The comparison is based on 452 settlements, identified by icons, that are located in England on the Gough Map. The key source for the settlements is Parsons’ The Map of Great Britain circa A.D. 1360 known as The Gough Map.
The Early Modern maps show a high degree of correspondence in their portrayal of the road network. However, some maps contain roads that the others have omitted, and for the purposes of analysis, the roads on all the maps have been combined to form a single, aggregated map.
Gough Map settlements on a road on ANY of the 3 maps | ||
---|---|---|
Number of settlements considered | Number of settlements on an Early Modern road | % of settlements on a road |
452 | 355 | 79% |
The figure of seventy-nine percent for the aggregated map reveals the extent to which the road network formed an integral part of the Gough Map. And it is not just the percentage that matters. The settlements are not randomly dotted around the road network, as if by chance. It is the evenness of their distribution along the roads that is so telling, with the distances reflecting a day or half day's travel, depending on the mode of transport (Figure 11).
The comparison findings support the suggestion that the majority of Gough Map settlements reflected the principal lines of medieval English travel. Besides the percentage of matches and the even staging of settlements along those highways, there is another factor that confirms their importance. Many of the lines of low status settlements (the single building icons) reveal a geographically direct route between two or more high status settlements, which coincides with Harrison’s observation that the national highways were generally straight.
Not all the settlements were on Early Modern major roads. Some inland settlements, such as Northleach and Burford, lay on roads that had been significant in the Middle Ages, and research into other non-matching settlements might discover similar circumstances. But there were also coastal settlements, such as Bamburgh, Warkworth, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Cockersand, Blakeney, Broomholm, Dunwich, St Osyth, Exmouth and Pevensey, which were outside the main road network. Overall, the emphasis on the map is for well-distributed settlements that cover all areas of England with, inevitably, some of these falling in areas of lower population and, therefore, less travelled roads.
So what role did highways play in the map? Were they an integral part of the map’s purpose, or just a useful tool for illustrating the scope and range of Britain's settlements? The example of Surrey suggests a purposefulness in indicating the principal highways, but until we understand why it was created, the Gough Map will remain an enigma.