Old Map of Hertfordshire in 1611 by John Speed - Hertford, St Albans, Watford

This reproduction print is based on John Speed's 1611 map of Hertfordshire, engraved by Jodocus Hondius and drawn from his survey work for The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine. The county town of Hertford anchors the map, alongside Watford to the southwest and St Albans, where Speed also included a detailed inset of the Roman ruins of Verulamium, the ancient city that once stood on what is now the edge of St Albans.

Because Hertfordshire's southern boundary borders London, the map also captures a scattering of towns and villages that were then still countryside but have since become part of the capital's outer boroughs, among them High Barnet, East Barnet, Enfield and Waltham Abbey. Elsewhere across the county, Speed marks out Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Bishop's Stortford, Hitchin, Rickmansworth, Berkhamsted, Hatfield and Potters Bar, each recorded in the Early Modern English spelling of the day. Together they show a rural county of market towns still centuries away from the commuter belt it would eventually become.

This map suits a hallway, study or living room particularly well, and its warm historical detail makes it a genuinely thoughtful gift. It's often chosen as a birthday or Christmas present for someone who grew up in Hertfordshire, a housewarming gift for a family settling near St Albans or Hertford, or a leaving gift for a colleague relocating away from the county. It also works nicely as a Mother's Day gift for a Hertfordshire-born mum who still calls the county home, standing alone beautifully as a distinctive piece of wall art for any room.