The earliest surviving maps that show Wales are general maps of the British Isles or Europe. Often the detail of Wales is limited, only a few place-names are shown and the coastline is highly inaccurate.
A selection of the National Library of Wales’ digitised maps depicting Wales as a country.
Prima Europe tabula (Map of the British Isles from Ptolemy's Geography, 1486)
Reference: Folio 152
Published in 1486, this is the oldest surviving geographical record of Wales and is taken from Geographia, a treatise on cartography originally written in the 2nd century by the Greek geographer, Claudius Ptolemy. It is one of the earliest printed maps of the British Isles, and is the oldest item in the National Library’s map collection. No original copies of the work survive from the Roman period, only later versions exist, both manuscript (13th-14th century) and printed (15th-16th century).
Related links
Cambriae Typus
Reference: MAP 5007
This is the earliest printed map specifically of Wales and was compiled by Humphrey Llwyd (1527–1568) shortly before his death. It was first published in 1573 by Abraham Ortelius. Cambriae Typus is the first printed map to show Wales as a separate region and although it has many inaccuracies e.g. showing Wales as extending to the River Severn (and therefore including large parts of what is now known as England), it was a great improvement on earlier maps. In Cambriae Typus, Llwyd focused on creating a historical and cultural map rather than portraying the contemporary political situation.
Other editions of Cambriae Typus
- Cambriae typus Reference: ATLAS MERVYN PRITCHARD 15
- Cambriae typus Reference: ATLAS Folio 79
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 3612
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5000
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5001
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5002
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5003
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5004
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5005
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 3576
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5020
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5019/2
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5018/2
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5017
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5016
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5014/1
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5010
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5012
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5013
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5009/1
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5011
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 5015
- Cambriae typus Reference: Folio Atlas 28
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 3611
- Cambriae typus Reference: MAP 3443
Humphrey Llwyd's Angliae Regni
- Angliae regni florentissimi nova descriptio Reference: MAP 3615
- Angliae regni florentissimi nova descriptio Reference: MAP 3193
- Angliae regni florentissimi nova descriptio Reference: MAP 3610
- Angliae regni florentissimi nova descriptio Reference: MAP 5392
- Angliae regni florentissimi nova descriptio Reference: MAP 3178
Related links
- 16th and 17th Century Mapping of Wales
- LLWYD, (LHUYD), HUMPHREY (c.1527 -1568), Dictionary of Welsh Biography
- Llwyd, Humphrey (1527–1568), ODNB, available within NLW
- Ortelius, Abraham (1527–1598), ODNB, available within NLW
Saxton’s Proof Map of Wales
Reference: MAP 01003
Christopher Saxton (1542?–1610/11) was a professional surveyor and this map, compiled in 1580, appears to be an attempt to create a map of Wales. Though the map was never published, much of the information appears in Saxton’s wall map of England and Wales (1597). The combination of printed plates and manuscript information make this map unique. It gives a relatively accurate depiction of the coastline and the first precise representation of features such as Anglesey, St Bride’s Bay and the Lleyn and Gower Peninsulas, making it an invaluable historical and geographical source. This map was purchased by the National Library in 1986 with external funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Friends of NLW.
Speed's map of Wales
Reference: MAP 5024
In 1611 John Speed (1551/2–1629), an English historian and renowned cartographer, published his ‘Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain’. This was the earliest English attempt at producing an atlas on a large scale. The 2nd of this work’s 4 volumes covered Wales and included a map of Wales (dated 1610) along with individual maps of the 13 Welsh counties. Speed’s ‘Theatre’ was extremely successful and its maps became the basis for folio atlases produced up to the mid-18th century.
Evans' map of North Wales
John Evans was born at Llwyn-y-groes near Llanymynech in 1723, he probably began work on his map of North Wales before 1776, but it was not published until 1795, the year of his death. The work was financed by subscriptions, including from Thomas Pennant, who wrote a letter in 1792, on behalf of the subscribers, urging Evans to complete his work. In addition to the image of the map the list of subscribers is also available here.
The map was engraved by Robert Baugh a close neighbour of Evans, who was Parish Clerk of Llanymynech and also a surveyor and mapmaker in his own right. The map of North Wales was, upon publication, the most detailed and accurate map of the area ever produced and was not surpassed until the maps of the Ordnance Survey, which began publication of North Wales sheets in the 1830s.
Evans included the new turnpike roads which made his map very useful for travellers. The map also showed many of the homes of the local gentry, many of whom had subscribed to the map. A reduced scale version of the map, also engraved by Baugh, was published by the author’s son Dr John Evans in 1797. The reduced version was re-issued in 1802. This version was small enough to be folded and put in a pocket for use while travelling.
Bowen's map of South Wales
Emanuel Bowen was born in Talley, Carmarthenshire in 1693 or 1694. In 1709 he was apprenticed to a London Engraver called Charles Price, also originally from Carmarthenshire, who in turn had been an apprentice to the famous mapmaker John Seller. Bowen has a prominent place in the eighteenth-century map trade beyond his own works, as he had several apprentices amongst whom were the celebrated mapmakers Thomas Kitchin, who became his son-in-law, and Thomas Jefferys.
The map of South Wales was the most detailed map of the region to that date and was vastly superior in detail and accuracy to all previous county maps of South Wales which all ultimately derived from Saxton’s survey. Copies of the original 1729 edition of the map are quite rare.
One interesting feature of the map is the list of subscribers printed at the bottom of the map. Producing a new map, especially if one were to carry out any surveying work, was an expensive business and it was quite common in this period for mapmakers to seek funds to undertake the work by asking people to subscribe for a copy of the map before it was created. As part of the subscription, it was common to include the houses or estates of landed gentry subscribers on the maps. In this case the name of each subscriber is followed by an alpha-numeric code providing a grid reference to where their property is to be found on the map.
The map of South Wales later formed the basis of the county maps of South Wales counties engraved by Bowen and Kitchin for the Large English Atlas and published by John Tinney in 1754. The map itself was re-issued in about 1766. Copies of both editions are available to view here.
A New and accurate map of South Wales containing the counties of Pembroke, Glamorgan Reference: Roller MAP A234
A New and accurate map of South Wales … Reference: MAP 3420