The Friends of the Archives 2026 Annual Lecture - Early Maps of Shropshire

Shropshire Archives holds a very varied and diverse collection of county maps, the earliest being dated 1577. We are delighted that the Friends 2026 Annual Lecture is being delivered by Patricia de Haan, who has been fascinated with maps since an early age: “I bought my first map of Shropshire at a jumble sale when I was eight years old and I’ve never looked back!”

Patricia’s talk will cover maps of the 16th and 17th century, a period when the art of cartography was evolving; with some examples having the inclusion of town plans, plus small panels of historical text. But on the other hand, while deer parks are depicted, on early examples no roads are shown. 

One of the maps that Patricia will be bringing to the lecture is a copper plate engraving on an original page from William Camden's 1607 edition of his monumental work - Britannia.