MAPPING THE MOUNTAINS
MAP NO. 1 Ordnance Survey’s origins – via the Tower of London and a map known as ‘Mudge’. The story starts here...
ROYAL MUSEUMS GREENWICH
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n Entirely New & Accurate Survey Of The County Of Kent, With Part Of The County Of Essex, by the Surveying Draftsmen of His Majesty’s Honourable Board of Ordnance, 1801 was its typically verbose name when it first materialised at the turn of the 19th century. These days, it is simply known as ‘the Mudge Map’, after William Mudge, its chief surveyor. Mudge’s creation now hangs in the lobby of Ordnance Survey’s Head Office in Southampton, which befits its significance – it’s the very first Ordnance Survey map. It took ten years to complete, involved four copper printing negatives and saw the best part of a hundred years of piecemeal
The first OS logo: note the Tower of London.
‘MUDGE’S CREATION NOW HANGS IN ORDNANCE SURVEY’S HEAD OFFICE IN SOUTHAMPTON, WHICH BEFITS ITS SIGNIFICANCE: IT’S THE VERY FIRST ORDNANCE SURVEY MAP.’ 4 MAPPING THE MOUNTAINS JANUARY 2013