Old OS Map of Suffolk in 1901 by Bartholomew - Ipswich, Framlingham, Orford Ness
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John George Bartholomew, the Scottish cartographer behind one of the best-known mapping firms of the period, published this sheet of Suffolk in 1901 as part of his Half-Inch to the Mile series, a set of maps based on a reduced Ordnance Survey and popular at the time with cyclists and tourists exploring the English countryside. Numbered Sheet 20 in the series, the map used Bartholomew's signature technique of layered colour bands to show relief, a method that let users read the shape of the land at a glance rather than relying on contour lines alone, and it became something of a flagship format for the firm in the years either side of 1900. The sheet covers Suffolk in full, running roughly thirty-six miles from north to south and fifty-two miles from west to east.
Ipswich, the county town on the Orwell estuary, and the coastal town of Lowestoft both feature on the sheet, along with the rivers Deben, Orwell, Stour and Waveney as they wind toward the North Sea. The coastline is picked out in detail around Orford Ness and Harwich Harbour, with the estuaries of the Orwell and Stour adding further definition to the shore. Inland, the map marks Framlingham Castle and Orford Castle as historic landmarks, along with Dunwich Heath and the wide expanse of Thetford Forest to the west. The railway network and the county's major roads are also set down clearly, reflecting how thoroughly connected Suffolk had become by the turn of the twentieth century, with lines and routes threading between the towns and the coast.
A map like this suits anyone with a connection to Suffolk, whether that means childhood holidays around Lowestoft and Orford Ness, a family history rooted in Ipswich, or a retirement move out to the Suffolk coast near Framlingham or Dunwich Heath. It would also make a considered gift for a keen cyclist, since Bartholomew's half-inch maps were originally aimed at exactly that audience touring routes through Thetford Forest and along the Suffolk lanes, or for anyone building a collection of early Ordnance-Survey-derived county maps sheet by sheet. It is available unframed and in a full range of sizes, so it can be scaled to fit a hallway, a study or a larger wall.
