Published between 1899 and 1900 and
republished here on fully-searchable CD-Rom is Cassell's Gazetteer of
Great Britain and Ireland: A Complete Topographical Dictionary of the
United Kingdom. Published in six volumes, the collection as a whole
contains more than 3,000 pages, 60 coloured maps and many hundreds of
illustrations throughout the text.
Cassell and Co., Ltd
was founded by John Cassell (1815-1865) who numbered amongst his early
professions: carpenter, temperance preacher, tea and coffee merchant
before turning to publishing in the 1840s. His first publication was a
weekly newspaper, The Standard of Freedom and for a time continued to
run a grocery business, which he coupled with publishing. As business
expanded, Cassell rented a portion of the Belle Sauvage, an inn which
doubled as playhouse and here he built his first printing works.
Bankrupt by 1855, Cassell's underwent numerous changes in name
reflecting the current owners and managers of the company until 1998
when it became part of the Orion Publishing Group.
In the
preface to the first volume of Cassell's Gazetteer of Great Britain
& Ireland - A to CHED - released in 1899, it was believed by the
publishers that their gazetteer and topographical dictionary met a need
that had until that time not been met by any publisher and the scope of
the six volumes was detailed in the following terms: the Gazetteer
contains an alphabetical list of all of the counties, together with
geographical features and river systems, Parliamentary Divisions,
Baronies, Parishes - including acreage and soil - Townships, Cities,
Boroughs, Towns, Seaports, Hamlets and Villages in the United Kingdom.
Provided at the foot of each page is the population for each
denomination as enumerated in the 1891 Census of Great Britain and
Ireland and its distance from its nearest railway station and London or
Dublin.
Physical features are also recorded in the
Gazetteer and these include Mountains and Hills - with their altitude -
Rivers, Waterfalls, Capes, Lakes, Islands, Rocks and Shoals. Also
described are Remarkable Antiquities, Earthworks, Ecclesiastical Ruins
and Historic Houses.
For each parish entry the acreage and
nature of the soil is provided, the name of the parish church or
churches, their dedication, architectural features and monuments; also
recorded are other places of worship, schools, public buildings,
historic events associated with the parish, eminent inhabitants,
antiquities, natural features, trades and gentlemen's seats.
Volume
One of Cassell's Gazetteer and Topographical Dictionary contains 505
printed pages, more than 170 illustrations, which include photographs
and sketches and 10 fold-out colour maps. Each of the following five
volumes contains approximately the same number of pages, illustrations
and maps as the first volume.
Cassell's is one of the principal topographical resources for Britain and Ireland and an essential reference work.
High quality scanned images of the whole of each original volume. This CD has been bookmarked for easy navigation, and pages can be searched, browsed, enlarged and printed out if required.
