most of the time ('is that broken line lots of short sections of Wall or merely a broken line convention for something else?'). Not one of the OS's finest hours.

Now things have changed. English Heritage have just brought out a brand new map on OS 1:25000 base mapping of the whole thing, reverting to the old clear conventions (black you can see it, red you can't) plus they have gone one better and added the Cumbrian coastal section down as far as Maryport. English Heritage of course absorbed the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments (England) some years ago and it was they who resurveyed the whole thing using the latest digital technology. This has had other information added to it, such as field systems, temporary camps, and the like, and the whole thing is printed on polyethylene (the favoured material for walkers these days, as it is tougher and lighter than the sort of quality paper you need for maps). It is printed on both sides, but it is still vast, and I fancy anybody who started waving the whole thing about up on the crags would soon find themselves hang-gliding over the Whin Sill!

It is comparable with the recent RCAHMS map of the Antonine Wall (although without the crazy blue convention for the AW ditch, which makes the whole thing look like a canal!). Whereas the AW map features a murky green background for everything, the new HW map not only has contours but is also colour shaded for height (although I'm pretty certain most walkers have worked out what contours are by now). Naturally it has the course of the Hadrian's Wall National Trail marked out as a yellow broken line.

I shall be out field-testing it thoroughly in the very near future and will report back.

Mike Bishop

[Astiryu1]

I would like to get this when I have the chance.

[D B Campbell]

It is comparable with the recent RCAHMS map of the Antonine Wall (although without the crazy blue convention for the AW ditch, which makes the whole thing look like a canal!).

I have heard nothing but complaints about the new Antonine Wall map -- particularly the impenetrable khaki background colour --, so I naturally refrained from shelling out my hard-earned fiver for a copy. I hope the Hadrian's Wall version is more legible.

[mcbishop]

I have heard nothing but complaints about the new Antonine Wall map -- particularly the impenetrable khaki background colour --, so I naturally refrained from shelling out my hard-earned fiver for a copy. I hope the Hadrian's Wall version is more legible.

Hmm, don't build up your hopes then - if you didn't like that you won't like this (I think that is an inverse Mellorism, but don't let it detain you). They have greyed the OS base in the same way and the background shade on the Cumbrian coast end is pretty much the same. The difference is that, as you get higher, the colour changes, so that by the time you're in the central sector, it is a pale toasty-warm orange. I would certainly never have it as my only map for a visit to the Wall (so you need to lug four OS 1:25000s and possibly a walkers' map too to cover the whole length) simply because the conventions tend to obscure vital bits, but to be honest, the most dinky (and, it has to be said, nerdy) thing I take is a copy of the Per Lineam Valli map in Google's My Maps Editor on my Android phone, which gives me the various Wall components superimposed on aerial photos as I go and doesn't flap about in the wind. On the new map, the change of sides comes near MC56, so refolding is probably best done in the pub (the Centurion Inn) at Walton with a pint, a sarni, and the odd muttered curse.

Mike Bishop

[Graham Sumner]

the pub (the Centurion Inn) at Walton with a pint, a sarni, and the odd muttered curse.

Sorry Mike, I was there a few weeks ago looking at the property for sale across the road. An ideal location I thought for a studio, It was called Roman House was on the line of the wall and with a pub called The Centurion across the road. Heaven! Sadly the house had just sold and a local said the pub was closed! It might open up as a tea room if that rocks your boat!

Graham.

[mcbishop]

Sadly the house had just sold and a local said the pub was closed! It might open up as a tea room if that rocks your boat!

Best of both worlds. It is now a licensed tearoom that sells bottled beers from the Brampton brewery. Not a beer drinker myself (good for hair, less so for drinking), but they do a cracking lunch so, as a haven for refolding of maps, it has no competition.

Mike Bishop

[Paullus Scipio]

Mike Bishop wrote:

For years, scholars have bemoaned the passing of the old Ordnance Survey Two-Inch map of Hadrian's Wall (characterised by a sort of pea-soup green cover) and its replacement in 1989 by a psychedelic, multiple-scaled mishmash, that characterised the dumbing down of all things historical in the eyes/minds of 'content providers'.

Being an inveterate hoarder, I still have my OS two-inch map, purchased in 1972 for my first trip along the wall, and last used in 2005 when I took my now-grown sons on an all-too-brief trip covering the central portion of the wall ( the best bits)....the cover photo shows the wall looking east from Vindolanda, along the escarpment. Not much has changed, so the map is eminently still usable.....

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

That is great news Mike ! i have the OS map of Roman Britain, and that is great.

M.VIB.M.

[Crispvs]

"Best of both worlds. It is now a licensed tearoom that sells bottled beers from the Brampton brewery. Not a beer drinker myself (good for hair, less so for drinking), but they do a cracking lunch so, as a haven for refolding of maps, it has no competition."

I am sure they were selling Cider when I went there Mike (although it may have been Strongbow). I like the sound of the Brampton (pronounced Brap'am by the locals when I was there) beers. Like you I also neglected to buy a beer at the Centurion when I visited. As far as I remember at any rate (although looking at this photo one might wonder).

http://www.romanarmy.net/images/Pages/h ... on_jpg.htm

My Hadrian's Wall map has a yellow cover and seems to match your description of the 1989 version.

Crispvs

[Peroni]

Like you I also neglected to buy a beer at the Centurion when I visited. As far as I remember at any rate (although looking at this photo one might wonder).

Judging by your 'leaning to the left' it looks like you allowed everyone else to buy you the beers!

[mcbishop]

Having now had the chance to field-test the map (by walking the Wall again, needless to say) a few more comments might be appropriate.

The greying-out of the background OS base mapping is inconvenient, to say the least, and requires that the original 1:25000 maps (four of them) be carried to avoid ambiguities. The original two-inch OS Hadrian's Wall map was printed on a full-colour map without any detriment to the the Wall information it covered. The coloured height-related tone on the new map doesn't help in this respect and adds nothing the contours can't supply (apart from pretty colours). These were clearly design decisions where the fine line between adding and diminishing value is easy to cross.

It is also slightly disconcerting that not all sites are included. Turrets and Milecastles that are unproven are not always incorporated (although some are). This is most notable in the Solway Firth area between MC73 and MC76 where the Wall has been omitted, a decision that assumes it was never built over this marshy area, despite all the arguments as to why it might have been. One day, perhaps. a detailed geophysical survey of this area might resolve this curiosity.

The worst practical problem however is in the folding. Not only is the fact that it is on two sides of the sheet awkward (but not impossible, you can easily reverse the sides and refold, given shelter from the wind) but the resulting folds are counter-intuitive when it comes to checking something briefly, something the old OS map deals with effortlessly.

Ultimately, I found myself making as much use of the PLV file on my Android phone as I did the new EH map. And, yes, I carried the four relevant OS 1:25000 maps and the old OS two-inch maps with me just in case. Nevertheless, it is a distinct advance on the more recent OS offerings.

Mike Bishop

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Perhaps one could interest sir in a mule to carry his maps.....

[D B Campbell]

Perhaps one could interest sir in a mule to carry his maps.....

Are you offering, Byron?!

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Perhaps one could interest sir in a mule to carry his maps.....

Are you offering, Byron?!

Well, I did meet a mule breeder/trader at Help for the Heros last month...
But i did foresee this interpretation. :lol:
I have never walked the wall, and hope to do it in kit one day, but would be interesting to accompany someone who knows so much about it....