Mapmaking in Atholl
Extract from MS249 The Atholl Experience
Major cartographers
'Pont's Atholl manuscript maps cover the parish of Blair Atholl and
Struan, an area of about 500 square miles of mountainous terrain,
largely contained in manuscripts number 19 - "Mapp of Garry and its
Branches" and 20 "All the branches and River of Tilt
compleetlie".
Through these manuscripts I shall describe the settlements, rivers
and mountains they feature, as they have changed or developed until
today.
I shall also compare Pont with the Military Survey of Scotland,
1747-1755 by William Roy, who produced the forerunner of the modern
Ordnance Survey maps. He was put in charge of mapping
Scotland in 1747 for military purposes and his scale of 1 inch to
1,000 yards is large enough to provide remarkable detail, with
houses and other buildings coloured in red. Hills are
indicated by shades of grey, with hatching indicating the direction
of the slope, while strokes of darker colour indicate steeper
inclines. This three-dimensional style was created by Paul
Sandby, who later became a celebrated landscape painter, designated
"the father of watercolour art".'
Source: John Kerr, The Atholl Experience Vol 2(2) p.19
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Illustrations: Timothy Pont's, 'All the branches and
River of Tilt compleetlie', from Ms Map 20, 1596; Atholl House,
extracted from Stobie's
Map of Perthshire and
Clackmannanshire, 1783
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