FIRST EDITION. The first map of the county of Northumberland to be produced at a scale of one inch to the mile and the only one issued in the eighteenth century, was published in 1769 in 9 sheets. It was surveyed by Lieutenant Andrew Armstrong and his son Mostyn John Armstrong. Both were cartographers although only the son published any atlases. Their focus was on Scottish related material with the notable exception of the large-scale county surveys of the neighbouring county of Durham published in 1768 and two further of Lincolnshire in 1779 and Rutland in 1780.

The survey for the county took place between 1766 and 1769 and reputedly cost £516. It is the first map of the county to name the ‘Roman Wall’ and the first to accurately recall its termination at Wallsend and not Newcastle. Despite some inaccuracies of longitude, it was awarded 50 guineas from the Society of Arts. This single sheet reduction was published the following year in 1770 and was likely the work of Thomas Kitchin also. This is curious as here Hadrian’s Wall finished back in Newcastle, incorrectly. As might be expected with their publications on roads the lower part of the title cartouche displays a table of the distances from Newcastle. Harley, Brian (1965) ‘The Re-Mapping of England, 1750-1800’ in Imago Mundi 19 p. 63; Rodger (1972) 337.