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| Rocque map | |
|---|---|
| Name | John Rocque's Map of London and Westminster, &c. |
| Creator | John Rocque |
| Year | 1746 |
| Type | Survey map |
| Scale | 26 inches to 1 mile (approx.) |
| Medium | Copperplate engraving |
| Location | British Library (original plates and copies) |
Rocque map is an 18th‑century large‑scale survey map of London, Westminster, Southwark, and surrounding Middlesex and Surrey suburbs compiled by John Rocque and published in 1746. The map is renowned for its detailed street plans, depiction of buildings, gardens, parks, and topography, and it has been used by historians, cartographers, architects, and urban planners studying London, Westminster, Southwark, Middlesex, and Surrey. Its production involved survey work, engraving, and publication practices linked to figures and institutions such as John Rocque, John Pine, Joseph Nickolls, and the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Rocque's map covers an area reaching from Harrow and Uxbridge in the west to Lea Bridge and Walthamstow in the east, and from Hampstead Heath and Highgate in the north to Bermondsey and Greenwich in the south, incorporating notable sites like Green Park, St James's Park, Hyde Park, Tower of London, and Westminster Abbey. The sheet plan comprises twenty‑two engraved plates arranged into a continuous plan with a scale of approximately 26 inches to a mile, showing landmarks such as St Paul's Cathedral, Lambeth Palace, Guildhall, Somerset House, and the Royal Exchange, alongside suburban villas, market gardens, and river crossings of the River Thames. The map was widely copied and referenced in publications relating to British Isles cartography, urban history, and estate management.
John Rocque, a Huguenot émigré and cartographer active in London in the first half of the 18th century, undertook detailed ground surveys supported by assistants and local informants; his work interacted with contemporary practices exemplified by earlier plans like those of Agas and Braun and Hogenberg and later maps by John Cary and Ordnance Survey. The engraving was executed in London workshops using copperplate techniques similar to those employed by George Vertue and John Pine, with publication financed through subscriptions by landowners, civic corporations such as the City of London Corporation, and institutions including the Royal Society. Production required coordination with legal and commercial actors like printers, stationers, and booksellers operating near Fleet Street, St Martin's Lane, and Paternoster Row; distribution reached readers in Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, and Edinburgh via booksellers dealing in maps by Herman Moll and Thomas Jefferys.
Rocque's plan is distinguished by precise planimetric detail, depiction of individual houses, gardens, orchards, and topographic shading influenced by continental cartography such as that of Cassini and Turgot. Streets are labeled with contemporary names found in parish records of St Martin in the Fields, St Giles in the Fields, Spitalfields, and Whitechapel, while public buildings, coaching inns, hospitals like St Bartholomew's Hospital, and institutions such as Christ Church, Spitalfields and Middlesex Hospital are rendered pictorially. The map's accuracy varies: central districts including City of London and Westminster show high positional fidelity when compared to later cadastral records and the surveys of Ordnance Survey, whereas suburban areas reflect rapid 18th‑century development and occasional reliance on estate plans owned by families such as the Crowns, Russells, and Plantagenets successors in property titles. Topographical conventions incorporate north arrows, scale bars, and insets similar to contemporary continental works like Bonne and Delisle.
The first edition, issued in 1746, survives in multiple original copperplate impressions held by institutions such as the British Library, Guildhall Library, Museum of London, and private collections formerly associated with estates like Kensington Palace and Hampton Court Palace. Later impressions and reissues appeared during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, sometimes updated by engravers and publishers including William Faden, John Cary, and Edward Orme; fragments and reduced versions were incorporated into atlases and travel guides alongside works by Richard Pococke and Daniel Defoe. Surviving copies vary in condition: hand‑colored examples appear in the collections of Royal Collection Trust and universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, while uncolored proofs are preserved in archives connected to surveys by the Board of Ordnance and manuscripts at the National Archives (UK).
The map influenced urban planning, antiquarian studies, and artistic views of London during the Georgian era and later informed Victorian redevelopment projects, legal disputes over parish boundaries, and scholarly reconstructions employed by historians of Georgian architecture and urban archaeology. It served as a source for later cartographers including Ordnance Survey draftsmen, inspired visual artists such as William Hogarth and Canaletto in depictions of cityscape, and remains a primary reference for conservation bodies like English Heritage and the National Trust when assessing historic fabric in areas including Bloomsbury, Mayfair, and Covent Garden. Reproductions appear in monographs on cartography, exhibitions at institutions like the Victoria and Albert Museum and British Museum, and digital projects hosted by libraries and universities that cross‑reference parish registers, rate books, and probate inventories.
Category:Maps of London Category:18th-century maps