Beaulieu - Richardson, King, Driver and Driver's late 18th century / early 19th century map

Richardson, King, Driver and Driver's map

Maps are used throughout the New Forest Explorers' Guide to illustrate the changing face of the New Forest. The earliest of these was published in 1814 at a scale of 4 inches to the mile (6.3 centimetres to the kilometre), by Richardson, King, Driver and Driver. This was, though, a revised edition of the first reasonably accurate, large scale map of the New Forest, published in 1789 by the first three of those named.

The 1814 edition relied substantially upon the survey undertaken for the 1789 map, and was updated primarily to reflect relatively limited revisions to forestry inclosures. It therefore largely depicts the New Forest as it was immediately prior to 1789, rather than in 1814.

Note: On this map, the letter ‘L’ refers to lands held on leasehold from the Crown, whilst the letter ‘i’ is used to show incroachments, or parcels of land taken illegally from the Forest.