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Geography | Map Secrets

Iona Bower June 27, 2024

If you think you can trust a map, think again… Many contain twists and tricks that mean you could be navigating your way to something entirely unexpected.

1. Swisstopo Doodles

For decades, mapmakers for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo) have been secretly hiding illustrations in official maps: a marmot crouched among the contour lines of the Swiss Alps, a fish nestling in the fringes of a marshy nature reserve for example. Once discovered, these humorous additions are removed, which is rather a shame, we think.

2. Maps as propaganda

Maps are political and cultural documents, distorted representations riddled with errors, propaganda and mischief. Some depict Greenland as larger than Africa, others include entirely made-up streets.

3. World War II Escape Maps

 MI9 British Military Intelligence Officer, Clayton Hutton (known as Clutty) invented silk escape and evasion maps during the Second World War. Based on pre-war Continental touring maps, these were printed on parachute silk (and later rayon) as it was durable, easy to conceal inside the lining of a uniform and didn’t make crinkly noises when sneaking around. 

4. Real Life Treasure Maps

 In 2023, the National Archives of the Netherlands released a trove of documents declassified after a 75-year confidentiality period. Among them was a hand-drawn treasure map, sketched by four retreating German soldiers who’d buried stolen gold coins and jewels beneath the roots of a poplar tree. To this day, the long-lost Nazi hoard, believed to be worth millions, has never been found.

5. Filling in the blanks

Sometimes what’s not on a map that proves to be just as compelling. Terra Australis (Antarctica) tempted explorers even before it was a big blank space on James Cook’s 1795 map of the southern continents labelled ‘terra incognita’ (Latin for unknown land). Centuries before anyone ever beheld the frozen continent, ancient astronomers and geographers were convinced it existed, with maps from Greco-Roman and Medieval times fuelling a geographical myth that persisted for centuries. 

6. Telling tales

 Medieval mappa mundi – ancient European maps of the world – blended knowledge with myth, spirituality and cautionary tales. Hereford Cathedral exhibits the largest surviving example. Measuring 5’2” by 4’4”, the map portrays the Garden of Eden at the top and Jerusalem in the centre, while the edges brim with wondrous people and beasts, inspired by early explorers’ tales.

7. Paper Towns

A long-standing problem for cartographers is how to prevent others from plagiarising years of research; the solution is to set a trap. Known as ‘paper towns’ or ‘trap streets’, the London A–Z is said to contain dozens. For a while, Haggerston in Hackney had a non-existent ski-slope next to the city farm.

Our map secrets are taken from our ‘Know A Thing Or Two pages on maps in our June issue by
Jo Tinsley. Read more from page 83.

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Photography: manuscriptmaps.com

Photography: manuscriptmaps.com

Fascinating things | paper towns

Iona Bower November 16, 2019

Or why maps are not always to be trusted

You think you know where you are with a map, don’t you? Hopefully in a very literal as well as a figurative sense. We’re going to mess with your mind here… <whispers> Not everything you see on maps is real!

We recently heard about ‘paper towns’, which are, as you might expect, towns, streets or areas that can be seen on a map but do not exist in reality. 

Also known as ‘fake towns’, ‘phantom settlements’ and ‘bunnies’ (no, we aren’t sure why either), paper towns are made up by map makers in order to catch out copycat cartographers (try saying that while you’re drawing a map). The idea being if you add a fake town to your map and then you look at a map drawn at a later date by someone else and it includes the town you made up, you’ll be able to prove they copied your work. Sneaky!

There is, we are told, a Moat Lane marked on the Tele Atlas Directory of London (the basis for Google) which is entirely made up. And it’s not the first time Google has unwittingly copied a fake entry from a map onto its own map of an area. 

Back in 2008, there was a flurry of interest in a town called Argleton in West Lancashire. A trawl of the internet turned up all kinds of businesses, land for sale and more, but there was a hitch… Argleton did not exist. If you went to the spot where it was marked on Google, there was nothing to see but a rather uninspiring field. When it was brought to Google’s attention they issued an apology for the ‘error’ and the town disappeared from its maps in 2010. But somewhere, someone was having the last laugh at his or her little joke (and the knowledge that Google had chosen their maps to use). 

Suggestions were made that Arlgeton was an anagram of ‘not large’ or even ‘not real’ with a ‘G’ added for ‘Google’. Who knows if that’s true, or just a delicious coincidence, but we’ll be studying our Ordnance Surveys more carefully in future for suspicious-sounding towns that ring no bells.

If you also love a map, don’t miss our November issue in which we meet cartographer Kevin Sheehan who creates traditional, hand drawn maps like the one pictured here. Each is a work of art in its own right. 

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More from our November issue…

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Photography: Cristian Barnett

Photography: Cristian Barnett

Geography corner | Clipsham stone

Iona Bower August 7, 2019

Learn something new with our one-minute Geography primer

Question: What links Parliament, Windsor Castle, York Minster and a market town in Lincolnshire? 

Answer: Clipsham Stone. 

All three iconic buildings, as well as the Lincolnshire market town of Stamford, were built using the beautiful, honey-coloured Clipsham Stone. 

Clipsham is similar to Bath stone in that it’s an oolotic* limestone formed in the Jurassic era. It’s produced in an area around the village of Clipsham (yep, clue’s in the name) in Rutland, and the stone is known for its resilience, particularly in the acidic conditions of large cities, where smog might damage other stones. Parliament was originally built from Anston limestone from West Yorkshire but it was later replaced with the more hardy Clipsham stone, picked to be able to stand up to London’s sulphurous emissions from all the factories and houses. 

Clipsham has been used in many Oxford Colleges and other notable buildings, but its earliest use was for the building of Windsor castle between 1363 and 1368. It was also used for the beautiful honeyed Georgian buildings of Stamford, home to many a British costume drama. It’s said Colin Firth lived on a diet of Clipsham stone in the early nineties.**

In our August issue, you can take a virtual tour of Stamford in our ‘My Neighbourhood’ piece. We think you’ll be searching out local B&Bs quicker than we can say ‘early Autumn weekend break’. Enjoy!

*Oolots are small, egg-shaped grains that form by gradually building up layers, the same way hailstones do.

** It isn’t.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe



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Comment
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  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well
Feb 27, 2025
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The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

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