Cornwall and Devonshire, 1588

A Plott of all the Coast of / CORNWALL and DEVONSHIRE, / as they were to be fortified in 1588 / against the Landing of any Enemy. / Taken from the Original in the Cottonian Library

A map of the coastlines of Devon and Cornwall showing the sites of proposed coastal fortifications in 1588. Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604); Eighty Years War (1568-1648). Oriented with north-north-west to top (compass rose).

The map is bordered by an ornamental frame with rococo designs, surmounted by the figure of Neptune holding a shield with the cross of St George and extends from Minehead (51°12ʹ20ʺN 03°28ʹ43ʺW), on the Somerset coast, and Sudmouth (Sidmouth 50°41ʹ27ʺN 03°14ʹ22ʺW) on the south Devon coast to Land’s End (50°04ʹ05ʺN 05°42ʹ57ʺW) on the south-westerly tip of Cornwall. Companies of pike-wielding infantry throng the southern coastline but are more sparsley placed along the northern coasts, except for the area between Purlock (Porlock, Somerset 51°12ʹ32ʺN 03°35ʹ44ʺW) and Cride Bay (Croyde Bay, Devon 51°08'02ʺN 04°14'10ʺW). The named sites of the proposed fortifications are indicated by mainly chevron-shaped entrenchments.

This chart was redrawn, probably by Clement Lempriere, from the original, now in the BL (Cott. Aug. I. ii. 65.*) which was itself drawn on vellum and measured 5 feet 2 inches by 2 feet. The original title is similar, but with minor spelling differences: A plott of all the coast of Cornwall and Devonshire, as they were to bee fortyfied in 1588, against the landing of an enemy. The chart was one of a set of prints comprising ten double-page plates of the battle and twelve maps engraved on seven sheets published in a volume by John Pine in 1739-1740 (the title-page is dated 1739 but the date 1740 appears on some of the prints) entitled: THE / TAPESTRY HANGINGS / OF THE / HOUSE OF LORDS: / Representing the several / ENGAGEMENTS BETWEEN THE / ENGLISH and SPANISH FLEETS, / In the ever memorable Year MDLXXXVIII, / With the PORTRAITS of the Lord High-Admiral, and the other / Noble Commanders, taken from the Life. / To which are added, / … / Ten CHARTS of the SEA-COASTS of ENGLAND, / And a GENERAL ONE of / England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Holland &c. / Shewing the Places of Action between the two FLEETS ….

The designs for the tapestries which formed the basis for the prints were commissioned by Elizabeth I’s Lord High Admiral, Howard of Effingham (who was in command of the English fleet) from Hendrik Cornelisz Vroom (1562-1640). Effingham hung them in his London house and then, debt-ridden, sold them to James I. In 1650 they were hung in the House of Lords where they were destroyed in a fire in 1834.

Sloman states that Pine’s prints were engraved after drawings by C. Lempriere but, while he was an artist as well as a cartographer, it is possible that he was the draughtsman of the maps only while the prints of the tapestries themselves were possibly made by one, Gravelot (see BM entry for the set at 1861,0518.305-327).

A bound set of the prints is at BL Maps C.8.d.8.