Vintage Map of West Yorkshire by Joan Blaeu, 1645

Joan Blaeu’s Map of Yorkshire’s Historic West Riding

Joan Blaeu’s map of the West Riding of Yorkshire was first published in Amsterdam in 1645. Its engraved title, Ducatus Eboracensis Pars Occidentalis; The Westriding of Yorke Shire, identifies it as the western division of England’s largest historic county.

The map appeared in the fourth volume of Blaeu’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive Atlas Novus, devoted to England and Wales. Blaeu issued a general Yorkshire map together with separate plates for the North, East and West Ridings, enabling the county’s settlements and varied landscapes to be represented in greater detail.

Joan Blaeu and His Yorkshire Maps

Joan Blaeu inherited the family mapmaking and publishing business following the death of his father, Willem Blaeu, in 1638. The West Riding map was produced during Joan’s management of the Amsterdam workshop and should be attributed to him.

Blaeu did not conduct a new survey of Yorkshire. His geographical information was derived largely from earlier English county mapping, particularly the work of John Speed and the surveying tradition established by Christopher Saxton. Blaeu’s workshop refined and re-engraved this material, combining it with elaborate decoration and typography.

The map can be compared with our old map of Yorkshire’s West Riding by John Speed. Although both maps draw upon the same broad cartographic tradition, their engraving, arrangement and decorative treatment are distinct.

A Region Larger Than Modern West Yorkshire

The historic West Riding covered a considerably greater area than the present ceremonial county of West Yorkshire. It extended from parts of the Yorkshire Dales and the Pennines in the northwest to Sheffield and Doncaster in the south and eastwards towards York and the River Ouse.

The region included places now associated with South Yorkshire and parts of North Yorkshire, as well as Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Halifax and Huddersfield. The term “Riding” developed from an Old Norse word meaning a third part, reflecting Yorkshire’s long history of Scandinavian settlement and administration.

Blaeu represents the Pennines and other higher ground through conventional pictorial hills. Woodland appears as groups of trees, while towns and villages are distinguished by engraved building and church symbols. Roads are not shown systematically, and the map was not intended to provide the measured accuracy of a modern survey.

Its rivers are particularly prominent. The Aire and Calder flow eastwards through some of the settlements that later became central to the woollen industry. The Don connects Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster, while the Wharfe runs through the northern part of the Riding towards the Ouse.

Towns Before the Industrial Revolution

Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Sheffield are all identifiable, but none yet possessed the extensive urban landscape created during the Industrial Revolution. On Blaeu’s map they remain individual towns surrounded by villages, fields, moorland and wooded valleys.

The woollen textile trade was already important. Cloth production frequently took place in domestic workshops, with spinning, weaving and finishing distributed among families and small communities. Market towns provided places where raw wool, yarn and finished cloth could be exchanged.

Leeds and Halifax were developing as important textile centres, while Wakefield benefited from its position beside the River Calder and established regional routes. Sheffield already had a strong reputation for metalworking and cutlery; the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire had been incorporated in 1624.

Elsewhere, farming, livestock, coal working, quarrying and lead mining contributed to the economy. These activities would expand dramatically during later centuries, assisted by canals, turnpike roads and railways that did not yet exist when Blaeu’s antique map was published.

The West Riding During the Civil War

The map appeared after several years of serious conflict in Yorkshire. Leeds and Bradford were contested by Royalist and Parliamentarian forces, and the Battle of Adwalton Moor was fought near Bradford in June 1643. The Royalist victory forced Parliamentarian troops to withdraw from much of the district.

The balance of power changed following the Parliamentarian victory at Marston Moor in July 1644. Pontefract Castle nevertheless remained an important Royalist stronghold and endured repeated sieges before finally surrendering in 1649.

Blaeu’s map does not depict these events. It was created as a geographical and decorative work rather than a military record, presenting a calm image of a region that had recently experienced considerable disruption.

Cartouches and Heraldic Display

The map contains two finely engraved figure cartouches. One encloses the title, while the other presents the scale in English miles. Royal and English coats of arms appear alongside the traditional arms of Yorkshire.

Eight further family shields form part of the heraldic decoration, although three were left blank. Such unfilled shields occur on several of Blaeu’s English county maps and should not be mistaken for damage or incomplete colouring.

Original examples were printed in black ink from an engraved copperplate, with colour applied separately to selected impressions. The plate was reused in later editions, which may carry Latin, French, Dutch, German or Spanish text on the reverse.

Today, Blaeu’s historic county map provides a striking view of the West Riding before factories, canals, railways and rapid urban growth altered its character. It preserves the earlier geography beneath modern West and South Yorkshire while demonstrating the decorative quality associated with the finest seventeenth-century Dutch atlases.