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HISTOEICAL NOTICE

PROGRESS OF THE ORDNANCE SURVEY
IN SCOTLAND.

ALEXANDEE KEITH JOHNSTON, Esq.
t r t
F.R.S.E., F.R.G.S., F.G.S., ETC.

(Extracted from the Proceedings of the Royal Society.)

EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY NEILL .AND COMPANY.
MDCCCLI.

Historical Notice of the Progress of the Ordnance Survey
in Scotland. By Alexander Keith Johnston, F.R.S.E.,
F.R.G.S., F.G.S., &c.
[Read before the Royal Society, 17th February 1851.]
There are few places on the earth's surface which, within such a
limited area, combine so many of the requisite elements for charto-
graphic delineation as are met with in Scotland. With mountains
rising almost to the limit of the snow-line, and an extensive sea
board, broken up by firths and lochs into every conceivable form of
promontory, cape, and headland, this portion of Great Britain com
prises within itself such a variety of physical features as is only
found elsewhere distributed over much more extensive regions. It
cannot be doubted, therefore, that a properly constructed map of
Scotland, on a scale sufficiently distinct, if executed with fidelity,
and with all the improvements of modern art, would present at once
a most pleasing and highly instructive example of this species of
design. That we do not already possess such a map, is not owing
to any want of interest in the subject on the part of our countrymen,
for Scotland has produced more works of this class than perhaps any
other country of similar extent and means. But these efforts, how
ever creditable in themselves, could not be connected so as to pro
duce a perfect map, for want of such a basis of union, as a com
plete system of triangulation alone could supply. Now, this was a
work which, from its vast extent and labour, required the resources
of Government to accomplish, and hence the necessity for the so-called
Ordnance or Government Survey, to trace the progress of which is
the object of this Paper.
The first map of Scotland on record is that attributed to Ptolemy,
the geographer of Alexandria, A. d. 140. In this celebrated work,
it is well known the bearings are altogether wrong, as the upper
part of Britain is represented bending to the east instead of stretch
ing to the north. Nothing further of this kind worthy of notice
occurs till the 14th century, when Richard of, Cirencester compiled
a map, in which, though he generally follows Ptolemy, he gives the

true bearings of the country, and greatly adds to our knowledge of
British geography.
Timothy Pont was the first projector of an atlas of Scotland.
In 1608 he commenced a survey of all the counties and islands,
sketching in the features on the spot. He died before his work was
finished, and in 1646 his drafts and notes were put into the hands
of Sir Robert Gordon of Straloch, who completed his design. All
the sketches and notes thus collected were transmitted to Bleau of
Amsterdam, who published his Atlas Scotia in 1654. This atlas,
begun at the charge of Sir John Scott, of Scotstarvet, director of the
Chancery in Scotland, was, probably, carried on and completed at
the national expense. These maps, which are wonderful productions
for the time, may, however, be regarded simply as literary curiosi
ties, interesting chiefly to the antiquary.
About the year 1 688, Adair made a survey, and gave descrip
tions of the coasts of Scotland, which he published in a small atlas ;
but his sketches, as well as those of Sanson, Elphinstone, and Grier-
son, who succeeded him, are very inaccurate. The Rev. Alexander
Bryce surveyed the northern coasts of Scotland about the year 1740;
his map, published in 1744, made considerable advances in accuracy.
In 1750, John Dorret, land-surveyor, published a map of Scotland,
in five sheets, at the expense of the Duke of Argyll. This map had
more pretension than any that preceded it, being on a much
larger scale, but in construction it is still very inaccurate. Between
1751 and 1771, Mr Murdoch Mackenzie, who was employed by the
Admiralty, surveyed the western coasts of Britain, from the English
Channel to Cape Wrath, including the Hebrides from Lewis to
Islay, and extending to the Orkney Islands. His charts were pub
lished on a scale of one inch to a mile, and were accompanied by
nautical descriptions. These were considered, at the time, entitled
to credit, but the recent Admiralty Surveys have proved them to be
exceedingly erroneous.
In 1789, John Ainslie, an eminent land-surveyor in Edinburgh,
constructed, engraved, and published a map of Scotland and its
islands in nine sheets. This was the first good map of the country.
The author had made an actual survey of several counties, when he
was employed by the Board of Customs to survey the east coasts of
North Britain ; he also made many rapid surveys and sketches in
remote districts. Still, though superior to any that preceded it, his

map is very faulty in construction. In Ainslie's time the delinea
tion of the physical features of a country was little understood ; his
mountains and hills are represented as rising insulated from their
bases ; no indications are given of the water-sheds dividing the river
basins, and little attention is paid to the subject of light and shade.
In 1792 Murdo Downie published a chart of the east coast of
Scotland, in which the sea-board is very inaccurate.
The Government felt so greatly the want of a tolerable map of
Scotland, during the rebellion of 1745-6, that, on its suppression, it
was resolved, at the suggestion of the Duke of Cumberland, to com
mence an actual survey of the whole country. This undertaking
was confided to Colonel Watson, who employed in the service
several young officers of engineers, among others, Mr (afterwards
Major-G-eneral) Roy. The survey, which was limited to the main
land, was commenced in 1747, and completed in 1755. It was
conducted with considerable skill, and was the means of illustrating
many of the Roman antiquities of North Britain. The field work
was carried on in summer, and the drawings were prepared in
Edinburgh Castle during the winter months. Of this work, General
Roy himself says that, " having been carried on with inferior instru
ments, and the sum allowed having been very inadequate for its
proper execution, it is rather to be considered as a magnificent mili
tary sketch than a very accurate map of a country," When the
drafts of this map were finished, they were deposited in the Royal
Library, where they lay totally forgotten tilM804, when being re
quired for a new map of Scotland, undertaken by Arrowsmith, at
the suggestion of the Commissioners of Highland roads and bridges,
they were discovered after considerable search.
Arrowsmith's map was founded on Roy's survey of the mainland,
and many other materials which he deemed authentic. It was com
menced in 1805 and finished in 1807, on a scale of Jth of an inch to
a mile or. ^-th of the scale of the military survey. Since Arrowsmith's
map appeared, many portions of the country have been surveyed and
published, some of these, among which may be specially noted,
Lanarkshire by Forrest, Mid-Lothian by Knox, Sutherlandshire by
Burnett and Scott, and Edinburgh, Fife, and Haddington by Green
wood, have been deservedly reputed. But, as must ever be the case
in private enterprises, these artfconfined to the wealthier and more
populous districts, no recent survey having been made of any of the

more remote regions. The latest effort of this kind, which is likely
to prove the last, is the survey of Edinburgh and Leith within the
Parliamentary boundaries, on the scale of 5 feet to a mile, by W.
and A. K. Johnston, a reduction of which has recently appeared.
The principal triangulation for the Ordnance Survey of Britain
commenced by General Roy, on Hounslow Heath, near London, in
1784, was extended to Scotland in 1809, but the operations were
discontinued for the three following years, the persons employed
having been removed to England. In 1813 the Ordnance zenith
sector was used on Kellie Law, Fife, and Cowhythe, Banffshire. In
1814-15-16 the triangulation proceeded steadily. In 1817 the
zenith sector was used on Balta Island, Zetland, a new base line
was measured on Belhelvie Links, near Aberdeen, and the
triangulation again proceeded in 1818-19. It was suspended in
1820, but re-commenced in 1821-22, in Zetland, Orkney, and the
Western Islands. In 1823 the large theodolite was removed to
England and afterwards to Ireland, in consequence of which the
operations in Scotland were entirely suspended during a period of
sixteen years. In 1838-39-40 and 41, the triangulation for connect
ing the islands with each other, and with the mainland, proceeded with
out interruption. The principal operations are now completed, with
the exception of certain observations that may be required for a fe^v
stations, with a view to its publication as a scientific work.
In 1815 the Ordnance department appointed Dr M'Culloch to
make a geological examination of Scotland ; his researches were
continued till 1821, but for want of an accurate topographical map,
his labours have unfortunately done much less service than they
otherwise would have done to the cause of science.
In 1819 a military detailed survey of part of Wigtonshire and
Ayrshire was commenced on a scale of 2 inches to a mile, by Capt.
Hobbs and two subalterns ; it was carried on, with diminishing num
bers, till 1827, and extended over a space of about 937 square miles.
But a survey conducted at so slow a rate, and on so small a scale,
afforded no proper ground for commencing a map of Scotland, and
the plans will furnish no aid whatever for the general survey.
In 1834 the Ordnance carried forward a partial secondary
triangulation along the Scottish coast, from the Solway Firth to the
Firth of Clyde for the use of the Admiralty surveyors.

In 1840 the Board of Ordnance and the Treasury directed that the
survey of Scotland should be laid down on a scale of 6 inches to a
mile to correspond with that of Ireland.
The secondary operations of the survey in Scotland have been
carried on since 1841. In the beginning of 1844 the detailed
survey of the county of Wigton was begun ; it was completed in
1850 and is now engraved on the 6 inch scale, with contour lines, or
lines of equal elevation, and published in 38 sheets. The survey of
the county of Kirkcudbright was commenced in 1845, and it is ex
pected that it will be finished and portions of it published during
the present year.
In July 1846 the survey of the island of Lewis was commenced,
out of due course, in consequence of an arrangement with the pro
prietor, by which he agreed to pay to the Government the sum of
£1200, and to purchase 100 copies of the published maps. In
January 1851 about three-fifths of this survey were completed, some
of the sheets will be published during the present year, and it is
expected that the whole will be finished during 1852.
In March 1850 the surveying party was removed from Wigton
and Kirkcudbright shires to Mid-Lothian and the city of Edinburgh,
The survey of the city is now considerably advanced, and it is ex
pected that some of the sheets will be published in 1852. It is
proposed to be engraved in outline, i. e., without shading or distinc
tion of houses from streets, on a scale of 5 feet to a mile.
The survey of the county of Edinburgh is going on, and has also
made considerable progress. Plans of the towns of Wigton and
Stranraer have been surveyed, on the scale of 5 feet to a mile.
The town of Dumfries is surveyed, and the drawing plans are nearly
finished. This comprises all that has yet been done by the Ordnance Sur
veyors in North Britain.
From these statements we learn that the survey of Scotland was
begun in 1809, but its progress appears to have been considered of
so little importance in comparison with the surveys of other portions
of the kingdom, that, whenever it was found convenient, the whole of
the men and instruments employed were unceremoniously removed
to England or Ireland ; and that, in order to expedite the work in
the latter country, the operations in Scotland were on one occasion
altogether suspended during a period of sixteen years.

TABLE SHOWING PROGRESS OF SURVEY.

ENGLAND. Area
37,094,400 acres.

Survey
commenced.

Triangulation 1784.
Survey on
1 inch scale
1791. Survey on
6 inch scale
1840.

No. of
Officers
and Men
employed in June
1849.

736
chiefly in
the
norther11

Total sum
expended to 1850.

£702,000

Average
Annual Grant.

During 60 yrs.
since commence
ment of survey,
theaverage grant
has been nearly
£12,000.

State of Survey in 1861.

Nearly |ths of England and
Wales are surveyed and pub
lished on the 1 inch scale. The
remainder, comprising the six
northerncounties, is in progress,
on the 6 inch scale. It is pro
posed afterwards to reduce the
maps of these six counties in
order to complete the map on
the 1 inch scale.
The surveys of Lancashire
and Yorkshire have been com
pleted on the 6 inch scale.
It is intended, ultimately,
to extend the survey on the 6
inch scale, over the whole of
England, and to survey all
towns, the population of which
exceeds 4000.

Estimated Sum
required to com
plete Survey.

To complete
the survey of the
northern coun
ties on the 6 inch
scale, £285,000.
The estimated
sum necessary to
complete the sur
vey of the south
ern portion of the
country on the
6 inch scale, is
£1,600,000. Expense of sur
veying the towns
and completing
the map on the
1 inch scale not
yet estimated.

Estimated Time re
quired to
complete
survey at
present rate.

" With the
present
force at
the dis
posal of
the Ord
nance the
time
would be
endless"*

The new survey of the south
ern portion, on the 6 inch scale,
could be done in twenty years,
if unlimited funds were sup
plied. About 250 towns remain to
be surveyed, besides those in
progress in the northern coun
ties.

SCOTLAND. Area
18,944,000 acres.
Primary
Triangulation, 1809.
Secondary
Triangulation, 1841.
Survey
of South
Portion, 1844.
257,
only two
officers, one in
Edinburgh
and one
in the
island of
Lewis.
£66,000
kThe average
giKit during
foCT^r-one years
has been £1609,
15s. From 1843 to
1849 the grants
have varied from
£9000to£15000
hut part of this
has been expend
ed in England
and Ireland.
The primary and secondary
triangulations are completed,
with the exception of a few ob
servations and corrections. The
county of Wigton is publish
ed in 38 sheets. Kirkcudbright
is surveyed, and partly in the
hands of the engravers. The
island of Lewis is in progress,
and about f ths of the plans are
being engraved. The county
and city of Edinburgh are in
progress of being surveyed.
The towns of Dumfries, Wig
ton, and Stranraer, are sur
veyed, and the drawings of the
plans are nearly completed.
£740,000 to
complete the sur
vey of the 6 inch
scale.
50 years
at least.
In order to complete the sur
vey in ten years, the present
force, and consequently the
present grant, would require to
be increased five times. That
is to say, the force employed
would require to be 1285 offi
cers and men, and the annual
grant £50,000.
£25,000 would, in the same
proportion, be required to com
plete the work in twenty years.
But all the evidence produced
is to the effect that the more
rapidly the work is carried on,
the greater will be the ulti
mate economy.
IRELAND. Area
20,808,271 acres.
Survey 1825.
.'21&-
employet in con
touring and re
vising tht
map.
£820,000
Averagenearly
£40,000 per an
num. Occasionally
nearly £70,000
per annum.
The survey of the country
was completed and published in
1846, on the 6 inch scale. It
is comprised in 1907 sheets
(exclusive of 32 index maps),
and is now sold for £400.
Plans of ninety-five towns
are surveyed and drawn.
The plan of Dublin is en
graved and published.
The system of contour lines
commenced in 1838 is now in
progress ; and the northern
portion of the country is being
revised and corrected.
£200,000, for
the following
purposes : —
To complete
the contouring,
£120,000. To complete
the revisal of
northern portion
now in progress,
£80,000. Expense of sur
veying and en
graving plans of
towns not esti
mated.
30 or 40
years to
completethe con
tours.
Time ' for
revisal
not esti
mated.
A very large force (number
not specified) would be neces
sary to complete the revisal
and contouring within a few
years.
A map of Ireland, on the
scale of 1 inch to a mile, was
originally contemplated. Its
execution is postponed. The
estimated cost of reducing from
the 6 inch plans and engraving
is £83,604.
* Parliam. Papers, 18M, v o 1. ix. p. 499.
8
It will be seen from the preceding table that the total sum
expended on the survey in Scotland from its commencement to the
present time, has been only £66,000 ; while the sum expended in
England is .£702,000 ; and in Ireland, £820,000 ; and that, in
June 1849, the number of men employed in Ireland was J.21JJ,
while in Scotland the number employed was only 257-
The average annual expenditure on the survey of Scotland during
the forty-one years of its progress has been only £1609, or, omitting
the sixteen years when the operations were suspended, £2640 ; while
on that of Ireland the average expenditure has been nearly £40,000
per annum. In the Parliamentary reports on this subject, it is stated
that, in 1843, the sum voted for the survey of the whole kingdom
was £60,000, of which only £9000 was appropriated to Scotland ;
and, since 1843, the sum allotted to the survey of Scotland has ave
raged little more than £10,000 per annum, the same amount which
is voted annually for revising the maps of the northern counties of
Ireland already surveyed ! Besides the sum of £820,000 already
expended in Ireland, it is proposed to expend for the revisal of the
northern counties above alluded to, £80,000 ; and, for completing
the system of contour lines (now in progress), the further sum of
£120,000, making in all £1,020,000, exclusive of the expense of
engraving plans of ninety-five towns, which are surveyed and
drawn. From these reports we learn further, that the largest amount
hitherto granted for the purposes of the survey in Scotland in any one
year has been £15,000, and as admitted in evidence although larger
sums have frequently been voted to Scotland, they have often been
expended in England and Ireland. The consequence of this treat
ment has been, that, after a lingering progress extending over a
period of forty-one years, the survey of Scotland is still little more
than begun, the map of only one county, that of Wigton, forming
about a sixty-fourth part of the area of the country, being published,
while the survey of the whole of Ireland has been completed and
published for several years, having been commenced in 1825 and
finished in 1843, and that of England is now nearly finished.
A very general feeling exists in the public mind that, in this
matter, Scotland has experienced most unmerited neglect, and since
the expectation of immediate progress, occasioned by the fact that
the Ordnance surveyors have occupied the ground, is doomed to

9
certain disappointment if things are allowed to continue as they
are, it is to be hoped that means may at once be devised for ensuring
a more satisfactory result.
The desired object might probably be best attained by such an
arrangement as would ensure the entry, in the annual Ordnance
estimates, of a specific sum to be devoted to this special purpose.
The amount needed depends of course on the time within which it is
required to finish the work. It is shown, in the table that, at the
present rate of progress, fifty years would be necessary for its accom
plishment. Now, assuming that the efficiency of the force would be
in direct proportion to the numbers employed, and since the numbers
are dependent on the money grants, it is clear that five times the
present force or five times the amount granted would finish the
survey in a fifth part of the time, or in ten years. The sum at
present voted for the survey in all parts of the kingdom is £60,000,
but it is shown in evidence, that if the whole force of surveyors and
others capable of conducting the work are to be taken into pay, the
sum of £100,000 will be required. Now, if the difference between
the amount granted and that required — £40,000 a year — were
voted to Scotland (in addition to the average sum of £10,000), the
survey of this portion of the country would be completed in ten
years from this date, and that without prejudice to the surveys now
carried on in England and Ireland. But if it should be objected
that the sum of £L00,000 a year is more than could now be granted
for this purpose, the question remains whether, if it cannot be
otherwise attained, the speedy completion of the survey in Scot
land should not be secured by suspending for a time the opera
tions for contouring the map of Ireland, and for revising the
survey of its northern portion.
Should the necessary funds be granted, it is satisfactory to know
that a sufficient number of competent and well-trained surveyors and
others formerly employed in Ireland, but whose services are not
now required there, may at once be engaged on the survey in Scot
land, and that the engraving of the maps can be carried on simul
taneously with the surveying, so that no delay in the publication
would be occasioned on this account.
Having recently had an opportunity of inspecting the Ordnance
Survey Office at Southampton, so ably conducted under the direc
tion of Colonel Hall and Captain Yolland, I have pleasure in bear-

10
ing testimony to the excellence of the methods there employed for
securing accuracy and expediting the work, the latter especially, by
the extensive introduction of mechanical processes of engraving, and
the masterly application of the electrotype for procuring duplicates
of the copperplates.
Intimately connected with the survey of the interior, and of even
greater importance to the commerce of the country, is that of the sea-
coasts, carried on under the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
It is not many years since attention was drawn by the late Mr Gal
braith to the very erroneous character of all the published charts and
sailing directions then available for the Firth of Clyde, in which it is
shown " that the master of a vessel, trusting to the charts then in
ordinary use, would almost certainly be wrecked if his reckonings
were right."
It is gratifying to find that danger from this cause no longer
exists in that quarter, admirable surveys being now completed of the
River and Firth of Clyde, and of the lochs connected with them, many
of the sheets of which are already published, and the others are in
course of being engraved. The whole of the north, south, and east
coasts of Scotland, with the Shetland and Orkney Islands, have been
surveyed, and most of the sheets are published. The western coast of
Sutherland is also surveyed, so that the portion of this great work
still remaining to be accomplished comprises the coasts of Boss, Inver
ness, Argyll, and the Hebrides. All these surveys have been con
ducted by able and experienced officers under the enlightened and
zealous superintendence of the Hydrographer Royal, Admiral Sir
Francis Beaufort, who in his anxiety to insure the utmost attainable
accuracy, revises and corrects with his own hand every sheet of the
survey before it is sent to press.

Mr Johnston then exhibited a map, shewing by colours the pre
sent state of the Ordnance and Hydrographical surveys in Scotland,
and a comparative table of the proportionate scales of maps con
structed from the surveys of different countries in Europe.

SKETCH MAP
Showing the Progress affile
ORDNANCE & HYDROCRAPHICAL
SURVEYS
of SCOTLAND in—
1851

Explanations f Surveyed mPuKishcd
HYDROC) darlc ihie
SURVEY fCoasts ywveyal&leinff I lEngrai'ea '¦ hghlbhw

$3 Orkney

,„„,.„ Interior'. In cvarse or ieinq
\ Surveyed, orange

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