Maps

Apollo 11 Landing map

Walking on the moon - Apollo 11 Landing map

Dennis Maps is used to printing maps of terrain both near (London National Park City) and far, such as Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Crossing of South Georgia. But recently we have excelled ourselves by launching into space and printing a map of the moon! Or to be more precise the Apollo 11 landing map.

Those of us old enough to remember the Apollo 11 manned lunar landing on 20 July 1969 can probably recall where we watched it and the astonished reactions of the older generation, who could scarcely believe the advances in technology during their lifetime.

50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Space Mission

Fifty years ago the American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the moon, in the lunar module the Eagle. As he took the first-ever step onto the surface of the moon Armstrong made the remark that became instantly legendary - ‘That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’

When Aldrin followed and set foot on the moon he described what he saw as ‘Magnificent desolation.’ The front cover of the Apollo 11 Landing map shows an iconic photograph of Aldrin taken by Armstrong, who is reflected standing next to the Eagle in the visor of Aldrin’s space helmet.

The astronauts tried out various methods of moving in the lunar gravity, including kangaroo jumps. The fine-grained lunar soil was quite slippery, and they discovered they needed to plan their movements six or seven steps in advance, but they had no problems keeping their balance.

‘We came in peace...’

The landing site in the Sea of Tranquillity (or Mare Tranquillitatis as it’s known in Latin) is marked on the map by a red cross. Close to it are three craters named after Armstrong, Aldrin, and their crewmate Michael Collins, who remained orbiting the moon in the command module Columbia, conducting experiments and taking pictures.

Collins reported that he never felt lonely during the time of his solo lunar orbit, even while he was out of radio contact as Columbia passed behind the far side of the moon. Instead he said he felt ‘awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation.’

For three hours Armstrong and Aldrin walked around, conducting experiments and collecting moon dust and rocks. They planted a US flag and left a sign on the ladder of Eagle that read ‘Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.’ Above this inscription were drawings of the eastern and western hemispheres of Earth, and below it, the signatures of the three astronauts and President Nixon.

The return of Apollo 11

On 21 July Eagle blasted off from the moon and docked with Columbia. They jettisoned Eagle and blasted out of lunar orbit, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on 24 July. The flight profile from launch to splashdown is illustrated on the map’s back cover, redrawn from original NASA documentation.

The mission had taken eight days and fulfilled the dream of President John F. Kennedy in 1961 ‘before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.’

The astronauts were put in quarantine for three weeks before being given a clean bill of health. After taking part in ticker-tape parades in New York and Chicago they commenced a global tour, meeting heads of state as the whole world celebrated their safe return. Columbia too went on tour, displayed in state capitals around the United States!

A documentary film, Apollo 11, has been released in honour of the 50th anniversary. It’s made entirely from archival footage, including some previously unreleased to the public, and has already received much critical acclaim.

If you want to buy the Apollo 11 Landing map you can get it from the Ordnance Survey online shop here.

by Andy Britnell

An Historical Map of York

From Medieval Times to 1850 - an historical map of York

If you’ve read any of our previous blog posts you’ll no doubt have realised that Dennis Maps prints a quite remarkable range of maps. They relate not only to present day geography, but to important events like World War I, Shackleton’s crossing of South Georgia and even to subjects like music. Another historical project has been our updated edition of the award-winning Historical Map of York from Medieval Times to 1850.

With a folding card cover - the same format as an Ordnance Survey map - all its illustrations are new, including the cover illustration of an 18th century watercolour of the Minster from the city walls.

The map depicts the city of York in 1850, and includes the locations of many medieval and later buildings, both those still standing and the ones which by then had disappeared. It’s a unique visual history of the changes in the structure of a growing city.

York is one of the most attractive and important cities in the north of England. It was founded as a fortress by the Romans in about AD71 due to its proximity to the rivers Ouse and Foss, and the protection given by its elevated position.

The native Britons’ name for the settlement was ‘Latinised’ to become Eboracum. When the Romans departed, the Anglo-Saxon invaders substituted their own word, Evorwic. Then the Vikings called it Jorvik, from which can easily be seen the evolution of the name we’re familiar with today.

Whatever the name, the city was always a prosperous river port and centre of trade. The Minster was the largest Gothic cathedral in Europe, and even after the Reformation York retained its commercial importance, situated as it was on the Great North Road between London and Scotland.

In the 17th and 18th centuries its wealthy merchants erected many elegant buildings as a way of displaying their success, and then in the 1830s the railway arrived, and York became an important hub of the new rail network. By 1900 the railways and the manufacture of chocolate - by Rowntrees and Terry’s of York - were the city’s main industries.

To modern eyes the city of 1850 looks like a refreshingly simple, straightforward and ordered city. In comparison to today’s immense, sprawling urban areas it is compact, neatly organised, and on a human scale.

On the face of the map is a potted history of York from the early Roman days through the following centuries up until the 1800’s. The key opposite shows how different colours refer to buildings of different periods. For further ease of reading, various fonts or Styles of Lettering indicate the age of the named sites, medieval or later.

On the reverse of the map is a gazetteer, or directory, of York’s many historic buildings and sites, both those still standing in 1850 and those that had by then been pulled down. The Pudding Holes, on the east bank of the River Ouse, was a public washing place. One wonders what standards of cleanliness were achieved, considering that the ‘innards of beasts’ were also washed here!

Modern spa lovers might be surprised to discover that York residents could enjoy a Turkish bath at The Bagnio from 1691. The delightful-sounding Festival Concert Rooms are no longer a venue, having been demolished in the 1970’s.

York’s street names are always intriguing to visitors, and have their own explanatory section on the reverse of the map. Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate is surely one of the oddest, and its origins are obscure, although it may refer to a whipping post, where wrongdoers were tied to receive their punishment.

A wonderful reference for anyone visiting York, An Historical Map of York is published by The Historic Towns Trust and is available to buy at £9.99 from bookshops and online book retailers.

by Andy Britnell

The Great British Music Map

An encyclopaedic music map of Great Britain

You’ve probably never associated maps with music before, but one of our recent printing projects does exactly that. Printed by Dennis Maps in full colour on two sides, The Great British Music Map celebrates Britain’s world class music scene, and is part of a growing series published by Marvellous Maps with Great British themes.

You may remember that we’ve already featured The Great British Adventure Map here on the blog.

What’s on The Great British Music Map

And what a lot there is to ‘record’ about the music of Britain, which tops charts around the world! Apparently one in every eight singles and albums sold worldwide is by a British artist, which is a quite astonishing feat for such a small country.

Before diving into the detail, though, first check the key in the bottom right hand corner for the coloured symbols.

A pink note♩shows a place that’s mentioned in a song title, a double note ♫ one that features in a lyric.

And there’s so much more - other symbols denote a place name in an album title, in the name of an artist or band, the location for a music video or record cover, or a place that inspired a song.

Displayed on the map are over 2000 festivals, live music venues and lots more. Some areas are so loaded with musical activity that they have their own miniature maps - Liverpool, it goes without saying, Manchester, Edinburgh (the home of Bay City Rollermania, no less), and areas of London like Soho and Brixton, birthplace of David Bowie and home to the real Electric Avenue.

But also smaller places have many musical connections. Have you ever thought of the Norfolk Broads and coast as an inspiration for song writers? You’ve probably unknowingly seen its beaches in a Madness video and on a Stranglers’ album cover.

There’s plenty of music trivia here too - a ‘glorious tale or random nugget’, a recording studio or a memorial to a deceased musician. You can find out where your favourite musicians come from, the location of noted record shops, and much more besides.

Road Trips

And if you fancy a music-based road trip around Britain to tour the haunts of your favourite bands and songwriters, the reverse side of the map provides a route around Britain’s Top 50 music locations. There’s even a suggested playlist to keep you humming en route.

To make sure you don’t miss any of the scenery along the way, the map includes handy references to the Ordnance Survey maps for each area, so you can get out of the car and absorb the atmosphere.

What would the theme of your road trip be?

You could do worse than try the suggested Tour of Britain’s Most Musical-Sounding Place Names, that takes in Clubworthy, Dancing Ledge, Bass Rock and Craig David (honestly).

Musical quotes

Don’t overlook the small print around the edge of both sides of the map. It features musical quotes like this gem from John Peel at the 1988 Reading Festival -

“If you don’t stop throwing bottles, I’ll play Bee Gees records.”

The fighting, allegedly, stopped instantly!

How to buy The Great British Music Map

You can buy it as a folded map to accompany your musical progress around Britain, or framed as a conversation piece for your living room or music room.

Use the map to plan your very own musical adventure, or just to astonish your friends with your new, encyclopaedic music knowledge down at the pub quiz!

by Andy Britnell

Trench Warfare Maps of World War 1

Bringing to life the chilling reality of trench warfare

The Dennis Maps staff are used to printing contemporary maps aimed at encouraging people to #GetOutside, or showing landscapes as they are today. A more moving project we carried out last year was the reproduction for Ordnance Survey of four World War One trench warfare maps to commemorate 100 years since the end of the war.

More than 33 million British maps of the Western Front were printed during the war, most by Ordnance Survey. At first they were printed in Southampton, but later concerns about the supply ships being sunk in the Channel led to map production being moved to France.

It’s hard for us to believe today but early in the war surveyors conducted surveys of the area with theodolites and heavy measuring chains. The battle of Neuve Chapelle in 1915 was the first where aerial photography was used to update maps.

OS draughtsmen were sent to France to produce maps from the photographs, and place names were anglicised for ease of reading, Ploegsteert becoming Plug Street, for example.

46 women were among the OS staff who went to France in 1918 to set up and man a map printing factory at Wardrecques, which was close to the front line. At its peak it produced 300,000 maps a week, which were vital in the location and destruction of German artillery.

Trench maps have standard mapping as a backdrop so at first glance appear completely familiar. But for those of us lucky enough to associate maps with leisure time and finding footpaths, a look at the key is immediately chilling.

The red lines that riddle the French countryside show not footpaths but the German trench system. A thick red line shows ‘any trench apparently organised for fire’, and ‘old or disused [are shown] by dotted line’.

The maps bring trench warfare to life in a way that’s shocking. We can see all the features of the war that have become so iconic, including wire entanglements, machine gun emplacements, mine craters, and listening posts.

After the Armistice was signed in November 1918 trench maps were no longer required, but the factory continued to operate, producing small-scale maps of Germany for the allies.

The four battlefield maps show The Somme (1:40 000 scale), Loivre (1:20 000 scale), Menin near Ypres (1:10 000 scale), and Merville (1:20 000 scale). They are reproduced exactly from originals in the National Library of Scotland, with their original sepia background, and include pencil notes added during use.

The commemoration of the ending of the war has shown that 100 years later there is huge interest in the period, and in the sacrifices of the ordinary men and women involved. The trench maps bring an extra dimension to the personal diaries and official regimental records of the time, enabling us to see how the war progressed and to track the movements of regiments and individuals.

We’re sure that the many people whose grandparents and great-grandparents served in the war will welcome this graphic illustration of where they were, and the conditions they endured.

The maps are for sale on the OS site at £9.99 each or £29.97 for the whole set of four (a 25% discount). £1 per map sold will be donated to the charity Help for Heroes.

by Andy Britnell

The Great British Adventure Map

Are you ready for The Great British Adventure Map?

Do you have a bucket list of places to visit in the UK? Or do you need some suggestions to help you discover more of the varied landscapes around these islands?

Whether you know where you’re going, or you need some ideas, Dennis Maps have printed the perfect map for you!

We proudly present the Great British Adventure Map by Marvellous Maps, or to give it its full and splendid title - Strumpshaw, Tincleton & Giggleswick’s Joyously Busy Great British Adventure Map.

We have no doubt you will be motivated to do exactly what it urges, ‘Get inspired, get outside and get home in time for tea and medals.’

Top 50 British Adventures

To give you just a taste, here are some examples of featured destinations to start you off. These are just a few of the Top 50 British Adventures illustrated on the front face of the map, categorised by environment:

Great Islands - The Small Isles

Island hoppers should head to Eigg, Rum, Muck and Canna, an archipelago in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, south of Skye. Visit to see thousands of breeding seabirds, and enjoy beautiful beaches, green meadows and a Victorian castle. Although close together, each island is different and unique.

Great Waterways - Llangollen Canal & Dee Valley

Messing about on the water for all. Thrill seekers will appreciate the white water rafting on the Dee, or those seeking a more sedate experience can take a boat trip across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the world's highest waterway. 38 metres high, it’s known as ‘the stream in the sky’ and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Great Mountains & Hills - the Chilterns

An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty between London and Oxford, so a perfect country day trip for city residents and visitors alike. Home of the Burnham Beeches, one of the best examples of ancient woodland to be found in Britain. If it’s wet, seek shelter in historic houses or take a behind-the-scenes studio tour of the making of the Harry Potter film series.

Great Beaches - Isles of Scilly

Beach babes need only travel 28 miles from Land’s End to find silky white sand and clear blue and green seas. You’ll feel you’ve gone back to a simpler time that no longer exists anywhere else in the UK. There are five inhabited islands and many others that can be explored by boat.

Great Wild Places - the Fens

A trip into the unknown for most people, this is an area in eastern England of huge skies and flat fields edged by straight dykes. This low-lying land, some actually below sea level, lies around the Wash and was susceptible to flooding, but modern drainage means it is a fertile region well-known for grain and vegetable growing.

The reverse of The Great British Adventure Map

The back of the map is jampacked with quirky facts, random journeys, great views, and useful things you should know when planning your great adventure.

You can find numerous suggestions for ideal locations for energetic outdoor activities like windsurfing, snowboarding and snorkelling. Don’t worry if you prefer more gentle pursuits - you can also find the best places for walking, watching wildlife and stargazing.

A handy travel guide explains how to reach your destination, how long it takes by car, train etc. And be sure to check the calendar of events around the country to make sure you don’t miss must-sees like the Wife Carrying Race in Surrey in March, or July’s World Snail Racing Championship in Norfolk.

Buy The Great British Adventure Map

You can buy The Great British Adventure Map folded or ready framed on the Marvellous Maps website or perhaps be lucky enough to win a Marvellous Map here.

You can also access a whole range of inspiring content with a dedicated page for each of the top 50 adventure locations. Great pictures, videos, articles, podcasts and much more that bring each place to life and are the perfect accompaniment to the map.

ST&G’s Great British Adventure Map is part of a growing series of maps celebrating all that’s great about Britain for adventurers of all kinds, real or armchair-based. Extensively researched by the well-travelled Westcountry-based Marvellous Maps team, and designed with a good dollop of humour to entertain and inspire, they’re far from your typical maps.

Have a look now, and start planning - ‘Glorious adventures await!’

by Andy Britnell

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Crossing of South Georgia

The Map of the Shackleton Crossing

This map was inspired by the heroic crossing of South Georgia by Sir Ernest Shackleton to rescue his fellow explorers.

South Georgia, with the South Sandwich Islands, is a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies 800 miles southeast of the Falkland Islands, a ruggedly beautiful landscape permanently covered with ice over more than half of its extent.

The only residents of the island are two British Government Officers and the British Antarctic Survey staff who man two research stations.

Captain James Cook made the first landing on South Georgia in 1775, and claimed the territory for King George III. Seal hunting for furs began soon afterwards, followed by whaling activities until the mid-twentieth century.

Due to rapidly changing environmental conditions mapping is vital for the island, and assists in assessing glacier change. Dennis Maps printed the latest map, which was published by British Antarctic Survey for the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

The Shackleton Crossing

This map shows both the island, and on the reverse, the famous Shackleton Crossing of 1916. Sir Ernest Shackleton had taken part in Captain Scott’s South Pole expeditions, and was now attempting to cross Antarctica from sea to sea via the Pole.

Disaster strikes

His ship Endurance was trapped by pack ice and crushed in the Weddell Sea. Taking to the lifeboats the crew were stranded on Elephant Island, 800 miles southwest of South Georgia. With five companions, Shackleton set off to find help, and landed at King Haakon Bay on South Georgia’s south coast.

Three men waited there while Shackleton and two others set off across the unknown interior to get help at the whaling stations at Stromness Bay on the other side of the island.They had enough provisions for three days, a length of rope, rudimentary equipment, and a sketch map.

A treacherous journey

The map suggested they had only 17 miles to cover, but in their way were snowfields, glaciers, precipices and gullies. It was slow going through the knee-deep soft snow, and then they were faced with crossing the peaks of The Razorback. After several attempts they finally slid down using the coiled rope as a sledge.

Disoriented, they headed off in the wrong direction but realising their mistake changed course, and heard the steam whistle of one of the whaling stations calling men to work. But although they now had a clear destination there were still dangerous obstacles to overcome, including a lake in which one man sank to his waist.

Against all odds and despite several setbacks, they managed to reach Stromness, ‘a terrible trio of scarecrows’, eleven days after setting out.

The rescue

A boat was immediately sent to pick up their fellow crew members in King Haakon Bay, but it took more than three months to evacuate the men stranded on Elephant Island, due to the sea ice blocking the approaches to the island.

Sir Ernest Shackleton died of a heart attack in 1922 during a later expedition, while his ship was moored in South Georgia. At his wife’s request he was buried on the island.

Sir Ernest Shackleton - an inspiring leader

Unlike Scott, who had gained a heroic reputation, he sank into obscurity until later in the century, when his role in leading a team in gruelling circumstances was recognised. ‘Scott for scientific method, Amundsen for speed and efficiency but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton’, said one of his contemporaries.

Looking at the map of the Shackleton Crossing provides a small insight into the extraordinary achievement of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his companions. Even today, with sophisticated maps drawn with the help of satellite images, technical clothing and specialist equipment, the journey is an obviously formidable and dangerous one.

by Andy Britnell

Map Reading Skills - An Introduction

A beginners guide to map reading skills

If you’ve decided it’s time to #GetOutside and explore, a good map is going to be your best friend. At Dennis Maps we print some wonderful maps, including the much-loved Ordnance Survey series covering the UK. Some basic map reading skills will help you to plan your adventures and stay on track when you’re out and about.

A map is a representation of the ground as seen from above, drawn to scale and including symbols that show features of the landscape and built environment.

OS Explorer maps - the orange Ordnance Survey (OS) Explorer maps are on a 1:25,000 scale, which means that one unit on the map represents 25,000 units on the ground. 4 cm on the map shows 1 kilometre, which allows for a lot of detail. Explorer maps are therefore ideal for walking and exploring.

OS Landranger maps - these are pink and have a scale of 1: 50,000, which means 1 kilometre on the ground is shown by only 2 cm on the map. So they are useful when you are covering more ground, in a car or on a road cycle.

Symbols - map symbols often look exactly like what they represent - a beer mug for a pub, or a blue ‘P’ for parking, for example. Every map has a legend or key at the side that explains in detail the different kinds of buildings, paths, roads, woodlands and boundaries.

Contour lines - the thin, wavy brown lines are contour lines that show the shape and height of the landscape - and do not appear on the ground! The map key tells you whether the contour lines are 5 or 10 metres apart. A shallow slope is depicted by contour lines that are far apart. When the lines are close together, there is a steep slope. Look along the lines and you will spot brown numbers that show the height of the ground above sea level.

With a little practice of your map reading skills you will be able to look at a 2D map and get a fair idea of what the landscape looks like in 3D, which is helpful in planning your outdoor exploration. The distance you aim to cover may not be long but it will still be arduous if the terrain is rugged.

Grid references - OS maps are criss-crossed with thin blue lines making up a grid. Each square on the grid is numbered from left to right and from bottom to top. The horizontal squares run from west to east and are called eastings. The vertical squares are numbered from south to north and are called northings.

These numbers are used to create grid references that identify a place on the map. Find your grid reference by running along the eastings at the bottom of the map until you find the number to the left of the square you’re in, and then up the northings on the side to the number at the bottom of that square. These two numbers, written in this order, provide your 4 figure grid reference.

On the orange Explorer maps you will see that the squares are further divided into tenths along the edges of the map. You can precisely pinpoint a location such as a building with a 6 figure grid reference. To do this you look at the square and estimate how many tenths the location lies along the line. Then how many tenths from the bottom. Add these numbers to your grid reference after the easting and northing.

In addition to using your map reading skills on the paper folded maps you can also access Explorer and Landranger maps on your mobile, tablet and desktop. Aerial imagery provides a 3D view and brings the map to life, and an Augmented Reality feature labels interesting places within the landscape to help you explore.

A 7 day free trial is available at https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/52.48621,-2.21548,7

by Andy Britnell

London National Park City Map

Hot off the press - the new London National Park City map

We love our work here at Dennis Maps and we’re very proud of one of our recent achievements, the printing of the new London National Park City map. It’s a large-format, folded map, printed on the best stock on the same press as the Ordnance Survey Explorer maps, using bright Pantone inks.

Social enterprise Urban Good, which works to improve the urban environment, raised money for the project through crowdfunding. They collaborated with Ordnance Survey and Greenspace Information for Greater London to create a beautiful map that would inspire Londoners to get out and enjoy their natural surroundings.

You may have seen the map on BBC Countryfile’s special Cities episode, which featured Woodberry Wetlands, a wildlife haven just a stone’s throw from the tower blocks of Stoke Newington.

If your impression of London is that it’s a concrete jungle packed with buildings and roads, thronged with people and congested with traffic, you’ll be surprised to learn that 49.5% of London is estimated to be green and blue space! That includes public parks and woodland, playing fields, front and back gardens, reservoirs, rivers, canals and ponds.

As we pointed out in our #GetOutside post, you don’t have to drive miles to the countryside to have an adventure outdoors. The London National Park City map reveals the urban landscape, showing where you can walk, sail and play many kinds of sports.

You’ll see at once that this isn’t anything like the London maps you’re used to looking at, as the focus is not on the streets and the famous landmarks. What is immediately striking is the sheer amount of green.

You’ll quickly get your eye in, and start to spot the many walks and outside activities highlighted in fluorescent orange. Then you’ll notice the familiar circular symbols for tube and railway stations, and you will easily be able to plan the start and end of your adventure near public transport.

Turn over the London National Park City map, and on the reverse you’ll find a giant atlas of London packed with fascinating facts about its parkland, woodland, rivers, hills and foxes (there may now be as many as 10,000 of these creatures living in the city).

Plus twenty ideas for exploring London you may never have thought of or even knew were possible in the city - come face-to-face with a goat at a city farm, for example, pitch your tent at a campsite, or go white-water rafting on the River Lea!

In 2019 London will become the world’s first National Park City, taking inspiration from the UK’s rural National Parks, where natural beauty and wildlife are protected. A National City Park is a large urban area that is managed in order to enhance its living landscape and provide a better quality of life.

The aim is for London to become greener, with more natural wild spaces, and reduced flood risk due to more planting. Also healthier, with better air quality, and with more experiences available outdoors, which will connect communities and improve standards of everyday life.

Revitalising the way the city relates to its natural environment is at the heart of creating the National Park City. Developers, clubs, community groups and individuals will be encouraged to join in with the ‘micro-greening’ of London, by creating living roofs, quiet green spaces and ‘greening’ their front gardens.

Thousands of copies of the London National Park City map have already been distributed. To get your own free copy (with a charge for postage) and find out how much green and blue surrounds your neighbourhood, visit the Urban Good website.

And you can keep up-to-date with the latest news and share the photos of your explorations of London’s great outdoors on social media by using the hashtag #NationalParkCity.

by Andy Britnell