The Seven Years War (1756-63)
Manuscript and printed maps and views, correspondence and journals from the first global war
Cox Heath, 1756
A PLAN / of COCK’s HEATH and the adjacent Parts in / the County of Kent 42 Englisch Miles from London / and 4 Miles from Maidstone. / with the CAMP / consisting of 12 Battalions of HIS MAJESTY’S / German Troops under the...
1756Pencil, pen, ink and watercolour on four pieces of paper, joined | Scale: 1:5,450 approx. | RCIN 731082
The old catalogue entry gives the dates of the camp as 12 July-4 August. These dates are taken from the text on the map which gives only the arrival dates for the battalions. The map at RCIN 731068.e gives the terminal date as 3 November.
In 1756, faced with the threat of imminent invasion from France, Britain had few forces to defend the invasion coasts of southern England. The Elector of Hanover (George II) agreed to send thirteen battalions to England, and the Landgraf of Hesse-Kassel (William VIII, 1682-1760, landgraf 1751-60) sent eight battalions.
The thirteen Hanoverian battalions shown on this plan are 1st and 2nd battalion Guards, Oberg, Hodenberg, Wangenheim, Zastrow, Fabrice, Diepenbroick, Haus, Kielmansegge, Spöercken, Artillery.
The cartography is in a typical German hand. Six categories of land use appear to be represented: woodlands, orchard, pasture land, arable, hop growing(?) (perhaps indicated by the brown fields with regularly spaced dots), heathland. Great care seems to have been taken to show a comprehensive route network, with the many tracks across the heath being depicted. However, when this map is compared with another copy at RCIN 731083, it would seem that some of the ‘roads’ are not roads, but merely the outer edge of the highway which probably comprised carriageway and broad verges. Footpaths are represented by single dashed lines. This map shows much greater topographical detail than Daniel Paterson's map of this encampment which was drawn in the 1780s (RCIN 731068.e).
Additional text: [top right, in English and French, a key, A,B, to the identification of the Right and Left Wings.] [Bottom left, in a rectangular panel, in English, a list of the encamped regiments and a key, C-H to the owners of the prominent houses around the heath:] Explanation [bottom right, the same list of the encamped regiments and property owners in French with their dates of entering the camp:] Entrée au Camp [and] Explication.
Condition: two fold lines; brown discolouration from the old paste along the joins of the sheets of paper.
FC Borchmann (active 1756) (draughtsman) [bottom right of French title:] fait par F. C. Borchmann. L.t Quart.r Maitre General.
Watermark: Strasburg bend with lily, the letters LVG below
Annotations: 792
Condition: two fold lines; brown discolouration from the old paste along the joins of the sheets of paper
Scale: 1:5,450 approx. Scale bars: Scale of 1000 Paces [149 mm =]; Echelle de 1000 Pas [149 mm =].
53.1 [with extrusion in top margin 58.1] x 79.7 cm (neatline)
61.9 x 80.0 cm (image)
58.1 [with extrusion 62.7] x 86.7 cm (sheet)
Manuscript title:
A PLAN / of COCK’s HEATH and the adjacent Parts in / the County of Kent 42 Englisch Miles from London / and 4 Miles from Maidstone. / with the CAMP / consisting of 12 Battalions of HIS MAJESTY’S / German Troops under the Command of his Excell: / General Sommerfeldt / in the Year 1756. // PLAN / de COCK’S HEATH et des Environs dans la Comté / de Kent, 42 miles Angl: de Londres, & 4 de Maidstone / avec le CAMP / de 12 Bataillons des Troupes Allemandes de / SA MAJESTE BRITANNIQUE aux ordres / de S. E. Mons.r le General d’Infanterie de Sommerfeldt. / l’an 1756. [top right, in rectangular panels, in English and French]
Additional text:
[top right, in English and French, a key, A,B, to the identification of the Right and Left Wings.] [Bottom left, in a rectangular panel, in English, a list of the encamped regiments and a key, C-H to the owners of the prominent houses around the heath:] Explanation [bottom right, the same list of the encamped regiments and property owners in French with their dates of entering the camp:] Entrée au Camp [and] Explication.
Annotations:
George III heading: Encampment at Cox Heath 12 July-12 Aug.t 1756.
Other annotations: (Recto) [top right margin, in the hand of the Duke of Cumberland's librarian, Edward Mason, ink:] 1756. (Verso) [bottom left, ink:] Hanoverian Camp at Cock's Heath; by Colo:l Borchman. 1756; [top left, black pencil:] July. [top, left of centre, red pencil:] 31; [centre, black pencil:] 30; [bottom, left of centre, black pencil:] England 1756.
George III catalogue entry:
Encampment A drawn Plan of Cox heath in the County of Kent with the Camp of His Majesty’s German Troops under the command of General Sommerfeldt in 1756. by J. C. Borchmann, 1756. 4 sheets. [The same entry appears under the heading Cox Heath.]
Subject(s)
Coxheath, Kent, UK (51°14'03"N 00°29'34"E)
Page revisions
14 March 2024
Current version
