Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The map aimed to set out the boundaries of the warren so that no one could be in doubt
as to where the rabbits were supposed to be. Before this time, local maps might be drawn by
people such as gentry or clergy, with no particular expertise in making maps. In this case, one
of the new professional surveyor-mapmakers was called in. Around 1580 instruction manuals
were published, new instruments available, wealthy landowners willing to commission maps
for estate management or as status symbols, and (as here) courts now requiring maps as evid-
ence. We know little of John Lane, who made and signed this map, but he may have made
two similar maps for disputes heard in the Duchy of Lancaster Court.
The map bears the hallmarks of the new style. It is set in a border with cardinal points in
Latin, still in common use in documents of the time. West - Occidens - is at the top of the
map. A large scale bar with dividers draws attention to the fact that the mapmaker used scale,
a relatively new concept in these types of maps. From this we can work out that the warren
was about four miles across at its widest, from north to south. So it was quite a long way for
the party who, John Lane notes in the box at top left, walked around the edge of the warren
to agree the boundaries. These men were commissioners appointed by the Duchy Court, who
signed the map's top edge, and 'ancient inhabitants' of the area. A carefully drawn line of
dots shows the route they took
The map shows how the landscape around the warren must have looked, especially fea-
tures on the boundary such as hills, crosses and gravel pits. A raised bank is shown crossing
the warren, dividing parishes. Churches drawn in perspective indicate surrounding villages.
Near Methwold (top right) are two post windmills and 'Methold Lodge', which was recor-
ded in 1413 and survived for another 27 years after this map was drawn. Lane tells us that
the local elders viewed the finished map, and swore that the warren's boundaries had been as
shown on it, for as long as they could remember. However, rabbits cannot read maps, and the
disputes continued after the map was made.
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