Maps have the power to provide snapshots of a local area and tell stories, but they also spark debate, stir up curiosity and rekindle memories providing clues to the past. If you have ever puzzled over some of the esoteric terminology on maps, then help is at hand with their topographical nomenclature explained in this invaluable guide.
Paul Mulligan, who worked in the Glucksman Map Library in Trinity College Dublin, has compiled a 200-page alphabetical glossary, running from Abbey to Zincography – the latter a method of 19th-century printing by the Ordnance Survey for producing maps whereby the image was drawn on and printed from a zinc plate.
Flick through the pages to discover rich and diverse oddities such as ‘Dispy’, an abbreviation of Dispensary, ‘Gripe’, an open ditch, drain or trench, and ‘Pantechnicon’, a repository where manufactured articles were displayed for sale. ‘Hot beds’ were a mixture of topsoil and garden compost placed on top of a layer of fresh strawy horse dung, while a ‘Sutler’s Hut’ described someone following an army, selling provisions to the troops.
Aside from numerous cartographic descriptions, related subjects include expressive words used in archaeology, architecture and geology. Phrases have entered the lexicon, leading to well-known sayings. For example, a ‘Grist Mill,’ used for grinding corn, has given rise to ‘grist to the mill’, while ‘Cadgers Field’ stems from someone who brought butter, eggs and poultry to market, and has, of course, other connotations.
The hill-walking cognoscenti may be aware of the 100-metre height difference between Arderins and Vandeleur-Lynam. But not everyone will know that the Arderins represent an official list of 406 mountains in Ireland which are all 500 metres or more in height. In Irish, Ard Éireann, means ‘height of Ireland.’ Vandeleur-Lynam – named after the initial compilers Joss Lynam and Rev CRP Vandeleur – lists 275 Irish mountain peaks which have a prominence of at least 15 metres on all sides.
In a changing landscape and a sat-nav world where sales of paper maps are declining, this vade mecum is a trove of local cultural, social and military history, as well as a flashback to older times. Keep it handy to roam the toponymy and lose yourself in the multi-layered aura of ancient places that bring alive the physical surroundings.
