Old Maps of Wales
Explore our collection of old maps of Wales, including maps of the country as a whole and detailed maps of its historic counties and regions.
The range features work by John Speed, Joan Blaeu and other notable cartographers, recording Welsh towns, rivers, mountains, coastlines and former county boundaries. From Anglesey and Caernarvonshire to Cardiganshire, Glamorganshire and Pembrokeshire, these maps preserve the names and landscapes of Wales as earlier generations knew them.
Whether chosen for Welsh family connections, local history or their decorative character, these historic Welsh maps provide a richly detailed view of the country’s past.
Wales Through Historic Maps - Mountains, Rivers and Coast
The physical character of Wales gives its old maps an immediate identity. Mountain groups crowd the interior, rivers provide natural routes through valleys and the coastline unfolds around broad bays, headlands and islands. Early cartographers represented this terrain through engraved symbols rather than modern contours, yet they conveyed a strong impression of a country shaped by land and water.
The Historic Counties of Wales
County maps bring the viewer closer to the communities within that landscape. Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, Cardiganshire, Glamorgan, Pembrokeshire and the other historic counties appear with old boundaries, towns, villages, estates and castles. These divisions remain meaningful in family and local history even where modern administration now uses different areas.
Speed, Blaeu and Decorative Detail
John Speed's Welsh county maps are celebrated for their strong engraving, coats of arms and inset plans of important towns. Joan Blaeu's maps offer another distinguished seventeenth-century view, combining dense geographical information with colour and elaborate cartouches. Later maps introduce different forms of surveying and a growing emphasis on roads and measured detail.
A Personal Map of Wales
An old Welsh map may represent a family county, a favourite stretch of coast, a university town or a landscape returned to over many years. Familiar names provide an immediate point of recognition, while altered spellings and vanished boundaries invite closer study. Reproduced with care, these maps retain both their historical interest and the quiet decorative richness of the originals.
