It’s probably not a surprise that while I’m sorting out my thoughts for the forthcoming block of map Zoom classes that my mind should turn to monastic chartularies. These were portfolios recording monastic landownership. Essentially it was a collection of legal documents which did not always include maps but certainly included charters, deeds, land records and evidence of land transfer, privileges etc. They were usually bound in book form but on occasion the documents were attached together to make a roll. A fifteenth century map belonging to the London Charterhouse, the home of the Carthusians, depicts the monks’ water supply. The pipes crossed fields from springs to the monastery. One of the maps is a convenient 3 metres long. However, thus far it is the only map I can think of.
More famous as a map depicting a village is the chartulary map of Boarstall in Buckinghamshire. The chartulary was produced in 1444 for Edmund Rede of Boarstall but the map is older. In fact the map is the oldest surviving map of an English village and it tells the story of Nigel the Forester of Bernewood, one of Edmund Rede of Boarstall’s ancestors. Apparently a boar was terrorising the vicinity. Nigel killed the boar and presented its head to Edward the Confessor, who hunted in the forest where the boar lived. The map tells part of the story as well as depicting Nigel giving the head to the king and being rewarded and granted the charter of office of the forest of Bernewode.