Reading the landscape

Times Past

Jonathan Smyth

In local history, maps are another way to find out more about life on our doorstep in times past. They offer evidence of placenames, ownership of property and land, demonstrate boundaries, show housing and roads and when compared with present day maps, we can mull over how much has changed. When we begin to sift through old maps we begin to learn about our wonderful heritage.

Cromwell

Maps have been around for a long time and perhaps longer than we think. One of the earliest maps of Ireland was produced by a Greco-Roman astrologer and mathematician named Claudius Ptolemy in 150 AD. In the early 1600s, cartographers like Richard Bartlett produced colourful but rudimentary maps, which lacked the detail expected from a modern map. A book of these maps was produced but does not contain anything on Cavan. In 1610, Sir Josias Bodley presented maps of lands forfeited by Earls who fled the country three years earlier. The region was surveyed with a view to marking out regions to be planted with settlers. Parts of Cavan were surveyed and mapped by Bodley.

The Down Survey as it is known, was the earliest countrywide land survey and mapping project carried out in Ireland, and it took place during Cromwellian times circa 1656-1658 and recorded areas at parish, county and baronial level. William Petty who was Oliver Cromwell’s army surgeon-general was placed in charge of conducting the mapping operation.

Described as a form of social engineering, Cromwell’s aim was to record every inch of land and who owned it before forcing the native Irish to forfeit their properties. Under the Cromwellian settlement, territories were carved up and re-distributed to the Merchant Adventurers who lent money to the parliament and the English soldiers who fought in Oliver’s army. The Down Survey maps can be viewed online on the Trinity College website and a copy of the Down Survey and Distribution list showing properties and by whom they were held in the years following the settlement can be accessed in Cavan Library.

Surveyors

Herman Moll was a hugely important 18th century mapmaker who worked all over the world and mapped from Brazil to Ireland. His Cavan map was reproduced in Cavan Historian Dr Philip O’Connell’s book, ‘The Schools and Scholars of Breifne’, published in 1942. A celebrated 18th century land surveyor named John Bell lived in Cootehill and a photocopy of his ‘Survey and Booke of maps of the estate of Alexander Murray, in the barony of Bannagh and Boylagh, Co Donegal’ dated 1749 can be consulted in the National Library of Ireland.

Taylor and Skinner

An 18th century duo to hit the scene, were Taylor and Skinner, and no, they were not comedians. In 1777, their famous book of Irish road maps was published. George Taylor and Andrew Skinner were well-seasoned map-makers having mapped the roads of Scotland. They turned their attention to Ireland in 1776 and in order to proceed with a survey of the highways and byways, they required financial support. Taylor and Skinner were successful in their endeavours and raised the substantial sum of £2,000 which they used to hire extra surveyors and assistants and to pay the costs of completing and printing the engraved drawings.

The work began in the early months of 1777 and continued throughout the year until the team of four surveyors, and 16 assistants had finished. The mapping of the country’s 1,100 routes was recorded in 288 maps. The published book of maps by Taylor and Skinner contain at least 14 maps relating to Co Cavan. These include the Kells-Virginia-Cavan route; Ballyjamesduff-Newtownbutler-Cavan route; Cavan-Stradone-Bailieborough-Kingscourt route; Ballyconnell-Swanlinbar route; Killashandra road; Cavan-Clones-Ballyhaise-Cootehill route; Shercock-Bailieborough-Kingscourt-Cavan route; Cavan-Belturbet route; Dublin-Clones-Carricmacross-Shercock route; the Lough Sheelin-Cavan route; and Cavan-Ballinagh route.

Ordnance Survey

Johnston Central Library has an extensive map collection, including a full set of colour six inch 1836/1837 ordnance survey maps for the county and also provides access to Ordnance Survey of Ireland six-inch, black and white maps and 25-inch, black and white maps, dated 1897 to 1913. The first edition colour ordnance survey maps from Ulster do not contain field boundaries and it is better to consult the revised editions drawn up in the 1850s and 1860s.

In the 1820s it was the British government’s desire to conduct an island wide valuation of Irish property for taxation purposes. The O’Donovan name-books, which cover Co Cavan, were surveyed for the period of 1833 to 1834. They are named after the historian John O’Donovan who led the survey. The name-books are essentially the daily notes collected by the surveyor and they do not shy away from personal observations of the people encountered and the conditions in which they lived. They record everyday life in the years leading up to ‘an Gorta Mór’, that is, the Great Hunger. Another useful source of information is online at www.cavantownlands.ie

Maps can greatly assist with genealogical research, and you might well wonder how a map shows anything about our ancestors. Let’s take for example, Griffith’s valuation books, which list all who paid rates from the 1840s onwards. In those books you will see ordnance survey map references alongside each name and there is also a reference number for the property they hold that can be found on the Griffith maps. Therefore, you can link a name to a townland and a property. The record also indicates the amount of land either rented, or in freehold, and the houses rented or owned, and the amount of tax to be paid by the occupant. When compared with older or newer maps, a map can indicate where buildings have been erected or reveal where older buildings no longer exist and may help identify the length of time a particular building has stood on a site.

The ‘Ask About Ireland’ website, states that: ‘The Valuation involved military engineers, through the Ordnance Survey, mapping and setting administrative boundaries and assessing the productive capacity of all property in the country in a uniform way.’

There are a variety of useful resources available for the researcher, and appointments can be made with most libraries and archives in Ireland to seek advice, for example Cavan Library Service provides a free weekly Local Studies Clinic. My favourite quote about maps comes from Gilbert H. Grosvenor, the National Geographic magazine’s founding editor, who once said, ‘a map is the greatest of all epic poems. Its lines and colours show the realisation of great dreams.’