Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Bells, bridges and bog plants
INCLESMOOR, YORKSHIRE, 15TH CENTURY
Which way up is this 15th-century map meant to be seen? North was not to become fixed
at the top of a map for several centuries, and while the direction of the cardinal points are
given, the words written on the map face different ways. Perhaps it was intended to be seen
from multiple viewpoints, by parties in a legal case seated around a table. It was made to
record a dispute over villagers' rights to cut peat for fuel and to pasture their animals on
the central area called Inclesmoor (written in red 'upside down' across the moor), some of
which remains as Thorne Moor and Goole Moor just east of Scunthorpe, on the Yorkshire-
Lincolnshire border.
