This map was first published by William Faden in 1796 and only three examples are recorded by Burgess. It was published as a separate map to be cut and dissected and sold in a slipcase. It is derived from the C. Downes map which appeared in Hasted’s Kent. This second state survives in JUST TWO KNOWN EXAMPLES.

It was prepared to illustrate proposals for canals and improvements to channels of the main rivers of Kent with the aim of providing cross county navigation. These relate to the Thames and Medway Canal, the line of the Kent and Sussex Junction Canal and the line of the Teese Navigation. A note lower left refers to the colouring used. ‘Parts of the scheme are identified on the map, between Gravesend and Stroud the ‘THAMES & MEDWAY INTENDED CANAL’, from the upper reaches of the Medway the ‘PROPOSED LINE OF THE KENT AND SUSSEX JUNCTION CANAL’, joining the Otter Channel by the Isle of Oxney. A diversion from the junction canal ‘Proposed line of the Teese Nav’ petering out near Lamberhurst’ (Burgess).

In 1809 the Royal Military Canal opened which is not noted on the map. The surveys were carried out by civil engineer John Rennie FRS (1761-1821) in 1802, with a further survey in 1803. His printed report with plan was published 1809. A further survey was directed in 1810 with a bill put before Parliament in 1811. The surveys were carried out by Giles family of New Inn under the direction of Rennie. The manuscript original of the course for the canal system was drafted on a copy of the Mudge 1807 map. Provenance: Sotheby’s auction 20 September 2001 lot 153. Burgess (2009) 75.ii (citing one other known example); Tooley’s Dictionary.