Moray and Nairn

Historical Background

This map of Moray and Nairn was published by Joan Blaeu in Amsterdam in 1654. Its title credits both the earlier survey material of Timothy Pont and the work of Robert Gordon of Straloch, who described and enlarged that material. The Latin name Moravia identifies the Scottish province of Moray here, rather than the central European region bearing the same name.

Map Details

• Original title: Moravia Scotiae provincia
• Survey source: Timothy Pont
• Compiler and reviser: Robert Gordon of Straloch
• Publisher: Joan Blaeu
• Publication: Amsterdam, 1654
• Source: Atlas Novus, Scottish volume
• Area shown: Moray, Nairn and adjoining districts around the Moray Firth, extending inland towards Strathspey
• Orientation: North at the top
• Printing method: Copperplate engraving

The Moray Firth and its shores

The broad water labelled “Part of Murray Firth” dominates the upper half of the composition. Sailing ships and smaller boats occupy the firth, while coloured coastal outlines separate the land on either shore.

To the left, the Cromarty Firth is named “The Fyrth of Cromartie”. Inverness appears near the head of the Moray Firth, beside the portion of Loch Ness entering the sheet. Farther east, Elgin is drawn as a prominent settlement inland from the coast, and Nairn lies along the southern shore.

Rivers, woodland and the inland landscape

The map follows rivers from the coast towards a much more mountainous interior. Strathspey is named in the lower-right part of the sheet, while woodland is depicted through closely grouped tree symbols. Hills are drawn pictorially, giving a strong impression of relief without the measured contours of a modern map.

Small settlement signs and historic spellings fill the spaces between rivers, woods and hills. These details are particularly useful when comparing a familiar district with its seventeenth-century representation, although the geography and naming should not be read as a modern survey.

Pont, Gordon and Blaeu

The title panel gives unusually clear evidence of how the map was made. Pont supplied earlier geographical material; Gordon’s contribution was to describe and enlarge it; Blaeu’s workshop brought the finished map into print.

Those distinct roles explain why the map should not be credited simply to William Blaeu. The published Scottish atlas appeared under Joan Blaeu in 1654, bringing Scottish surveying and revision together with the atlas production of his Amsterdam workshop.

A regional map with a wider view

The historical province extends beyond present-day administrative boundaries. The map includes neighbouring shores and inland districts to show Moray within its wider setting, rather than isolating a modern council area.

An ornamental title panel and a separate mileage scale complete the sheet. Together with the ships, coloured shoreline, woodland and dense place names, they give this old map of Moray and Nairn its distinctive balance of regional detail and decorative character.