Purfleet published by J Stratford...1807...For David Hughsons Description of London
Cartographer : - Hughson, David 1760 - 1820
- Date: - 1807
- Size: - 8in x 5in (200mm x 130mm)
- Ref#: - 26360
- Condition: - (A) Very Good Condition
Description:
This original hand coloured copper-plate engraved antique print a view of the town of Purfleet, Essex England was published in the 1807 - dated - edition of David Hughsons London; Being an Accurate History and Description of the British Metropolis and its Neighbourhood, to Thirty Miles Extent, from an Actual Perambulation. J. Stratford.
General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 8in x 5in (200mm x 130mm)
Plate size: - 8in x 5in (200mm x 130mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Small repair in top margin
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None
Purfleet is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority in Essex, England.
In the 18th century, Purfleet Royal Gunpowder Magazine was established as a location for the storage of gunpowder together with a garrison to protect it. There was a constant danger of explosion as a result of lightning strikes. Benjamin Franklin was asked for advice on the design of a lightning conductor and a committee of the Royal Society supported his design for pointed conductors. After the American Revolution the powder store was protected from lightning which hit the building, though metal drainpipes actually did the work. When King George III heard of this, he insisted they be replaced with blunt conductors and the president of the Royal Society was forced to resign.
Magazine number 5, the only one remaining of the original five, is now the Purfleet Garrison Heritage and Military Centre and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is run by volunteers and contains a wide range of local and military memorabilia (including from RAF Hornchurch) and is open to the public on Thursdays, Sundays and bank holidays.
J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) made sketches of Purfleet in 1805-08 mainly featuring the Powder Magazines. The sketches are collected in the River and Margate Sketchbook which are part of the Tate Britain collection and accepted as part of the Turner Bequest in 1856.
Other surviving 18th century buildings include the proofing house (now used for community activities) and the gatehouse clock tower (described by English Heritage as forming an integral part of the finest ensemble in any of the Ordnance Yards, consistent with the high standards practised by the Ordnance Board in its designs for fortifications and barracks from the C17).
In his history of Essex (1848) W. White describes Purfleet as having 704 inhabitants including 199 from the barracks. Purfleet is a village and military station....at the mouth of a rivulet, and at the west end of West Thurrock ...sometimes called a township...and has a pleasure fair on the 13th of June. Near it are the extensive limeade chalk pits of W.H.Whitbread, the lord of the manor. The harbour is often full of shipping business and animation: and joining it is a large government powder magazine, consisting of five detached bomb-proof and well-protected store-houses, barracks for a company of artillery, a store keepers mansion, and a good quay. The magazine was built in 1781,and has room for the safe keeping of 60,000 barrels of gunpowder
Hughson whose real name may have been Edward Pugh, was a writer on the topography and history of London. He produced a description of London based on an actual perambulation (walk) that was published in six volumes between 1805 and 1809 called London; Being an Accurate History and Description of the British Metropolis and its Neighbourhood, to Thirty Miles Extent, from an Actual Perambulation. J. Stratford. He also produced works on topical matters such as the East India Company, religious subjects, and works of household management targetted at people of the middling and genteel ranks of life.
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The word Antique in the traditional sense refers to an item that is more than a hundred years old. In the past maps were sold in two forms, as a single sheet (broadsheet) or bound in an atlas or book. The majority of antique maps for sale today come from books or atlases and have survived due to the protection offered by the hardback covers.
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