{"id":11987,"date":"2022-04-08T11:07:46","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T09:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=11987"},"modified":"2022-04-08T11:07:46","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T09:07:46","slug":"the-civitas-londinium-map-1633","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/2022\/04\/08\/the-civitas-londinium-map-1633\/","title":{"rendered":"The Civitas Londinium map, 1633"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
GEM FROM THE ARCHIVE<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

The Civitas Londinium map, 1633<\/h2>\n\n

Laurence Ward <\/strong>from London Metropolitan Archives unfolds the oldest surviving map of the capital <\/p>\n\n

Interview By Rosemary Collins<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

One of the most fascinating aspects of researching our family history is looking at old maps. These documents can add an extra dimension to our investigations by showing where our ancestors lived and giving a sense of what their city, town or village was like when they lived there. London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) holds a particularly important map of the capital dating back to 1633, which is based on a map that was created in 1561\u20131570 \u2013 the reign of Elizabeth I. Laurence Ward, LMA\u2019s head of digital services, tells us more about the Civitas Londinium map.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

What Is The Civitas Londinium Map?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Civitas Londinium, also known as the Woodcut or Agas map, is the earliest map of London to survive in complete form. It invites the viewer to enjoy a bird\u2019seye view of the city\u2019s streets, rather than the top-down aspect of a two-dimensional map, looking across the Thames from Southwark, towards the hills of Highgate and Hampstead.<\/p>\n\n

The map was originally engraved on eight wooden blocks between 1561 and 1570, after the lightning strike on St Paul\u2019s Cathedral which destroyed the spire. However, no prints from the first version of the map are known to survive. Although the map has previously been credited to the Elizabethan surveyor Ralph Agas (1545\u2013 1621), the true creator sadly remains a mystery.<\/p>\n\n

The blocks were updated to insert the Royal Exchange, which opened in 1570, and to replace the Tudor coat of arms with those of the House of Stuart in 1603, following the accession of James I to the throne of England.<\/p>\n\n

Only three prints of the map are known to survive, including this copy from the collection of the City of London Corporation held at LMA. All three copies were made in 1633.<\/p>\n\n

Why Did You Choose The Map As Your Gem?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Civitas Londinium is the first map in our collections and provides perhaps the most detailed view of life in the city known to our Elizabethan and Jacobean ancestors. Given that there are few visual resources from this period, it forms an essential part of our understanding of life in the city at the time.<\/p>\n\n

The map will go on display for the first time at LMA\u2019s free \u2018Magnificent Maps of London\u2019 exhibition,which opens on 11 April. This will give our visitors a rare opportunity to see an original print of the map. Our conservation team carried out an extensive treatment programme to prepare it for display, washing surface dirt which had accumulated through the centuries using gel pads. This controlled humidification method protects the ink but lifts away the grime.<\/p>\n\n

Civitas Londinium also features prominently on our London Picture Archive site (londonpicturearchive.org.uk<\/strong><\/a>), <\/strong>where researchers living anywhere in the world can explore it through new highresolution digital images.<\/p>\n\n

The website includes more than 250,000 historical images from the collections that we hold at LMA, providing a great resource if you\u2019re looking for images of the city\u2019s streets, churches and workhouses.<\/p>\n\n

What Was London Like During The Tudor Era?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

When I first saw the map, I was struck by how densely packed the City of London was within the walls, and how quickly the houses and buildings give way to fields. This is a rural setting in which we glimpse windmills, livestock and villages. Islington peeps through the trees in the far distance.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The artist provides us with individual timber-framed houses and although it\u2019s evident that this is an impression of London\u2019s streets rather than a precise survey, they do give us a wonderful sense of the scale of the city. St Paul\u2019s Cathedral must have towered over everything. Other major buildings are rendered, including the Guildhall, Baynard\u2019s Castle at Blackfriars and the Tower of London in the east.<\/p>\n\n

Westminster is a separate community, the royal palace of Whitehall is connected to the City of London by the Thames and the Strand, and there are a number of private palaces on the shore of the river. Old London Bridge, with buildings arranged cheek by jowl, connects Southwark and the bear-and bull-baiting rings, before the arrival of Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre. Londoners are depicted in their daily routines in a number of places on the map. We see archers practising in the fields to the north, laundry being stretched out on the tenter grounds \u2013 areas used for drying cloth \u2013 outside the city walls, and a river busy with traffic, including the royal barge.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

What Other Documents Are In Your Collections?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Civitas Londinium is one of many maps in the collections at LMA that record the development of the urban space but also reveal the experiences of previous generations of Londoners, from smallpox outbreaks to the air raids of the Second World War. Together with prints, photographs, films and audio, they provide an extraordinary visual history of the capital.<\/p>\n\n

If our documents were laid out in a continuous line then they would stretch for over 60 miles! They range from 1067 and the Charter of William I to the present day, and almost every aspect of life in London is covered. There is a wealth of material for researchers and genealogists to explore from all manner of organisations including the archives of the city\u2019s businesses, schools, hospitals and charities.<\/p>\n\n

Our recent and ongoing project work includes a focus on records of Londoners of African, Caribbean and Asian heritage (1561\u20131840); digitising records of the Foundling Hospital with the children\u2019s charity Coram; and working in partnership with the National HIV Story Trust to make 100 interviews available to researchers.<\/p>\n\n

Digital copies of some of our most popular documents are available to view through our Collections Catalogue website (tinyurl.com\/lma-cat<\/a>). For researchers who are able to visit us in Clerkenwell, there\u2019s always an exhibition to enjoy and regular events, while our Mediatheque space provides access to our audiovisual collections, image collections and maps. Visitors can view films, listen to sound archives and oral histories, and explore photo and map collections.<\/p>\n\n

Find out more about using maps to research your family history on page 17. <\/em> whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n
Visit Us<\/span><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

London Metropolitan Archives<\/strong>
a 40 Northampton Road, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 0HB <\/strong>
t 020 7332 3820 <\/span>
w cityoflondon.gov.uk\/lma<\/a><\/strong>
LMA is open Monday to Thursday, 10am\u20134pm. The free exhibition \u2018Magnificent Maps of London\u2019 runs from 11 April to 26 October. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laurence Ward from London Metropolitan Archives unfolds the oldest surviving map of the capital <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":11986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"80","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"80","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_80-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_80-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_external_id":"May-2022-80-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"May-2022-80-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000105658||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000105658||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wdytya.190","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wdytya.190","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wdytya.190","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wdytya.190","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"ef59bcf9-d1d8-4088-a81b-df06cc4ab496","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-04-08T09:07:54Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"3f7e6f24-b111-4f67-8ee4-54d30917cc33","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-04-08T09:07:55Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AP35vJLERT2eO5FTTCRfMMw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[17],"tags":[69],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/03\/34fc4241-3eeb-408e-a920-d8b6ccd8113d.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/03\/34fc4241-3eeb-408e-a920-d8b6ccd8113d.jpg",2048,810,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/03\/34fc4241-3eeb-408e-a920-d8b6ccd8113d-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/03\/34fc4241-3eeb-408e-a920-d8b6ccd8113d-300x119.jpg",300,119,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/03\/34fc4241-3eeb-408e-a920-d8b6ccd8113d-768x304.jpg",768,304,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/03\/34fc4241-3eeb-408e-a920-d8b6ccd8113d-1024x405.jpg",800,316,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/03\/34fc4241-3eeb-408e-a920-d8b6ccd8113d-1536x608.jpg",1536,608,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/03\/34fc4241-3eeb-408e-a920-d8b6ccd8113d.jpg",2048,810,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Laurence Ward from London Metropolitan Archives unfolds the oldest surviving map of the capital","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11987"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11987"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15217,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11987\/revisions\/15217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}