Linguistic geographies: the Gough Map of Great Britain and its Making

The Gough Map is internationally-renowned as one of the earliest maps to show Britain in a geographically-recognizable form. Yet to date, questions remain of how the map was made, who made it, when and why. Linguistic Geographies is an AHRC-funded research project that seeks to address these key questions.

Drawing upon the collective expertise of geographers and historians specializing in cartographic and geographical history and medieval linguistics and palaeography, the project team is taking an innovative interdisciplinary approach that focuses on the Gough Map’s ‘language’, particularly its textual content, to see what this can tell us about those involved in its making. The project forms part of the AHRC’s Beyond Text programme.

As the project proceeds during 2010, this website will develop with the ultimate aim of providing online access to the Gough Map, and a searchable database of the place-names that the map contains. Please revisit the site, and add your comments about the map and the project via our blog. The project will conclude with an exhibition and colloquium at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in June 2011, on the topic of “The language of maps”.