Vintage Esso Map of Ireland

Around the area

Taylor presents Ireland as a continuous landscape of roads, waterways and local stories. The eye can travel from Malin Head at the northern tip to Cape Clear in the south, following routes punctuated by little drawings of buildings and people. Although the whole island shares one decorative frame, the map belongs to the period after partition. Its emphasis is touring and cultural association rather than a detailed explanation of political boundaries.

Along the eastern shore, Dublin forms a conspicuous meeting point of roads. Nearby names lead towards Maynooth, Drogheda and the Boyne country, while southwards the route passes Bray and Wicklow. Inland, Glendalough is accompanied by its ecclesiastical associations, placing an ancient religious landscape within easy imaginative reach of the capital. Taylor also marks sea connections, reminding the viewer that arrival by ship was part of the journey for many visitors.

The north has a different rhythm. Belfast faces its lough, with Carrickfergus and Bangor close by, while the road towards the Antrim coast brings Ballymena, Ballycastle and the Giant’s Causeway into view. Portrush and Dunluce Castle occupy the same crowded coastal strip. Farther west, Londonderry stands beside the Foyle, and Donegal opens into an indented Atlantic coast. The illustrations encourage pauses at individual landmarks rather than a hurried passage between cities.

Moving down the western side, the drawing becomes an intricate arrangement of bays, islands and headlands. Achill, Clew Bay and Connemara give this part of the sheet a particularly irregular outline. Galway sits at the head of its broad bay, with the Aran Islands offshore. Roads thread inland around the lakes, including Lough Corrib and Lough Mask. The contrast between these open waters and the closely packed coastal names makes the western landscape satisfying to study.

Kerry extends the journey through Tralee, Dingle and Killarney, then around the southern peninsulas towards Kenmare and Bantry. These are shown as places linked by roads but shaped by the sea. Across the south, Cork, Cobh and Waterford return attention to harbours and urban life. Inland, the Shannon connects a different sequence of places, including Athlone and Limerick, while Cashel and Kilkenny supply distinctive architectural stopping points among the smaller towns.

The decoration is part of the geography. Arms for the four provinces anchor the corners, while civic emblems and literary fragments invite a slower reading. Coaches, horses and a motor car share the margins, bringing older travel traditions into the motoring age. Taylor’s Ireland is deliberately selective: a memorable building, a familiar quotation or an amusing figure often receives more attention than technical detail. That selection gives the map its warmth. It can be enjoyed as a record of how Ireland was presented to travellers, but also as a personal landscape in which a family town, a favourite stretch of coast or a remembered holiday route suddenly comes into focus. Look closely and the practical road network becomes a framework for dozens of miniature scenes, each offering another reason to linger over a place that might otherwise be only a name.