Old Map of Lincolnshire, 1787 by John Cary

John Cary’s Old Map of Lincolnshire

John Cary’s map of Lincolnshire was first issued in 1787 as part of his New and Correct English Atlas. Created from recently available surveys, the atlas represented a new generation of English county mapping in which clarity, practical information and geographical accuracy took precedence over elaborate decoration.

The map is simply titled Lincolnshire. Its clean lettering, carefully traced roads and restrained outline colour are characteristic of Cary’s work as both cartographer and engraver.

Map Details

• Original title: Lincolnshire
• County shown: Historic Lincolnshire
• Cartographer: John Cary
• Engraver: John Cary
• Publisher: John Cary
• First issued: London, 1787
• Atlas: Cary’s New and Correct English Atlas
• Approximate scale: 1:488,000
• Principal places: Lincoln, Boston, Grantham, Stamford, Spalding, Sleaford, Louth, Horncastle and Gainsborough
• Features shown: Roads, towns, villages, rivers, parks, estates and coastal features
• Format: Copperplate engraving with outline colour

A New Kind of County Map

Cary’s atlas began appearing in separate parts in 1787 and was completed early in 1789. It brought together 47 maps of the counties of England and Wales, accompanied by descriptive text and information explaining how roads continued from one county sheet to another.

This practical approach reflected the changing needs of travellers. Britain’s turnpike network was expanding rapidly, mail coaches were beginning to offer faster communication and an increasing number of people travelled between towns for business and trade.

Cary consequently gave roads much greater prominence than many earlier county mapmakers. Direct routes and important cross roads can be followed across the engraving, while their continuation beyond Lincolnshire is indicated around the map’s edges.

Lincoln and the County’s Market Towns

Lincoln occupies a commanding position near the centre of the map. Roads radiate from the city towards Gainsborough and the Trent, Market Rasen and the northern Wolds, Horncastle and the coast, and southwards through Sleaford towards Bourne and Stamford.

Grantham appears on the Great North Road near Lincolnshire’s western border. Stamford lies farther south, while Boston stands beside the River Witham close to The Wash. Spalding and Holbeach occupy the rich agricultural country of southern Holland.

In the east, Louth, Alford, Spilsby, Wainfleet and other market towns form a chain between the Wolds and the coast. Grimsby, Caistor, Brigg and Barton-upon-Humber represent the northern part of the county, with the Humber forming its great natural boundary.

Rivers, Fens and the Lincolnshire Coast

The waterways of Lincolnshire are among the map’s strongest geographical features. The Trent defines much of the county’s western side before entering the Humber, while the Witham flows through Lincoln and Boston towards The Wash.

The low-lying Fens spread across the south-east. Drainage schemes had already altered this landscape before Cary’s map was produced, but later engineering and agricultural improvements would transform it still further. The engraving therefore preserves an intermediate stage between the older wetland geography and the intensively managed countryside of the nineteenth century.

Along the eastern edge, the coastline faces the sea labelled on the map as the German Ocean, the name then commonly used for what is now the North Sea. Coastal settlements, river mouths and the broad expanse of The Wash are drawn with the same measured clarity as the inland road network.

Parks, Estates and Country Houses

Cary marks numerous parks and country estates across Lincolnshire. Their shaded grounds stand out among towns, villages and open countryside, revealing the influence of landed estates on the late Georgian landscape.

These features were useful points of reference for travellers, but they also reflected the atlas’s likely readership. Landowners, merchants and professional travellers required maps that could guide journeys while identifying significant properties and settlements along the way.

The result is less theatrical than the richly decorated county maps of John Speed, yet exceptionally rewarding at close quarters. Cary’s disciplined engraving gives even small villages, minor roads and country seats a clear place within the composition.

Finding Present-Day Lincolnshire

Many familiar places can be located easily. In northern Lincolnshire the map records Barton-upon-Humber, Brigg, Caistor, Market Rasen, Grimsby, Gainsborough and Louth. Lincoln, Wragby, Horncastle and Tattershall occupy the central country, while Boston, Sleaford and Grantham lie farther south.

Stamford, Bourne and Market Deeping appear near the county’s southern edge. Spalding, Holbeach, Wainfleet, Alford and Spilsby help modern viewers trace the historic communities of the Fens and eastern coastal plain.

Smaller settlements are recorded alongside roads, rivers and estates, making the map especially interesting for those exploring local or family history. Some names retain their familiar forms; others preserve spellings that have changed since the eighteenth century.

More than two centuries after it was published, Cary’s map remains a remarkably clear portrait of Lincolnshire. It captures the county before railways and industrial towns transformed travel, while revealing the road network, waterways and communities upon which that later development was built.