Isaak Tirion v Alexander Bryce: two maps published in 1744
Isaak Tirion's "Nieuw kaart van't Noorder Gedeelte van Grootbritannie, behelzende het Koningryk Schotland." First published in 1744, this a slightly later version c1755.
Inaccuracies in the maps of Scotland were fully acknowledged in the 18th century, as John Cowley's "Display of the Coasting Lines of Six Several Maps of North Britain" demonstrated all too clearly:
John Cowley's map published in 1734, showing that there was no agreement between six prominent cartographers about the shape of the coastline of Scotland. Image courtesy of the National Library of Scotland.
As if to emphasise this further, Isaak Tirion published his map of Scotland in the "Nieuwe en Beknopte Hand-Atlas", which shows one of the least accurate portrayals (at least of the north of the country), found in maps of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Tirion's map found in the Hand-Atlas of 1744.
As with many maps of this period, the Cape Wrath peninsula does not exist: the north-western tip of Scotland has been merged with Faro Head. But Tirion errs further, in exaggerating a diagonal NE/SW direction for the coast from Faro Head to Row Stoir Point.
Detail of Tirion's map of Scotland, showing the north coast.
Other errors abound, such as the Kyle of Tongue, which is depicted here rather more as an inland loch than an estuary. Duncansby Head appears no further north than Farro Head, and the Orkneys stray too far to the west.
One can find faults and inaccuracies all over both the coast and inland, but glaringly obvious is the remarkable Firth that proceeds NW from Dornoch which markedly reduces Loch Shin in size.
The Western Isles fare little better, but these had to wait for later mapmakers to correct the familiar inaccuracies.
Tirion's map, showing part of the west coast, and the Western Isles.
If nothing else, Tirion's map shows the urgent need for Bryce's survey, and the magnitude of his achievement in publishing so accurate a map in an area that is still noted for its difficulty of access. The importance of his "Map of the North Coast of Britain from Row Stoir of Assynt to Wick in Caithness" (1744) cannot be over-emphasised.
"A Map of the North Coast of Britain from Row Stoir of Assynt to Wick in Caithness" by Alexander Bryce. Published in 1744.
I devote half of the first chapter to Alexander Bryce, who it seems was an interesting Enlightenment figure, leaving his mark on the country not only with the survey and map of the north coast.
The Immeasurable Wilds: Travellers to the Far North of Scotland will be published by Whittles in the spring of 2022.