Around 1583-1596 Timothy Pont, a young graduate of the University of St Andrews, undertook his remarkable task of mapping Scotland--the first person to do so in any detail, as far as is known. He spent 13 years during the post-Reformation period travelling around Scotland drawing and naming every hill, loch, and building in miniature sketches.
Little is known of Pont's life, and the reasons for his initiative are still obscure.
Many of Pont's documents were destroyed in a fire in 1673, but at least 77 have survived. Now held by the National Library of Scotland, this collection provides a unique insight into the history, geography, landscape and architecture of 16th century Scotland.
All the fragile manuscript maps attributed to Pont have now been scanned, revealing details previously invisible to the naked eye. They show natural features such as rivers, coasts, lochs and trees, as well as settlements, towns, bridges, mills and churches. In one 18 inch by 12 inch drawing of Lanarkshire, Pont included 1385 names. The smallest is a two inch square drawing of the island in Loch Maree.
Although Pont uses symbols for small settlements, he shows important buildings and towns by individual sketches. Architectural and garden historians of 16th century Scotland believe that these tiny sketches may be fairly accurate representations of the buildings Pont saw, and in some cases may be the earliest depictions.
This fascinating record is enlivened by notes as 'fair salmond, trouts, eels and pearls in Loch Tay'. A king drowned here, Good fishing.'
Contents:
Preface
Contributors
List of Maps
Illustrations
Project Pont Seminars
Pont Family: The Evidence
1. Timothy Pont: Three Centuries of Research, Speculation and Plagiarism
2. The Age of Timothy Pont
3. Writing and Signs
a) Pont's Writing: Form and Content
b) An Assessment of Pont's Settlement Signs
4. Pont and Place-Names
5. Woodland in the Maps of Pont
6. Timothy Pont and Scotland's Mountains
7. Timothy Pont's Building Drawings
8. Timothy Pont's Portrayal of Town
9. Pont in Context: Chorography, Mapmaking and National Identity in the Late Sixteenth Century
Bibliography
Index
