Old Map of Northamptonshire by Robert Morden, 1695
Price range: £35.55 through £59.95
Northamptonshire by Robert Morden, first published 1695
Morden’s Northamptonshire is visually memorable for the county’s long, tapering form. It crosses the page between surrounding shires, making the older county outline easier to appreciate than on a tightly cropped modern map. This museum-quality giclée reproduction retains the antique map’s original lettering and ornament. Produced on textured fine-art paper with archival pigment inks; supplied unframed.
Size
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Unlike most online offerings, our maps are produced entirely in-house, not outsourced to print-on-demand or drop-shipping services. This allows complete control over quality while offering better value. Each map begins with a high-resolution original, carefully enhanced and printed to order using archival papers and pigment inks for exceptional clarity, depth, and longevity. Every piece is personally overseen — no map leaves our workshop unless it is of a quality we would be proud to display ourselves.
Authentic Old Map Paper & Accurate Colour Reproduction
Paper choice is essential to the authenticity of our maps. We use specially sourced 190gsm paper made in the UK from pure materials and traditionally pressed with natural woollen felts. This process creates a subtle, randomly textured surface that closely resembles an original antique document. Likewise the use of premium quality ink fully saturates the paper, producing remarkable clarity, depth, and historical character. Colour fastness and sharpness will remain good for in excess of 100 years!
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About the map
Morden’s Northamptonshire is visually memorable for the county’s long, tapering form. It crosses the page between surrounding shires, making the older county outline easier to appreciate than on a tightly cropped modern map.
Map Details
- Original title: Northampton Shire
- Cartographer: Robert Morden (c.1650–1703)
- First published: 1695, in Edmund Gibson’s edition of William Camden’s Britannia
- Area: Northamptonshire
- Places to locate: Northampton, Daventry, Kettering and Wellingborough
What makes this engraving distinctive?
- The county runs diagonally across the engraving, enclosed by neighbouring Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire and others.
- An ornamental title cartouche at the upper right reads Northampton Shire.
- Multiple mile scales and densely labelled hundreds accompany the river and road network, particularly around the Nene valley.
History
The River Nene is essential to understanding settlement here. Northampton and downstream towns belong to a valley that connects inland agricultural districts with routes eastwards, whereas the western areas face the Midlands. Morden’s engraving includes small town symbols, parish names, wooded patches and the names of hundreds. It is geography rendered as a network of communities rather than a catalogue of modern roads.
Around the area
The borders are particularly instructive. At the eastern end, the county narrows between neighbouring shires, and place names must be fitted into a tight space. At the western end the open margins allow the labels of Warwickshire and other neighbours to appear prominently. The titlepiece and the scale bars belong to a technical and decorative tradition in which the appearance of the map mattered almost as much as its practical use. Follow the winding Nene and look for how individual settlements sit in relation to its tributaries and crossing places. Some local names have changed, but many retain a recognisable form. For historians of the county, the engraved hundreds provide another layer of meaning absent from most modern maps.
Made as a fine-art print: Archival pigment inks on subtly textured paper; supplied unframed and carefully packed. The historic boundaries and spellings reflect the cartographer’s era, not present-day administrative geography.
For the cartographer’s own descriptions of Britain, read our article Robert Morden’s Britain in 1693: The Mapmaker’s Own Words.