Joel Gascoyne
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Joel Gascoyne (bap. 1650—c. 1704) was an English
nautical chart A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or river bank, banks. Depending on the scale (map), scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of ...
maker, land
cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...
and
surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...
who set new standards of accuracy and pioneered large scale county maps. After achieving repute in the Thames school of chartmakers, he switched careers and became one of the leading surveyors of his day and a maker of land maps. He is best known for his maps of the colonial
Province of Carolina The Province of Carolina was a colony of the Kingdom of England (1663–1707) and later the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until the Carolinas were partitioned into North and Sou ...
, of the county of
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, and the early 18th-century Parish of
Stepney Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...
, precursor of today's East End of London. Gascoyne's distinctive style of chart and map-drawing was characterised by the use of bold and imaginative
cartouche upalt=A stone face carved with coloured hieroglyphics. Two cartouches - ovoid shapes with hieroglyphics inside - are visible at the bottom., Birth and throne cartouches of Pharaoh KV17.html" ;"title="Seti I, from KV17">Seti I, from KV17 at the ...
s.


Origins

Born into a seafaring family prominent in the port of
Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...
, Yorkshire, Joel Gascoyne was baptised at
Holy Trinity Church Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
on 31 October 1650. His father Thomas was a sea captain. At 18 Gascoyne was apprenticed for seven years to John Thornton, citizen and draper of London, a leading member of the Thames chartmakers.


The Thames school of chartmakers

The Thames school of chartmakers was a small group who plied their trade in streets and alleys leading down to the waterfront on the north Bank of the
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...
, east of the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
. Active between 1590 and 1740, they were critically involved in England's maritime affairs, yet the school was not identified by modern scholars until 1959.


Joel Gascoyne, master chartmaker

In 1675 Gascoyne set up in business for himself at "Ye Signe of ye Platt neare Wapping Old Stayres three doares below ye Chapell" (), taking apprentices of his own and producing manuscript and engraved charts. Nautical charts in Gascoyne's era - when accurate maritime clocks did not exist and mariners could not determine geographical
longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...
- were conceptually different from modern charts. It is explained in the article
Windrose network A rhumbline network (or windrose network) is a navigational aid consisting in lines drawn from multiple vertex (geometry), vertices in different compass direction, directions forming a web-like mesh. They were featured on portolan charts and ot ...
. Gascoyne acquired such fame that his counsel was twice sought by administrator of the Navy
Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...
and his services were commissioned by the proprietors of the colony of Carolina. Amongst Gascoyne's early works were four engraved Mediterranean charts published in John Seller's ''English Pilot'' (1677). In 1678 Gascoyne drew on vellum for Captain John Smith a coloured
portolan Portolan charts are nautical charts, first made in the 13th century in the Mediterranean basin and later expanded to include other regions. The word ''portolan'' comes from the Italian ''portolano'', meaning "related to ports or harbors", and wh ...
chart pasted on four hinged oak boards; the western half survives at the
National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...
Greenwich. Coming to the attention of the Lords Proprietors of the province of Carolina, he was commissioned to engrave a map of their province (1682) from the latest surveys; their intention was to attract immigrants to the new colony.


The Mediterranean

From Seller's ''The English Pilot'' (David Rumsey Map Collection). File:Gascoyne, Straights of Gibraltar.jpg, 1 File:Gascoyne, Chart of Corfu etc.jpg, 2 File:Gascoyne, chart of Cephalonia.jpg, 3 File:Gascoyne, chart of Morea.jpg, 4 # "A chart of the Straits of Gibralter", complete with tide-tables # "A chart of Corfu, Pachsu and Antipachsu with the Channel & roads between the Island of Corfu & Graetian coast" # "A chart of the south part of Cephalonia, with the Islands of Zante, and the coast of Morea from C. Chiarese, to C. Sapienza" # "A chart of the south coast of Morea from Venetica to C.S. Angelo with ye islands of Serigo, Serigoto and part of Candia"


America

File:Western Atlantic RMG K0998.jpg, 1 File:Gascoyne, Country of Carolina.jpg, 2 # Western Atlantic. "Made By Joel Gascoyne at ye Signe of the Platt at Waping old Stayres Ano Dom: 1678 For Capt. John Smith", showing the Eastern Coast of North America from Newfoundland to Mexico, with Central America, the West Indies and the Northern Part of South America. (National Maritime Museum.) Notice the plattboard hinge-line. # "A new map of the country of Carolina with its rivers, harbors, plantations and other accomodations don from the latest surveighs and best information by order of the Lords Proprietors". (John Carter Brown Library.) North is to the right. The inset shows
Charleston Harbor The Charleston Harbor is an inlet (8 sq mi/20.7 km2) of the Atlantic Ocean at Charleston, South Carolina. The inlet is formed by the junction of Ashley River (South Carolina), Ashley and Cooper River (South Carolina), Cooper rivers at . Morr ...
. "No more careful or accurate printed map of the province of Carolina as a whole was to appear until well into the eighteenth century", though Gascoyne did not survey the territory in person.


The East

File:Oriental Navigation Indian Ocean and Madagascar.jpg, 1 File:Bodleian Libraries, The second part of the Oriental Navigation, by Joel Gascoyne, 1684- the Indian Ocean south of India, Siam and Sumatra.jpg, 2 File:Thornton & Gascoyne, oriental oceans.jpg, 3 # Indian Ocean off Mozambique and Madagascar, from the second part of the Oriental Navigation (Bodleian Libraries) # Indian Ocean, south of India, Siam and Sumatra , from the second part of the Oriental Navigation (Bodleian Libraries) # "A plat of the Indian sea from Cabo Bonea Esperanca (
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...
) to Iapan" (Gallica: Bibliothèque nationale de France: monochrome reproduction). "This rare and splendid undated chart" was made in collaboration with his old master John Thornton.


The English revolution; career change

Increasing competition from printed charts squeezed profits in the chart industry. In October 1688 died Gascoyne's influential patron the Duke of Albemarle, governor of Jamaica, leaving Gascoyne at a disadvantage. On 11 December, King James II fled London when popular support for his government collapsed, ushering in the
Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...
. The next day, just a few yards from Gascoyne's shop at Wapping Old Stairs, a vengeful crowd seized
Judge Jeffreys George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys (15 May 1645 – 18 April 1689), also known as "the Hanging Judge", was a Welsh judge. He became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor (and serving as L ...
, who was trying to flee the country in disguise; Jeffreys was taken into protective custody. In 1689 Gascoyne ceased to be an active member of the Drapers Company and took up land surveying. The pursuit of this new career sometimes gave him the collateral opportunity to make large scale maps.


Estate surveyor

In 1692 Gascoyne was engaged to map
Sayes Court Sayes Court was a manor house and garden in Deptford, in the London Borough of Lewisham on the Thames Path and in the former parish of Deptford St Nicholas, St Nicholas. Sayes Court once attracted throngs to visit its celebrated garden''John Ev ...
,
Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...
, the property of diarist
John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's Diary, ...
. It was a prestigious commission, for in matters of gardening Evelyn was a trendsetter for country gentlemen, and at Sayes Court he created a beautiful home and garden. The next year the revolutionary government of
King William King William may refer to: People Bimbia * William I of Bimbia * William II of Bimbia () Britain and Ireland * William of England (disambiguation), multiple kings * William I, King of Scots (–1214), also known as William the Lion German Empir ...
and Queen Mary directed Gascoyne to survey the manor of Greenwich preparatory to instituting a home for retired sailors: Greenwich Hospital. Thus Gascoyne had established himself as one of the leading land-surveyors of the day. For the next six years he was away in Cornwall (see below), but on his return he was commissioned to survey several estates, including
Enfield Chase Enfield Chase is an open space in the London Borough of Enfield, North London. Historically, the name applied to a large common occupying the western part of the ancient parish of Enfield, extending from Monken Hadley in the west to Bulls ...
and the manor of
Great Hasely Great Haseley is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England. The village is about southwest of Thame. The parish includes the hamlets of Latchford, Little Haseley and North Weston and the house, chapel and park of Rycote. The par ...
.


Land surveying in Gascoyne's day

The instruments and techniques available to Gascoyne were rudimentary by today's standards. Theodolite-type instruments of his time used pointers, somewhat like the sights used on firearms; sighting telescopes with crosshairs, though invented, were not in use. Hence, angle measuremens were not very accurate. A standard textbook of Gascoyne's day asserted that which to a modern surveyor seemed incredibly bad. Measuring chains were not corrected for temperature. For longer distances a measuring wheel called a perambulator (see illustration) was used. Estate surveyors were disliked by farmers and tenants, who might refuse them access, wrote
Eva Taylor Eva Taylor (January 22, 1895 — October 31, 1977) was an American blues singer and stage actress. Life and career She was born Irene Joy Gibbons in St. Louis, Missouri, as one of twelve children. On stage from the age of three, Taylor tour ...
:


The Cornish maps

Though there is no direct historical record of it, map historian William Ravenhill showed that in 1693 Gascoyne was lured to Cornwall to survey the landholdings of two powerful families: those of John Grenville, first Earl of Bath, and Charles Robartes, second Earl of Radnor. Grenville had fought for the Royalists in the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
, accompanying the future Charles II into exile; the Robartes family had fought for the Parliamentarians. File:John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath.jpg, John Grenville File:Charles Robartes 2nd Earl of Radnor.jpg, Charles Robartes File:Lanhydrock House , Cornwall in 1831.jpg, Lanhydrock House before the Victorian alterations The Grenvilles had been Lords of the Manors of
Kilkhampton Kilkhampton () is a village and civil parish in northeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is on the A39 about four miles (6 km) north-northeast of Bude. Kilkhampton was mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Chilchetone". T ...
and
Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, South West England. It is the main town of the Torridge District, Torridge Districts of England, local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bi ...
since the 11th century. Their seat was at
Stowe House Stowe House is a grade I listed building, listed country house in Stowe, Buckinghamshire, Stowe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is the home of the Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Stowe School and is owned by the Stowe House Preserv ...
, which Grenville had rebuilt on a magnificent scale. He now wanted a surveyor to measure and plot his whole estate. Grenville had political connections with the colonial proprietors of Carolina and must have been familiar with Gascoyne's map of that country. In contrast, the Robartes had made their fortune in trade, originally by selling
furze ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...
to tin miners — for fuel. They got their first peerage by paying a £10,000 bribe to the Duke of Buckingham (though they protested it was
extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...
). They invested their trading profits in moneylending at high rates of interest, taking mortgages as security. When the borrowers defaulted, the Robartes foreclosed and took possession. Thus their landholdings, though amounting to 40,000 acres, were scattered all over Cornwall. The Robartes' seat was
Lanhydrock House Lanhydrock House, commonly known simply as Lanhydrock, is a country house and estate in the parish of Lanhydrock, Cornwall, UK. The house stands in extensive grounds (360 hectares or 890 acres) above the River Fowey, and has been owned and man ...
. Charles Robartes had boundary disputes with other Cornish landowners, who accused him of landgrabbing. He needed to survey his many and scattered estates. It gave Gascoyne the collateral opportunity to survey all over the county, hence to make his great one-inch map on his own account.


The one-inch map of the county of Cornwall

On March 27, 1699, Gascoyne issued a broadsheet addressed to the nobility and gentry of the county of Cornwall inviting them to subscribe to his map, which was nearly finished. His map is on a scale of very nearly one inch to the mile, unprecedented for the era, and not equalled by the
Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...
until their Kent map of 1801. Gascoyne's map measures about when mounted. Into this space he mapped a mass of detail: In "Joel Gascoyne, a Pioneer of Large-Scale County Mapping", William Ravenhill said that Cornwall was the first county to be mapped on a large scale. Even 50 years later, only a handful had been.


Accuracy

When tested with a modern Ordnance Survey map, the accuracy of Gascoyne's interpoint distances is so consistently good as to be surprising. How he managed to achieve such field measurements with the instruments of his day has not been explained. He must, at least, have used a system of carefully surveyed triangles, a procedure that was not standard until the late 18th century. His map includes lines of
latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...
and their graduations (
longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...
he prudently omitted ). These, however, contain a curious systematic error. While fairly accurate near
the Lizard The Lizard () is a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The southernmost point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at SW 701115; The Lizard, also known as Lizard village, is the most southerly region on the ...
, the values tend to be overstated the further one goes north — so consistently as to suggest the map-maker was erroneously taking the length of a
minute of arc A minute of arc, arcminute (abbreviated as arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of a degree. Since one degree is of a turn, or complete rotation, one arcminute is of a tu ...
to be a
statute mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...
, instead of a
geographical mile The geographical mile is an international unit of length determined by 1 minute of arc ( degree) along the Earth's equator. For the international ellipsoid 1924 this equalled 1855.4 metres. '' The American Practical Navigator'' 2017 defines the ...
as it really is. Ravenhill suspected the fault lay with John Harris the engraver, who would have added the latitude and grid lines afterwards.


Format

An innovation was the mapping of parish boundaries. Parishes were local government units, hence it was important to know the limits of their jurisdiction. Gascoyne mapped 201 parishes. Observed Professor Ravenhill: The printed
gazetteer A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or wikt:directory, directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup, social statistics and physical features of a co ...
lists 2,475 placenames, mostly classified by parish, and with grid references. File:Gascoyne's Map of Cornwall (cartouche and inset).jpg, Cartouche and (inset) the Isles of Scilly File:Gascoyne, map of Cornwall, dedication.jpg, Dedication to his patron Charles Robartes, replete with iconography of the tin-mining industry File:Cornwall (detail) by Joel Gascoyne.jpg, A portion of Gascoyne's map showing the Lizard (bottom), Truro (top right) and Mounts Bay (left) Gentlemen who subscribed could have their names engraved under their
family seat A family seat, sometimes just called seat, is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families t ...
s; 98 did so.


Production

Gascoyne's map was printed from seven engraved copper plates, plus six pages of letterpress for the gazetteer of placenames. A finished map would consist of six rectangular sheets mounted on cloth. The copper plate process was laborious. Large copper sheets were difficult to obtain. After engraving a sheet, which was done in 'mirror' writing with a sharp steel rod called a burin, it was heated and very carefully inked, then put through a rolling press — which worked on the mangle principle — together with a damp sheet of paper at great pressure. Optionally, patrons could have the map coloured by hand, for which an additional charge was customary.


Modern re-publication

In 1991 the
Devon and Cornwall Record Society The Devon and Cornwall Record Society is a text publication society A text publication society is a learned society which publishes (either as its sole function, or as a principal function) scholarly editions of old works of historical or literar ...
published a facsimile edition of Gascoyne's map. By this time only three copies of the original map could be found, two of them in museums but in unsuitable condition, the third privately owned by a Cornish architect, who loaned it to the publishers. The production comes in a boxed set with 12 map sheets on the original scale, a key map on a reduced scale, and scholarly commentaries.


The Stowe and Lanhydrock atlases

The Stowe Atlas is a survey of the Grenville properties. "Beautiful", it comprises 33 hand-drawn maps on vellum, bound in a black leather volume, tooled in gold. For a long time the Stowe Atlas was unknown to historians, but it reappeared in the 20th century and is now in
Kresen Kernow Kresen Kernow (Cornish language, Cornish for Cornwall Centre) in Redruth, United Kingdom is Cornwall's archive centre, home to the world's biggest collection of archive and library material related to Cornwall. Funded by the National Lottery Her ...
the Cornish public archives. The Lanhydrock Atlas is a survey of the Robartes properties. It comprises four large volumes, bound in leather, containing 258 manuscript maps on vellum. In 2010 a one-volume edition — with all the maps plus scholarly commentaries — was published on behalf of the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
. Because the maps in both atlases, though fairly obviously by the same author, are unsigned, they were thought to be the work of a local Cornish surveyor. However, William Ravenhill, the historian of cartography who deeply studied the maps of Gascoyne, made the correct attribution. Not only were the place-names too Anglicised for a Cornishman, the elaborate compass roses and colourful cartouches were typical of Joel Gascoyne's work, as was the maritime flavour. Furthermore, by paying attention to Gascoyne's known patrons, Professor Ravenhill was able to suggest why Gascoyne came to be working for Grenville and Robartes in the first place, a fact which had not been suspected. Writing of the Lanhydrock Atlas,
Fiona Reynolds Dame Fiona Claire Reynolds (born 29 March 1958) is a British former civil servant and chair of the National Audit Office. She was previously master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and director-general of the National Trust. Since January 2022 ...
said: while
Oliver Padel Oliver James Padel (born 31 October 1948 in St Pancras, London, England) is an English Medieval studies, medievalist and Toponymy, toponymist specializing in Welsh and Cornwall, Cornish studies. He is currently Honorary Research Fellow in the D ...
said:


The parish of St Dunstan Stepney, the incipient East End of London


Significance

The population booms of the 19th and early 20th centuries made the East End of London a byword for overcrowding and overbuilding. Despite this, much of its earlier history can be recovered thanks to Gascoyne's splendid maps of the area.


The area: the need for a map

The medieval parish of St Dunstan's, Stepney was an area of 7 square miles lying between the wall of the City of London and the
River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...
to the east, where Essex began. It was mostly open fields or marshland. In Gascoyne's day it was still largely intact, though four settlements had been hived off and given independent status. It was still predominately farmland, except up against the City, where it was "pestered" by houses, often illegally built, and along the densely built river front — London's rapidly growing maritime area, known as Sailor Town. By the end of the 19th century the area would have a million people and be better known as the East End of London. Hence by 1700 the parish needed to be surveyed for practical purposes. The local government, known as the Vestry, was responsible for a host of functions — the relief of poverty, highways, law and order, vagrants, the oversight of charities — and the collection of taxes to pay for these things. Taxes were levied on land occupation. In 1702 they decided to commission "some skilful Geographer or Plattmaker" to map the parish, its hamlets and their boundaries. They chose Joel Gascoyne.


The challenge

John Strype John Strype (1 November 1643 – 11 December 1737) was an English clergyman, historian and biographer from London. He became a merchant when settling in Petticoat Lane Market, Petticoat Lane. In his twenties, he became perpetual curate of Theydo ...
writing thirteen years later described Stepney as "rather a Province than a Parish", While the parish of Stepney was much smaller (and flatter) than Cornwall, the map was to be on a bigger scale (1:5,550, or about 11 inches to the mile), and had to depict fine urban detail, because its fiscal purpose was to show tax-liable properties, such as fields, terraces and stand-alone houses, and even courts and alleys. Professor Ravenhill, who wrote an introduction to a modern edition of Gascoyne's map, referred to the danger of surveying in "the often squalid and congested purlieus of late seventeenth-century London where the welcome accorded to seemingly inquisitive surveyors could have been anything but warm and co-operative. It is in the surveying of the detail of these courts and alleys that Joel Gascoyne would have met his most testing problems..." The parish contained 9 or 10 scattered hamlets, known as the Tower hamlets (because, originally, they had had a feudal obligation to supply men to guard the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
). From London, two ancient main roads ran across the parish: *the highway running northeast to
Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...
and
Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...
(including the
Mile End Road The A11 is a major trunk road in England. It originally ran roughly north east from London to Norwich, Norfolk. It now consists of a short section in Inner London and a much longer section in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. The lengthy se ...
); *the coastal highway running east to Limehouse (including the Ratcliff Highway).
Ribbon development A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...
along these routes accounted for most of the housing. Apart from his main map of the parish, Gascoyne was independently commissioned to map three individual hamlets: Limehouse, Mile End Old Town, and Bethnal Green. The Limehouse map was on a scale of 1:2,376, or nearly 27 inches to the mile. By way of comparison, the Ordnance Survey did not survey an English town until 1843, and did not make 25-inch maps of any part of the country until 1853.


Joel Gascoyne's Stepney

Some fragments of Gascoyne's vanishing Stepney lasted long enough to be captured by artists, or even to survive to this day. These buildings can be found on his maps.


The centre

In the middle of the parish, standing in cow-grazed fields, was the church. Founded in Anglo-Saxon times, it was dedicated to
St Dunstan Dunstan ( – 19 May 988), was an English bishop and Benedictine monk. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised. His work restored monastic life in En ...
, who was
Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
in AD 958. High-status individuals had country estates in early Stepney and a number are buried im its churchyard, as are many sea captains. For some reason it acquired a reputation for facetious epitaphs; for example— Known as the Church of the High Seas, it had a strong maritime connection; legal textbooks said "A British
man-of-war In Royal Navy jargon, a man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a powerful warship or frigate of the 16th to the 19th century, that was frequently used in Europe. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually rese ...
is, by a
legal fiction A legal fiction is a construct used in the law where a thing is taken to be true, which is not in fact true, in order to achieve an outcome. Legal fictions can be employed by the courts or found in legislation. Legal fictions are different from ...
, always a part of the parish of Stepney". Its bells feature in the children's song ''
Oranges and Lemons "Oranges and Lemons" is a traditional English nursery rhyme, folksong, and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as No 13190. The earliest ...
''. File:St Dunstan, Stepney in 1803 by Shepherd.jpg, 1 File:St Dunstan's Church, Stepney 10.jpg, 2 File:Stepney St. Dunstan's 01.JPG, 3 File:A Curious Gate at Stepney.jpg, 4 File:Dean Colet's house in Stepney.jpg, 5 File:Gate and overthrow at 37 Stepney Green E1 3JX.jpg, 6 # The parish church as it would have looked in Gascoyne's day ( George Shepherd: British Museum) # Memorial for an Elizabethan sea captain and his wife (interior) # St Dunstan's today. # "King John's Court", in fact a surviving medieval moated manor house By Gascoyne's day it had passed into the hands of radical religious dissenters. (Engraving by "Antiquity" Smith, 1791: British Museum). Demolished 1810, recently excavated for
Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...
at the City Farm site. # Colet's house in Stepney (anonymous print: British Museum). Dean Colet, Renaissance humanist, friend of
Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
and
St Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VI ...
, was a vicar of St Dunstan's. The drawing shows the house in about 1815. # A William and Mary house, 37 Stepney Green, E1. Built in 1694 or a little earlier, "it is one of the finest in the entire borough, and a rare example of a large, formerly free-standing 17th-century house in inner London. This specimen shows that Gascoyne depicts every individual field, with the name of its owner (i.e. the taxpayer). Where space does not permit him to name a significant feature, he uses a numeral referenced to a table. The indicates the parish church. It had both a rector and a vicar. The rectory is depicted as a row of gables just to the east of the church. The road running northwest from the church ("Mile End Green") is today Stepney Green. "King John's Court" is a little way up this road, marked '2' by Gascoyne (requires magnification). No. 37 Stepney Green is about three-quarters of the way up the road, under the word 'Nicolson'. Dean Colet's house is marked "Belonging to Paul School" (which he founded). Nearly opposite to that, also marked "2", is "the Mercers Almes Houses" The numerous bowling greens reflect the leisure character of the area. An "astonishing" number of houses in Mile End Town, a little to the north, were licensed to sell liquor. But, in general, the neighbourhood was a retirement village, inhabited by "rich Citizens and Sea-Captains". Mile End Old Town was noted for its numerous almshouses. The charitable use of the area is further shown by the field for the support of "Poor of Criplegate";and, to its left, numeral "9", denoting "Jews' Burial Place".


Spitalfields and Mile End

File:18 Folgate Street, Spitalfields - geograph.org.uk - 852627.jpg, 1 File:Jean Misaubin and his family. Gouache painting by Joseph Gou Wellcome L0017402.jpg, 2 File:23 Fournier Street, London.jpg, 3 File:Number 4 Princelet St.jpg, 4 File:Trinity Green Almshouses - Whitechapel.jpg, 5 File:Wodden houses in Mile End Road.jpg, 6 File:107 Mile End Road E1 4UJ.jpg, 7 File:Mile End Road Jewish inscription.jpg, 8 # Silk weaver's house, Folgate Street, Spitalfields, now a museum. Many
Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
escaping religious persecution were silk weavers, and came to live in Spitalfields, just outside the jurisdiction of the City trade guilds. # Huguenot preacher: Jacques Misaubin (left) was pastor of a French church in Spitalfields — the only locality in England where French was spoken in the streets. (Welcome Collection). # 23 Fournier Street. Notice the weavers' loft with its characteristic skylight. # 4 Princelet Street, Spitalfields. # Trinity Green Almshouses, Mile End Road, built for sea captains and their widows who had fallen on hard times. A Grade I listed building, the
Survey of London The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of central London and its suburbs, or the area formerly administered by the London County Council. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an A ...
attributes it to Sir
Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...
and John Evelyn jointly — with a suggestion that Joel Gascoyne might have been involved too. # Early wooden houses in the Mile End Road, still standing in this 1899 photo (Historic England), but demolished in 1902 to make way for
Stepney Green tube station Stepney Green is a London Underground station located on Mile End Road in Stepney, London, United Kingdom. It is between Whitechapel and Mile End on the District line and the Hammersmith & City line, and is in Travelcard Zone 2. History The s ...
. # 107 Mile End Road # Jewish inscription (1684) on a tablet, north wall of the ''Velho'' burial ground for Portuguese Jews, Mile End Road (Historic England). The plaque survives in its place to this day. The inscription may be an early instance of a public text in
Judaeo-Spanish Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew script: ), also known as Ladino or Judezmo or Spaniolit, is a Romance language derived from Castilian Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain, and then after the Edict of Expulsion spreading ...
written in Latin characters.
Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...
had encouraged Jews to return to England when Joel Gascoyne was a boy. A. Another extract from Gascoyne's map of the parish of Stepney, showing the built up area of Spitalfields. Building near to London was theoretically illegal, so unauthorised dwellings were hidden away in back gardens or courts. Into these tightly packed habitations French (and other) refugees crowded. Despite this, " ascoyne'sblocks are not mere diagrams but real houses", wrote David Johnson. The indicates Spitalfields Market with its central cruciform building surrounded by market stalls "carefully individualised by Gascoyne". B. Cartouche from Gascoyne's map of Mile End Old Town, which the hamlet commissioned separately. The symbolism concerns the hamlet's interest in dairy pasturage. The indicates a curious local feature,
Whitechapel Mount Whitechapel Mount was a large artificial mound of disputed origin. A prominent landmark in 18th century London, it stood in the Whitechapel Road beside the newly constructed London Hospital, being not only older, but significantly taller. It ...
.


"Sailor Town"

Running due east from the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
was the Ratcliff Highway, a coastal route originating in Roman times. Cutting across a peninsula to avoid the marshlands of Wapping, it rejoined the Thames at the gravel outcrop of
Ratcliff Ratcliff or Ratcliffe is a locality in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames between Limehouse (to the east), and Shadwell (to the west). The place name is no longer commonly used. History Etymol ...
. By Gascoyne's day the marsh had been reclaimed as gardens and his map shows Ratcliff with three shipyards. The route continued east under other names, going through
Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains throu ...
, cutting across the neck of the Isle of Dogs at Poplar, and ending at
Blackwall Yard Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987. History East India Company Blackwall was a sh ...
where East Indiamen were built.
Ribbon development A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...
along much of this route produced a densely settled maritime population. File:Prospect of Whitby 04.JPG, 1 File:Wapping Old Stairs, London 16966950146.jpg, 2 File:Wapping, St Johns Schools, figures.jpg, 3 File:Limehouse terrace 1.jpg, 4 File:Limehouse in about 1735.jpg, 5 File:Hemy, The Barge Builders.jpg, 6 # Pelican Stairs, Wapping and the
Prospect of Whitby The Prospect of Whitby is a historic public house on the northern bank of the River Thames at Wapping, in the East End of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lays claim to being on the site of the oldest riverside tavern, dating ...
# Wapping Old Stairs, next to Gascoyne'a old platt shop # Figures at St John Schools, Scandrett Street # Riverside terrace, in what is now called
Narrow Street Narrow Street is a narrow road running parallel to the River Thames through the Limehouse area of east London, England. It used to be much narrower, and is the oldest part of Limehouse, with many buildings originating from the eighteenth centur ...
, Limehouse. # The same properties viewed from the Thames (German print, about 1735: British Museum). The properties are located after the first indentation on the left, which was a dry dock known as Limehouse Bridge Dock, because crossed by a drawbridge. # ''Limehouse Barge Builders'' by
Charles Napier Hemy Charles Napier Hemy (Newcastle upon Tyne, 24 May 1841 – 30 September 1917, Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth) was a British genre and marine painter. He was born to a musical family in Newcastle upon Tyne, and trained in the Government School o ...
, showing the scene in about 1880. Waterfront buildings were valuable commercial property; owners, untroubled by planning laws, jerry built to suit. (South Shields Museum and Art Gallery.)


Further river settlements

File:Mr Bere's house, Ratcliff.jpg, 1 File:Isle of Dogs in the 18th century.png, 2 File:Blackwall and Dock Yard.jpg, 3 # Ratcliff was the quintessential Sailor Town. A crowded waterfront and an important maritime centre since Tudor times, most of it was destroyed by fire in 1794; therefore no houses from Gascoyne's time have survived. This image shows one that did escape the fire. Seemingly, in Gascoyne's youth, Ratcliff was a retirement destination for pirates of the Caribbean: some of these were immensely rich. # Isle of Dogs by Robert Dodd (detail). This picture, though painted later, shows the southern tip of the peninsula as it was Gascoyne's time: cattle-raising land, well below high water mark, precariously defended by a 15-foot river wall. The people are waiting for the ferry. (National Maritime Museum.) The Isle of Dogs (known as Stepney Marshes) was famous for its rich grazing and fat cattle and sheep. Gascoyne's map of the area shows seven windmills with their owner's names. # Blackwall, dominated by the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
, whose ships were built in, repaired and victualled at
Blackwall Yard Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987. History East India Company Blackwall was a sh ...
.


Re-publication

In 1995 the
London Topographical Society The London Topographical Society was founded as the Topographical Society of London in 1880 to publish "material illustrating the history and topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of ...
published a facsimile of Gascoyne's four maps in eight large sheets in a looseleaf folder, together with learned commentaries by William Ravenhill and David Johnson; the folder of maps and the commentaries are now sold separately. A reduced version of the main map had been published by John Strype in 1755, and again by Stepney Parish in 1890.


The cartouches of Joel Gascoyne

After 300 years Gascoyne's surviving charts and maps are not necessarily in perfect condition, and high-resolution images are not always available. Even so, his characteristic style of cartouche-making can be examined. A cartouche was usually placed above or around the scale, and was a limited area wherein the cartographer was not only free, but expected to display his talent for decoration. Gascoyne's work was characterised by bold and imaginative cartouches which became a kind of trademark. Map historian William Ravenhill called him a cartographer with style. File:Cartouche, Gascoyne's map of Gibraltar.jpg, 1 File:Cartouche , Gascoyne's Oriental Navigation Pt 2.jpg, 2 File:Cartouche, Gascoyne's chart of West Atlantic.jpg, 3 File:Cartouche, Gascoyne's map of Bethnal Green.jpg, 4 # From his printed "map of the straits of Gibralter" (1677), one of his earliest works. Unusually, the scale is placed at an angle, sustained by Neptune's trident. # From his "the second part of the Oriental Navigation" (1684), "made by Joel Gascoyne at the Sign of y Platt nere Wapping old Staires 3 doares down from y Chappell" # From his chart of the West Atlantic "made for Cap John Smith (1678) # From his map of the hamlet of Bethnal Green. Printed maps were monochrome but clients paid to have them hand-coloured (as here). The legend of the blind beggar (a mighty knight who loses his eyesight in battle and must subsist as a beggar in Bethnal Green) had a powerful appeal in the district.


Death

When Gascoyne negotiated with the Vestry of St Dunstan Stepney in 1702, he could see a prominent inscribed stone in the church, the image of which is reproduced here. In less than three years, Joel Gascoyne was dead. Almost nothing is known about his personal life, except that he was married to one Elizabeth and that she, living in
Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking, 1965–1980 ** Municipal Borough of Barking, 1931–1965 ** Barking (UK Parliament constituency) ** Barking (electoral division), Greater ...
, applied for
letters of administration Letters of Administration are granted by a surrogate court or probate registry to appoint appropriate people to deal with a deceased person's estate where property will pass under intestacy rules or where there are no executors living (and will ...
of his estate on 13 February 1705.The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography gives his death year as 1705. But that is to presuppose his widow applied for, and got, letters of administration in less than 2 months.


References and notes


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


''A new map of the Country of Carolina'' hosted at the Library of Congress
* ttp://www.mernick.org.uk/elhs/maps/bp1703.htm Ditto: 2. Bow, Bromley and Poplar* ttp://www.mernick.org.uk/elhs/maps/bg1703.htm Ditto: 3. Bethnal Greenbr>David J. Johnson's essay on the topography of Gascoyne's Stepney maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gascoyne, Joel 1700s deaths 17th-century births Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain 17th-century English cartographers 18th-century English cartographers English surveyors People from Kingston upon Hull Thames school of chartmakers