Old Map of Ireland in 1790 by John Rocque - Rare Large Wall Chart

Unlike the pocket atlases and folded county sheets typical of eighteenth-century cartography, this map of Ireland was designed from the outset to be read at a distance, as a large wall chart rather than a book plate. It carries the name of John Rocque, the French-born surveyor best remembered for his enormous 1746 plan of London, though Rocque himself had died in 1762 and this 1790 edition represents a later printing from his workshop's plates, reissued to meet continuing demand for a single comprehensive map of the whole island. Originally engraved across four large sheets and typically joined into one composite map measuring several feet across, it stands as one of the most ambitious Irish maps produced in the Georgian period.

As a chart of the entire island, it covers all four historic provinces: Leinster, Munster, Ulster, and Connacht, along with the county divisions that structured Irish administration under the Crown. Dublin appears as the island's capital and principal port, with Cork, Belfast, Limerick, and Galway marked among the other major towns, while the map also traces the River Shannon, Ireland's longest river, along with the Wicklow Mountains and the rugged coastline of the west. Because the original plate covered such a large area, the level of town, village, and townland detail across the whole country is unusually rich for a map of this size.

This edition suits collectors specifically drawn to large-format decorative wall maps rather than the smaller folio sheets more commonly seen from this period, as well as anyone who wants a single sweeping view of Ireland rather than a county-by-county set. Given its scale in the original, we reproduce it at high resolution across our largest print sizes as well as smaller formats, so its wall-chart character carries through however it is displayed.