The John Rocque 1741
Map
The 1741 John Rocque map shows the small villages of Stoke Newington and
Newington Green in a landscape of meadows, with the New River snaking through
it. Rocque shows his hills by vertical shading lines: the closer the lines,
the steeper the hill. This was the start of our contour line system of map
making, but of course it was very vague. It was still halfway between a picture
and a map. The only real contour line on this map is the path of the New
River. It had to follow the contour because water will not run up hill.
These shaded hills allow us to remember that the land is not flat. In the
country, hills and valleys are obvious, but in town, with the land covered
with houses, we tend to forget the hills, until we become old and hills become
a burden. This map shows that Stoke Newington rises steadily from Newington
Green in the south, to the ridge at the Tottenham (now Harringey) border
at Manor House in the north. Rocque shaded this ridge on both sides. The
ridge is why the New River had to snake so far east before it could break
through and continue south.
The map shows Church Street joining Stoke Newington High Street and Green
Lanes, with houses on both sides. Some of these houses are still there and
are fine examples of the building of the time. The rest of Stoke Newington
was farm land and tile pits, The Reservoirs had not yet been built.
John Rocque shows a countryside with very large fields. These
are not accurate as comparison with the 1734 Estate map and Milne's map of
1800 show.
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