The Lanhydrock Atlas

A unique, historic view of Cornish lands

A Complete Reproduction of the 17th-Century
Cornish Estate Maps

Paul Holden, Peter Herring, Oliver Padel

The Lanhydrock Atlas is a remarkable survival. Each of its 258 highly decorated maps, delicately painted and decorated in water colour and gold leaf on sturdy vellum, opens a door into the lost world of the seventeenth century, and brings to life not only the physical lie of the land but the stories of the people and their lives.

A unique volume Printed on high quality, matt art paper, magnificent 400-page reproduction of the original maps is thread sewn, bound in hard covers and protected by a full-colour gloss laminated jacket.

Publication price: £149.95

Click here to download the full illustrated brochure
(your computer will need to have Acrobat software installed)

Published for the first time
An indispensible resource for social and family historians
Superb colour reproduction of the extraordinary original maps
Essential material for map historians
Published in association with the National Trust

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Local and family history indexes

These extraordinary maps cover the widespread properties, shown field by field, owned by the Robartes family throughout Cornwall. Researchers into local and family history will find fascinating details of locations and family names fully indexed in the book.

A bird’s-eye view of Cornwall in the 1690s

Many of the maps were created by Joel Gascoyne, cartographer of the Map of the County of Cornwall of 1699. Accurate mapping accentuated by effective land-use conventions creates close approximations of aerial views. Elevations of many buildings and some other features (hills, tors, barrows, etc), lit from the left, like the trees shown in orchards, groves and woods, reinforce the impression that the cartographers were providing their clients with bird’s-eye scrutiny of their property.

Readers will marvel at the immaculate detail captured in the delicate water-colour rendering of the Cornish landscape.

The expert contributors

Paul Holden, MA, is House and Collections Manager for the NationalTrust at Lanhydrock House. He has published widely in areas of architectural history and curatorship.

Dr Oliver J. Padel was formerly Reader in Cornish and Celtic at the University of Cambridge, and has published books and articles on Cornish history and place-names, and on Cornish and Welsh language and literature. He is President of the English Place-Name Society and editor of the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall.

Peter Herring, BA, MPhil, works for English Heritage’s CharacterisationTeam, having previously worked for over twenty years for the Cornwall Archaeological Unit and Historic Environment Service of Cornwall County Council.A landscape historian and archaeologist, he has published and lectured on a wide range of aspects of Cornwall’s historic landscape.

Preserved by the National Trust

This sumptuous reproduction of the Lanhydrock maps has been supported by Cornwall County Council, the Piet Mendel Foundation and the National Trust. Dame Fiona Reynolds, Director-General of the NationalTrust, writes in her foreword to the book: “In the three hundred years since Joel Gascoyne’s death, surveying and mapping has developed beyond comprehension.Yet, today, in this age of computer and satellite technologies,we still marvel at his achievement,wondering at the sheer quality and aesthetic beauty of the maps, the sophisticated techniques he deployed and the skills involved. This material will make a significant contribution to Cornish studies and national cartographic history.”

Is your property in the Lanhydrock Atlas?

The amazing detail of the map-making of 300 years ago enables us to see fields, woods, hedges, lanes and coastlines which we may easily recognise today. Specially drawn locator maps, identifying many of Dr Oliver Padel’s identifications of the exact grid reference of the details in the original maps, could guide you to the exact field owned by the Robartes family in 1690 on which your house now stands.

The perfect gift

The Lanhydrock Atlas makes the perfect gift for anyone with Cornish family or connections. If you order a second or more copies, either for yourself or on behalf of someone else, we will supply the additional copies at a reduction of 10% off the recommended retail price of £149.95 plus postage and packing..