Vintage Map of Hampshire by Joan Blaeu, 1645

Hampshire in Joan Blaeu’s Atlas

Joan Blaeu published this map in Amsterdam in 1645 as part of the fourth volume of his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive Atlas Novus. Its full engraved title is Hantonia Sive Southantonensis Comitatus Vulgo Hantshire.

The title uses both Latin and an older English form of the county name. “Southamptonshire” was historically used alongside Hampshire, reflecting the county’s association with Southampton.

The first edition was a copperplate engraving measuring approximately 41.5 by 50.5 centimetres within the printed area. A documented 1645 example appeared in the French-language fourth part of Blaeu’s atlas, with descriptive text printed on the reverse.

Earlier English Sources

Blaeu was the publisher and engraver of this edition, but he did not personally conduct a new field survey of Hampshire. His English county maps were largely derived from John Speed’s atlas of 1611, which had itself drawn upon the pioneering Elizabethan surveys of Christopher Saxton.

Blaeu acknowledged the importance of Speed’s work in the introductory material to later editions. His contribution was to reinterpret the inherited cartography through refined engraving, lettering, colour, heraldry and decorative presentation.

The result is historically informative, but it should not be treated as a precise modern survey. Churches, towns, forests and parks are represented by conventional symbols rather than individual architectural drawings.

Hampshire’s Hundreds and Settlements

The map divides Hampshire into its traditional hundreds. These were longstanding administrative districts used for local government, justice and taxation.

Names such as Andover, Basingstoke, Bosmere, Christchurch, Fawley, Kingsclere, New Forest, Odiham and Portsdown can be identified among the divisions. Their colours and boundary lines help the viewer understand how seventeenth-century mapmakers organised the historic county.

Winchester is prominently marked near the centre, while Southampton and Portsmouth occupy important positions on the southern coast. Other recognisable places include Romsey, Ringwood, Lymington, Christchurch, Fareham and Petersfield.

These settlements are shown using map symbols. Portsmouth and Southampton are not represented by detailed architectural views, dock plans or fortification surveys.

The New Forest

In southwestern Hampshire, groups of engraved trees identify the New Forest. Created as a royal hunting forest by William the Conqueror around 1079, it developed a distinctive system of forest law and customary commoning rights.

The map’s woodland symbols provide a strong visual indication of the forest’s location. They do not, however, distinguish every area of woodland, heath, common land or private enclosure.

Timber from the New Forest became increasingly important to naval shipbuilding, particularly in later centuries. That history is relevant to the region, but Blaeu’s engraving does not identify individual timber enclosures, shipyards or woodland supply routes.

Rivers, Harbours and the Solent

The Rivers Test and Itchen are shown flowing into Southampton Water, while the Hampshire coast is traced from the Christchurch area eastwards towards Portsmouth and the Sussex border.

The northern coastline of the Isle of Wight appears across the Solent, but most of the island falls outside the lower edge of the map. Blaeu produced a separate plate, Vectis Insula Anglice The Isle of Wight, which provides a complete map of the island.

Several sailing ships decorate the coastal waters. They reflect the maritime character of the composition but do not document particular naval movements, transatlantic voyages, cargo routes or commercial services.

No sea monsters appear on the Hampshire map.

Hampshire During the Civil War

The map was published during the First English Civil War. One of Hampshire’s most important wartime sites was Basing House, a major Royalist stronghold that endured repeated siege operations between 1643 and 1645. It was stormed by forces commanded by Oliver Cromwell in October 1645.

This event is closely contemporary with the map’s publication and provides valuable historical context. Nevertheless, Blaeu’s engraving does not depict the sieges, military earthworks or the destruction of Basing House.

The county’s towns, forests, rivers and hundreds reflect established geographical information rather than a specially commissioned wartime survey.

Heraldry and Decorative Detail

An elaborate cartouche containing the map’s title occupies the upper-left corner. The page also carries the Royal Arms and nine family coats of arms, two of which are represented by blank shields.

The scale of English miles appears near the lower border, while numerous sailing ships decorate the sea. These elements create a carefully balanced composition around the coloured county geography.

The cartouche belongs to the ornate tradition of seventeenth-century Dutch mapmaking. It should not be called neoclassical, and there are no pastoral figures surrounding it that can be interpreted as representing forestry, farming or seafaring.

Blaeu’s map remains an exceptionally attractive record of historic Hampshire, combining the county’s hundreds, settlements, forests and southern coastline within one of the most accomplished atlas designs of the period.