A recent book, The Nine Lives of John Ogilby, gives his varied career as a dancer and theatre owner before becoming King’s Printer to Charles II in 1661 and King’s Cosmographer in 1671.

It is for his map making that John Ogilby 1600-1676 is best remembered and a number of examples from Cumbria exist.

After publishing his own poems and translations, Ogilby became a printer and surveyor and it was under the king’s patronage that his Britannia was produced as “a geographical and historical description of the principal roads”.

This was printed in 1675 and depicted major roads in England and Wales in a series of 100 strip maps.

Because of their early date these maps are important for what they show, taking “the road from Tinemouth in Northumberland to the city of Carlisle ...”

This shows the walled city with the road starting at the ‘English Gate’ (the earliest naming of the gate in print) going along ‘Brother Gate’, but deviating from “the road to Penrith, Lancaster to London”, where the gallows are shown on Harraby Hill, to go along Brook Street and Greystone Road and across Petteril Bridge on what is today Warwick Road.

Buildings are shown on the Scotch Road corner at ‘Wheelbarrow Hall’.

Aglionby is shown with buildings and more are on the hill at Warwick where the road leads down to “a stone bridge” over the Eden.

A considerable number of buildings are shown at the roadside at (Little) Corby.

While the road passes through Brampton Park it does not go to Brampton but aims for Milton where a road deviates “to Carlisle ye worst way”.

The road from Kendal via Cockermouth to Carlisle is mapped as entering the ‘Irish Gate’ having passed through Caldewgate where buildings are shown on both sides of the road.

Nealhouses is depicted with buildings as is Thursby and Crofton where there is “a stone bridge over Wample”.

Not understanding the Roman origins, Ogilby shows ‘Old Carlisle’ as ‘denmolisht’.

A map also shows the road from Carlisle to Berwick, the route leaving via the ‘Scotch Gate’ and Stanwix where the church is shown.

There is a side road to Houghton and buildings are depicted at Blackford.

The London to Carlisle map shows buildings on both sides of London Road at ‘Harraby’ and again at ‘Carlton’.

Low Hesket is also depicted with the church at High Hesket before the road enters Inglewood Forest.

Unfortunately the description of Carlisle, given under one of the maps, adds nothing to our knowledge of the city.

But in his book, Alan Ereira states that Ogilby’s maps “are not always useful or navigable and are not intended for travellers”.

These were intended for the benefit of the king, Ereira saying “Charles found himself in need of an accurate map of Britain in order to maintain his control and centralise power”.