Roy Military Survey of Scotland, 1747-1755
Introduction
The Roy Military Survey of Scotland, known to its contemporaries as the 'Great Map', is a uniquely important historical cartographic document. It provides a uniform graphic snapshot of the entire Scottish mainland at a time when the landscape was beginning an era of rapid change.
For many Highland areas, it is the most detailed and informative map that survives for the entire 18th century, and for all areas, the only standard topographic map prior to the Ordnance Survey mapping in the 19th century.
Influence on Ordnance Survey
More generally, the Roy map is a landmark of cartography, exemplifying emerging standards in military surveying and cartography. It held a seminal influence on British military mapping in the later 18th century, and, not least through its chief surveyor William Roy, had a crucial influence on the early work of the Ordnance Survey itself.
View the Roy map:
- Map with gazetteers
- Full screen map - Highlands or Lowlands
Further information
- Background to the Survey and William Roy
- Scope of the Survey and Field survey methods
- Cartographic style and content
- Map originals, images and bibliography
