GALL AND INGLIS

 

Gall & Inglis Maps

(including notes on Cary and Cruchley Maps) 

This company was based in Edinburgh (6 George St; from 1878 at 20 Bernard Terrace, from 1924 at 12 Newington Road). In 1872 it opened an office at the new Paternoster Square building in London, first at no. 30, then moving in 1874 to no. 25. From 1909 the London office was at 31 Henrietta St, Strand, from 1930 at 13 Henrietta St.

The firm had its origin in the firm of Turnball and Gall. James Gall became sole owner in 1841 and formed a partnership with Robert Inglis eight years later. The firm were general and religious publishers and agents for Ordnance Survey maps. However, their main involvement in map production followed their acquisition, in 1877, of the map plates of George Frederick Cruchley (1797-1880), an engraver, later promoting himself as ‘Map Seller and Globe Maker’, who had commenced his career working for the prominent cartographer Aaron Arrowsmith. Many of these plates were already 40 years old when acquired by Gall & Inglis, and although predating the cycling era some historical background to them is necessary, as they were to remain in use for another half-century. Among the products acquired from Cruchley were a national series of 2 miles to the inch maps and atlas maps for all the English counties.

Cruchley had himself acquired these plates and others from the sons of John Cary (1754-1835).  John Cary was a well-known cartographer and producer of maps in the Georgian era. He had been commissioned by the Post Office to survey Britain’s postal routes and in 1790 produced his Traveller's Companion: or, A Delineation of The Turnpike Roads of England and Wales. This comprised a set of county maps showing the main roads and was accompanied by an index map. These maps were largely revamps of earlier county productions by various publishers rather than a fresh survey. This was followed in 1798 by his New Itinerary, which gave tables of distances along the roads. A rival contemporary product was Paterson’s Roads, last appearing in 1831. This might seem to be long before the advent of cycling, but even in the 1890s 'Paterson' was being recommended to cyclists as a reliable and useful guide to road distances and was pillaged by many of the road books that were appearing for cyclists. Similarly, Cary’s Reduced Map of England & Wales (first appearing in 1796!) was used for successive editions of The Bazaar Tourist’s Route Map – “For All Cyclists and Roadmen” into the 1900s.

 Between 1820 and 1832 John Cary produced his Improved Map of England & Wales, issued in 65 sheets. This was on the scale of two miles to an inch, and also covered Southern Scotland and the Isle of Man. Although there were numerous individual County maps on this (and larger) scales, as a project of mapping the country with a contiguous series of maps it seems to have been only rivalled by the slower-moving Ordnance Survey.

 Cary’s sons developed their father’s maps and included information from the Ordnance Survey as it progressed. This work was continued by Cruchley, himself an accomplished engraver, on his acquiring the base plates and publishing rights from them in 1844. Most of the Cary maps were republished under the Cruchley name. In 1857 Cruchley published his Reduced Ordnance Map of England, in atlas and 65-sheet form, based on Cary’s Improved Map. Although Cruchley’s editions of the half-inch maps referred to themselves as ‘Reduced Ordnance Survey’ (“half the scale and half the price”), and incorporated information such as railways from the OS, the base maps predated the survey (except possibly the southernmost sheets) and were topographically less exact. As the last Cary revision was in 1832, and Cruchley concentrated on adding the new railways, the last decade or so of turnpike road development was omitted from the maps.

 The complicated development of Cary/Cruchley maps all took place before what might be termed the ‘cycling’ era, and so for this work they have generally been referred to as Cruchley where of this origin and period.

 The ex-Cruchley County Maps

The separate Cruchley County maps (so named) originated with the Cary cartography dynasty around 1832, and were republished as Cruchley’s County Atlas of England in 1862. They were subsequently taken over and issued by Gall and Inglis in numerous editions. They also formed the base for E. Harrison’s “Finger Post” Bicycle Road Guide and County Map series (e.g. Yorkshire,1883).

 They were perpetuated well into the 20^th century – probably representing the ‘terribly old fossils’ referred to by one commentator as noted on an earlier page. Compactly-folded versions were branded as ‘Cycling Editions’, but the maps themselves were unmodified and some still bore the page numbers of the original atlas. In the Gall & Inglis 1902 catalogue there were the full 40 sheets covering all English counties (including Monmouthshire), an un-numbered (and recent) Pembroke sheet, plus North, Mid and South Wales sheets, still branded as ‘Cruchley’ maps. Each map was about 20” by 23” and of necessity scale varied from sheet to sheet, but their low cost (6d “on strong paper”) made them competitive for a while despite their age.

 

The full set of 44 maps was still being advertised prior to WW1. The new-style Lancashire and Northumberland maps of 1913 were double-sided, still sixpence paper, 1/- cloth. By 1925 only twenty ‘County’ maps were still being advertised, plus new North Wales and South Wales sheets, price 1/- paper, 2/- on cloth. The old Cruchley versions had largely been replaced by adaptions of his half-inch maps or, in northern England, by fresh Gall & Inglis mapping derived from the Ordnance Survey. Apart from colouring main roads no specific cycling information had ever been shown and their day had long passed. 

Cruchley Half-Inch Maps in the Gall & Inglis Era

On purchasing Cruchley’s map assets, Gall & Inglis continued with this series of half-inch maps, with sporadic updates. As inherited, sheet numbering went up to 65, but Sheets 4 – 7, omitted from later catalogues, were basically the English Channel. Although titled Reduced Ordnance Map of England & Wales, it included southern Scotland, as far as Glasgow and Edinburgh. Later railways are clearly additions to this base map and are often more clumsily shown. These maps, all originally monochrome, other than ‘de-luxe’ versions with additional hand colouring, had light orange-brown covers and displayed the Cruchley name only second in prominence to ‘Reduced Ordnance Survey’ – evidently the latter was a good selling point, however little the maps may have owed to the OS products.

Circa 1880 Cruchley’s half-inch 65-sheet series was also being advertised by C. Smith, map publishers, 63 Charing Cross Road: the full 65-sheet series was still advertised by them in 1888 but by 1889 their coverage had dropped to 60 sheets. During the same decade Letts also supplied the maps as did their successors, Mason & Payne, London. George Gill & Sons, of 7 Gracechurch St London, were selling Cruchley maps (not so named) around 1889 as Cyclists’ Map of England & Wales – ‘planned on a scale of 2m to an inch, folded in case with roads colored [sic] 1s 6d per sheet, mounted and folded in case 2s 6d per sheet’.

The two sheets 46 and 51, needed for the Isle of Man, clumsily dictated by adherence to the original atlas format, not surprisingly had only a brief life under Gall and Inglis. More surprisingly, Sheet 56 covering Galloway was also dropped. Tweaks to map boundaries around the coast in the 1890s disposed of further sheets as recorded below. In Scotland, further tourist areas were incorporated on smaller and cheaper ‘half-sheets’. Sheet 56 (Galloway) was dropped but reappeared later in Gall & Inglis format. For some years the map covers retained the Cruchley name at the head, but with the Gall & Inglis name and address replacing the former at the foot. 

The maps were periodically updated, so despite their early origin they were competent maps: indeed they seem to have had the half-inch scale to themselves in England and Wales until the 1890s. They were also appreciably cheaper than their contemporaries in the early cycling days.  

We are constantly receiving queries as to which are the best maps for the use of cyclers [sic]. Those which are published by Messrs. Gall & Inglis, 25, Paternoster Square, London, seem to merit that title: and one of our staff who uses their map of England and Wales, which is issued in sheets—scale, half an inch to the mile—is loud in its praise. This is, however, only one of the many useful maps issued by the firm.

 Cycling magazine, 25 April 1891

The maps retained their pricing, a shilling on paper, 1/6d on cloth, in their Gall & Inglis versions (other publishers also issued them in more elaborate format). Gall & Inglis rebranded its cloth edition as the ‘Cycling’ edition, the only change was the smaller folded size - ‘can be folded to lie open at any particular part – a great advantage to Cyclists’. A plug for the publisher’s Contour Road Books (1896 onwards) was added at the bottom left-hand corner of the map itself, and an advert for the series occupied the rear cover. Also published by 1903 were over twenty ‘half sheets’ covering major centres and tourist areas and ‘special large sheets’ centred on Brighton, Cambridge, Darlington, Leeds, Oxford, Reading and Southampton. From c. 1905 a new style was introduced, in ‘waterproof’ cover, with an index map to local sheets on the front. 

As remarked, the Cruchley maps extended well into Scotland. Gall and Inglis complemented these with their own maps on the same half-inch scale (described below) and gradually the series was expanded northwards. Although variously described as comprising 60, 62, 65, 71 and 75 sheets in the series, in fact there were always a few numeric gaps. 

 

The key map pasted inside most map covers was gradually updated to reflect elimination of unviable sheets around the coast, adjacent sheets being extended to maintain coverage. The original Sheet 59, covering Sunderland, last appeared in 1892. There were no further changes until the key map was entirely redrawn for 1899, breaking away from the rigid grid going back to the Cary days. The Devon/Cornwall sheets were extended so all of these counties appeared on the three sheets 1, 2 and 9, with Sheet 8 demoted to just covering the Scilly Islands. Sheets 4 to 7 covering the English Channel and Sheet 15 covering the Bristol Channel were dropped. What had been introduced as special sheets covering North Devon and Glamorgan took up the numbers 9 and 16 respectively. Sheet 55 was withdrawn, with the Filey area shown on an extended Sheet 54. Sheet 56 covering Galloway had been reissued in new Gall & Inglis mapping in 1897 but was only now restored to the key map. A circular insert centred over the Isle of Man now promoted the ‘Cycling’ map edition. County names were dropped from the key map.

In 1900 extension to Sheet 13 enabled Sheet 14 (East Kent) to be withdrawn. From c. 1905 a new style of  light-grey ‘waterproof’ map cover was introduced, with a local index map on the front. By 1907 Sheets 47 and 50 had been recentred to cover more land and less sea; this coupled with resizing of Sheet 48 allowed 49 to be deleted, although it reappeared as an extra sheet centred on York. The Scottish ‘half’ sheets 66 and 67 were replaced by a new Sheet 59 around the same time , though the Isle of Arran retained its old mapping, with hill hachuring.  In 1908 Sheet 16 was recentred to cover Glamorgan, followed by Sheet 22 Pembroke being edged eastwards to cover the whole county (an ‘outlying’ Pembrokeshire map in the ‘County’ series had been advertised for some years, possibly utilising this map). All dates in this and the preceding paragraph apply to the revisions of the key map: the actual boundary changes on the published maps, or withdrawal of the superseded ones, may have occurred earlier.

Like other publishers, Gall & Inglis produced maps for local stationers and booksellers, some the standard sheets with covers modified to display the local publisher’s name, others more specialised products with localised boundaries and bespoke covers, and often displayed mileage circles radiating from the client’s home town. Gall & Inglis provided source mapping for four maps sold by Abel Heywood of Manchester, covering Lancashire and adjoining counties as well as a North Wales sheet, this last reduced to 3m to an inch. The Gall & Inglis name rarely appeared on the covers of such maps but their map styles are readily identifiable. So a Zebadiah Bloggs’ Cycling & Motoring Map of Loamshire will most probably turn out to be an old Cary/Cruchley map, traceable back to 1832 or thereabouts, with ‘Gall & Inglis’ appearing discreetly in the corner. One of the more ambitious local publishers of Gall &Inglis mapping was E. W. Savory of Cirencester, whose County Map of Gloucestershire was the first of seven ‘Eclipse’ maps of midland counties issued in 1895. Their price (6d) was kept low by advertisements on the rear of the map. Gall  & Inglis provided source mapping for four maps sold by Abel Heywood of Manchester, covering Lancashire and adjoining counties, as well as a North Wales sheet, this last reduced to 3m to an inch.

Although the northern Cruchley maps were to be superseded by Gall & Inglis’ own new mapping, the Cruchley maps numbered 45 and below were never redrawn and reissued in Gall and Inglis versions but remained on sale: “Ordinary sheets, 1 to 45, are issued on the Half-Inch Scale – roads coloured Brown. Price 2/6 per sheet, cloth mounted” (1927).

Gall & Inglis’ own numbered Half-inch Maps

In the 1890s Gall & Inglis produced new half-inch maps, extending the numbering and range of the Cruchley series further north, eventually reaching Inverness and Aberdeen, with new sheet numbers 69 to 75 (numbers 66 to 68 left blank for intended sheets). The same new mapping gradually replaced that of the old Cruchley series in Southern Scotland and Northern England, initially retaining the numbers (if not the exact boundaries) of the sheets they replaced. As such the firm found itself marketing both these and the northernmost Cruchley sheets for the same area. 

The additional non-Cruchley sheets were incorporated with them for marketing purposes as a single series. By 1911, when the catalogue described it as “The Great 75 sheet ‘Half Inch’ Map of England & Scotland”, these new Gall & Inglis productions were described thus: 

New Reduced Ordnance Series… a series of entirely new Maps are now being issued: sheets published 35, 41 – 44, 47 - 50, 52 - 54, 56 - 62, 69 – 71, 74 & 75

 These ultimately gave full coverage of North Wales (used for a new North Wales map, reduced to 3 miles to an inch) and Northern England, as well as a large part of Scotland. Elsewhere the old Cruchley sheets struggled on, though a locally-marketed Buxton & 40 Miles Around map, and one of Shrewsbury & Llangollen were also to the new mapping.

These new sheets were priced at 1/- and 1/6d on cloth. The maps highlighted main roads in red but lacked contouring and showed very few road spot heights, in fact next to none on the English sheets, save within such parts of Cumberland and Northumberland as had already appeared on the Scottish sheets. This paucity of information reduced their value to cyclists compared to their rivals’ products.  A footnote to the catalogue stated ‘The above maps are to be had in nearly every town and watering place, often with a local publisher’s name. In that case, the words “Gall & Inglis, Edinburgh” appear at the right-hand bottom corner.’

As well as these ‘standard’ replacements of the old Cruchley sheets, versions with additional information for cyclists closely followed – the half-inch ‘Safety’ (later ‘Graded’) edition. These are covered in a following section.

By 1914 they were described as ‘based on the revised Ordnance Survey’ (although this never appeared on the maps themselves), but no further sheets were listed, for either the standard map or the ‘Graded’ versions of them described below. The 1925 Gall & Inglis catalogue still showed all the same half-inch sheets as available, but only in the ‘Graded’ format (described below) where that had been produced, and elsewhere only in the folded ‘cycling’ format (still so named), on cloth.

Although the northern Cruchley maps had been superseded by Gall & Inglis’ own new mapping, the majority of the Cruchley maps were never redrawn and reissued in Gall and Inglis versions but remained on sale: “Ordinary sheets, 1 to 45, are issued on the Half-Inch Scale – roads coloured Brown. Price 2/6 per sheet, cloth mounted” (1927).  

Gall & Inglis Tourists Maps

Gall and Inglis’ own mapping never extended beyond the Great Glen or along the west coast of Scotland. The numbered Sottish sheets were largely duplicated by a number of ‘Tourists [sic] Maps’ based on various centres across Scotland, with one also for the English Lake District. These maps retained the same style as the earlier maps, with main roads coloured (initially brown, later red, a few of the secondary roads dashed-red). Some later had steep hills marked on them, as on the graded maps to be described. These Tourists Maps gradually superseded the numbered sheets based loosely on the old Cruchley sheet boundaries and were still being sold, with roads updated, into the 1940s. Internet copies of some of these and other Gall & Inglis maps may be viewed on the National Library of Scotland website.

 

Gall & Inglis Small-scale ‘Safety’ or ‘Graded’ Maps

In 1889 Gall and Inglis published the Road Book and Guide to the English Lake District, written by G. R. Brayshay, a local CTC Consul. This included information on the quality of the roads on an appended map. A companion volume, Specially Surveyed Roads in Scotland – Being a Guide for Cyclists, Pedestrians and Sportsmen by the same author appeared in 1890, this being simultaneously published by G. Philip & Son. These volumes seem to have been the catalyst for the wider production of specialised maps highlighting the physical condition of roads and marking dangerous hills.

A Gall & Inglis ‘Safety’ map of England & Wales, in four sheets at 10 miles to an inch, 1s per sheet on cloth, had been advertised in 1891, but seems not to have attracted much attention.  Although main roads were highlighted in colour, together with dangerous hills, the map did not attempt to distinguish surface quality and was thus only one of several similar products. However, a ‘Safety’ road map of Scotland, on the same scale in one sheet, appeared in 1894 (1/-, 1/6 on cloth), with different categories of surface quality indicated for 9,000 miles of road: 

Since the invention of the “safety” cycling has become more popular than ever, and it is easy now to scour over all the country with these excellent and easily ridden machines. Cyclists will thank Messrs Gall & Inglis, Edinburgh, for the first-rate “Safety” CYCLING MAP OF SCOTLAND which they have just issued. It has been compiled—and as far as appears most successfully —with the view of enabling tourists to ascertain a glance the quality of the roads in any district in Scotland. Superior main roads, roads that are good but hilly, ordinary roads, rough roads, bad roads, and very bad roads are clearly indicated by the different kind of markings along their route. A steep hill is indicated by a red triangle, the top of the triangle indicating the top of the hill; and a dangerous hill is similarly indicated by a blue triangle. Altogether it is such a map - handy for the pocket - that no cyclist who ventures into strange parts should be without. We observe that the dangerous bills at Berriedale, Dunbeath and Latheronwheel in this county are carefully marked, and it is shown that apart from a piece of hilly road between Helmsdale and Berriedale the roads in the county are of the very best kind for the enjoyment of cycling.

Review in the John o’ Groat Journal, 20 July 1894

Alongside the 1894 Scottish map, the four England & Wales regional sheets were reissued to the new, greatly enhanced, specification. From 1900 England & Wales were also available on a single sheet at 15 miles to an inch whereupon the four regional sheets were labelled ‘Large Scale Edition’, though this subtitle was later dropped. The base map in both cases was the same, being that also used for the key maps in the Contour Road Books – that for England & Wales an old 15m to an inch Weller map. The maps were now branded “Safety” or “Graded” Maps, the latter title gradually becoming the more general term as bicycle brakes and road surfaces improved.

In August, 1900, the weekly periodical Cycling noted the publication of the single-sheet version of the England & Wales “Safety” map, with a not wholly laudatory review. The following month, however, they were to announce a new edition of their own-branded map of England & Wales for 1901, one that “Shows the quality of 28,000 miles of road; marks 1,700 dangerous hills” – that is, the Gall & Inglis product! This was advertised by Cycling under its own name through to WW1, except for a few months in 1909-10 when a Bartholomew product was substituted. Cycling (and its sister publication Motor) was also to use own-branded versions of Gall & Inglis's Strip Maps and Contour Road Books.

At some date after 1906 the cover title on the maps was changed from ‘Safety or Graded Cycling Map’ to  ‘Graded Road Map’. The title on the index maps remained unchanged, at least for some time.

 Later, Gall & Inglis were to issue the England & Wales single sheet, as a “Large Scale Edition” on the same ten miles to an inch scale of the regional sheets, rather than its original 15m to an inch scale The base map remained the same. This single sheet was branded as Inglis’ Safety Map, rather than Gall & Inglis’.This sheet was at one time produced in double-sided format, on linen , but post-WW1 reverted to single-sided in a taller folded size. Despite post 1912 catalogues frequently listing it as being on the 15m scale, it was undoubtedly on the larger.

A ten-mile to the inch “Graded” or “Safety” Map of Ireland was included in their 1912 catalogue and following years, but did not appear in post-WW1 catalogues so may not have reached actual publication. About this time, the Dublin publisher R. J. Mecredy was publishing his own road condition map of Ireland, which would certainly have outsold any Scottish rival.

The road and hill classifications and their depiction were to be much modified over time, as will be seen from the sample extracts that follow. Initially only main roads were shown: those to avoid were marked in blue – ‘these roads are not necessarily impassable, but they are best described as “slow travelling” and to Cyclists, probably involve a good amount of walking’. At one time the Scottish map distinguished both ‘Bad’ roads and ‘Bad & hilly’ roads, the latter in blue dashes and including such routes as that over the Lammermuir Hills (a route omitted from the CTC Road Book) and Bridge of Orchy to Glencoe. Successive editions of the Scotland map can be found on the National Library of Scotland website (under Inglis) and between them provide a fascinating glimpse into the rapidly-changing condition of the road network and the colour schemes and terminology used to describe it. 

On early maps, cross-hatching was used to identify sections of main roads deemed to be ‘unrideable’. This included the entire length of the Exeter – Moreton Hampstead – Tavistock route, as well as sections of road across the Mendips and Salisbury Plain . What is now the A303, the main route to the west of England, was deemed ‘unrideable’ west of Stonehenge, as well as near Stockbridge. This ’unrideable’ category was dropped from the later maps, with blue introduced for the poorest class. Cross-hatching was then introduced for roads with tram (‘car’) lines, though, strangely, neither category was specified in the map key.

In England, as might be expected, ‘blue’ sections included Porlock and Countisbury Hills in North Devon, Hawes – Muker – Kirkby Stephen, Reeth – Tan Hill – Brough, but several in the Yorkshire Wolds were also castigated, no doubt due to the unsuitability of the local stone for road material: as the notes to the map state: ‘Allowance should also be made for unusually wet or dry seasons, which often make a great difference in the quality of the roads’. These maps are reminders that at that time information on the condition of roads was as important as actual navigation and other publishers produced similar touring-scale maps indicating road conditions. ‘Bad’ hills were based on steepness rather than severity, for example the gradual 300m rise from Penrith to Shap summit escaped inclusion whereas a shorter, but steeper hill section on the south side merited a blue triangle.

 

In the 1920s both the Scotland and England national maps were still being advertised (the latter initially in both single and four-sheet formats), though by this time they would seem to have outlived their usefulness.

Gall & Inglis Half-Inch to a mile ‘Graded’ Maps

From 1898 several of the Scottish (and later northern England) half-inch sheets were also produced in the ‘Graded’ series, versions of the standard maps (Gall and Inglis’s own, rather than Cruchley’s), coloured to give information on road quality and hills for cyclists. In effect, they took over the ‘Cyclist’ pocket editions of those maps. Colouring broadly replicated that of the smaller-scale ‘Safety’ maps (though from the start they werre known as ‘Graded’ maps) and similarly evolved over time. Roads were categorised as Superior (yellow), Good (brown), Hilly, Inferior or Cross Roads (pinkish red) and Bad or Rough (blue). Dangerous and ‘Stiff’ hills (later categorised as Bad and Steep respectively: often the terminology on the cover differed from that on the map and even between front and back covers) were marked with triangles, although one had to look carefully to see whether an ascent or descent was indicated for the direction of travel. The maps had ‘waterproof’ covers and initially were un-numbered. Like the small-scale ‘Safety’ maps, a later addition to the roads category was the indication of those with ‘Car Lines’ (i.e. tram lines), shown in purple. 

The maps bore the words: 

In preparing this Map every road is carefully compared and coloured to show tourists which roads to follow by preference. This “grading” of the colours has been done with a view to distinguishing the superiority or inferiority of a road, to those in the immediate neighbourhood, rather than to its intrinsic quality. Any road that is not coloured should be counted as bad. 

The Yellow Roads are the best routes to follow, the Brown are the ordinary main roads, the Red are inferior, hilly or merely narrow cross-roads, frequently with short stiff hills, not long enough to be dangerous. 

The grading of the colours enables the tourist to choose the best roads, and when out for a short spin to select any cross-road to return by, with the certainty of finding it accurately marked, thus removing any element of uncertainty as to whether the road is a cul-de-sac or not. This accuracy enables everyone to use the Map with complete confidence. 

Bad Hills, Stiff Hills, Milestones, Summits, being noted down, the Tourist has much necessary information on the Map itself regarding the road, which is not available in the majority of Maps.

The first sheet of the series appeared a few years before the CTC revisions of the Bartholomew’s half-inch maps. As with the Barts maps, the information on road surfacing and hills (naturally rather subjective) would have been obtained from local cyclists. In 1898 Gall & Inglis published James Lennox’s Cyclist’s Road Book & Guide to The Borders and Galloway, successor to a work by Lennox first appearing in 1885 and variously reprinted. The first ‘Graded’ sheet version, that of Galloway (56), also appearing in 1898, presumably relied heavily on Lennox’s input. 

Although lacking contours (although they were of course complemented by the publisher’s Contour Road Books, described below), in the main they were attractive and competent cycling maps. However, it could be difficult to distinguish between the red and brown colours, which covered the vast majority of the roads, let alone the purple, while the yellow roads which should have taken precedence were less prominent than the others and hard to pick out in poor light  - this colour had been introduced but soon abandoned for the small-scale 'national' Safety maps. 

The choice of grading seems somewhat arbitrary: taking the Lake District as an example, the only ‘Bad’ roads shown are the link between Little and Great Langdale, via Blea Tarn, and the top section of Honister Hause. The Wrynose and Hardknott Passes were implicitly ‘Bad’ by being uncoloured, along with all other minor inter-valley routes. ‘Dangerous Hills’ smother the map: the lane north of the Hawkshead ferry along the west shore of Windermere to Wray, which I have always found an innocent potter, is branded as a series of such hazards.

Expansion of the Graded Series was slow and it never got further south than the Chester – Grimsby line, as Graded versions were only created for most but not all of the sheets produced to Gall & Inglis’ own new half-inch mapping, rather than the inherited Cruchley versions. Whereas the CTC-revised Bartholomew half-inch series for Great Britain had been completed in 1903, by 1907 only seven of the potentially 75 Gall & Inglis half-inch sheets were available in ‘Graded’ editions, and only fifteen by 1914. The later sheets retained the numbers of the old Cruchley maps they replaced, but generally covered a larger area. (sheet size generally 25” by 30”). Dates of first publication of the 'Graded' editions, as far as I can ascertain, are

      47 Lancashire = 1916
      48 West Yorkshire = 1915
      50 East Yorkshire = 1923.
      52 Lake District = 1914
      53/54 North Yorkshire (combined sheet) = 1913
      56 Galloway & S. Ayrshire 1898
      57 Dumfries & Carlisle = 1907 
      58 Newcastle = 1912
      59 Clyde, Arran, Kintyre = 1911
      60 Glasgow & Ayrshire = 1901
      61 Edinburgh District = 1900
      62 The Borders = 1911
      69 Oban District = 1911
      70 Central Perthshire = 1902
      71 Fife, Forfar & E Perthshire = 1899
      74 Inverness, Spey & Caledonian Canal = 1914
      75 Aberdeen & Deeside = 1903

Although map areas generally reflected those of the main half-inch series, the early sheets did not initially bear numbers.

East Yorkshire, the last to appear in 1923, covered the area of old Cruchley 49 & 50. Sheet 53-4 (North Yorkshire as one sheet), was later sold un-numbered as such. Sheet 62 The Borders  extended into Northumberland and considerably overlapped Sheet 61. Sheet 47 Lancashire in its Graded format also covered parts of other Cruchley sheets too give full county coverage; however, this sheet seems to have been dropped in 1927  . As only the other sixteen were still advertised in 1930, seventeen must represent their ultimate total. 

When introduced, the Graded maps were priced at 1/6 and were only ever available on cloth. During or after WW1 seventeen sheets were advertised, price 1/8d, then (1919)  2/-; some now titled on the map and in advertisements as Inglis’ rather than Gall & Inglis’ Graded Maps. In 1928  the maps were 3/-, on cloth, the same price as Bartholomew’s half-inch maps. This was later reduced to 2/6 as the age and quality of the maps fell behind those of their contemporaries. The road and hill classification had evolved: the final blue category was now ‘rough roads’, and hills were classified as ‘steep’ and ‘very steep’.  The ’car’ symbol and purple colour for tram networks were dropped, as these systems were rapidly yielding to the motor bus. Some sporadic revision to the main road network took place up to WW2.

Other Gall & Inglis Maps, including other publishers’ editions

In 1889 the company was advertising a Tourist Map of England & Wales, on the scale of 15 miles to an inch – plain 6d, coloured 1s, on cloth 2s. This was originally produced by Edward Weller.

Cruchley had produced a variety of maps of London and these were perpetuated by Gall & Inglis. These included The Reduced Ordnance Map of London ; (35” by 40”), The Handy Map and Guide of London; The 6d Plan of London; The Pocket Map of the Suburbs of London (1” to mile, ‘from the latest Ordnance Surveys’); The Environs of London; London to the Kent and Sussex Watering Places; 25 Miles Round London and four ‘Cycling & Touring Maps’, on the half-inch scale, by Cruchley: 60 miles North/ West/ East/ South of London. These last were still being advertised in 1927. In 1909 Gall & Inglis produced a double-sided map , central London on the one side and a half-inch map of the environs on the other.

Dating Gall & Inglis Maps

It is difficult to date Gall & Inglis own half-inch maps. The print code (if present) is unrelated to date, prices are not shown, covers are unhelpful and railway revision unreliable, with line and station closures ignored. Only major road schemes, such as Kincardine Bridge (1936) acknowledge the passing of the decades. The earliest reference to the half-inch series I have found is 1889, for the Edinburgh, Arran, Clyde and Scottish Lake District maps, with only the last actually described as ‘new’ that year. The 1893 publication of Fife, Forfar and East Perth District is noted  (commenting that main roads were coloured: interestingly, this has hill-shading not seen on other sheets nor perpetuated, though some old hill-shading was carried over from the Cruchley maps for parts of Dumfriesshire and Arran); by 1897 the new numbered sheets 56, 69, 70 & 71 had appeared. 

With the publication of the Contour Road Books (with Scotland 1896) a footnote ‘plug’ for the books was added to the various half-inch maps or covers and progress on these, the Graded Maps and the publisher’s strip maps are the best dating guide – at least to the date of the covers. The various changes in address of the firm have been given at the start of this page and these give a broad date range of the map – or rather the cover. above.  Many maps include adverts or notes on the progress of the Contour Road Books and Strip Maps, and in the following sections on those products I have tried to give as much dating information as possible.

Railways, initially uncoloured parallel lines, were replaced by a ladder style (as retained for mineral branches) and gradually (1900 – 1910) by solid black, some skipping the intermediate stage. However, the ladder style was retained on some earlier maps (including their ‘Graded’ editions) until their demise and often more than one style would appear on the same map. One useful tip - Gleneagles station, lying on several sheets, was known as Crieff Junction until 1912. 

About 1910 the initial brown for roads was replaced by red, with a few secondary roads shown dashed red (on some sheets dashed red was reserved for popular mountain paths). Maps produced under local publishers’ names often retained older styles. Even the titling on the maps varied: many bore no title at all, others were branded as ‘Inglis’ Cycling & Touring Map’ on covers and map heading (still with the old ‘Cruchley’ sheet number), some with ‘Gall & Inglis New Half-Inch Map’ while other variations arise. Some later editions of the Tourists maps had roads uncoloured – WW2 austerity? They are recorded as being on sale as late as 1952, though I suspect they were old stock last revised before WW2. The coloured ‘graded’ maps were certainly revised into the 1930s, though new roads were often shown rather crudely. Aerodromes and radio transmitters were some of the few new features to be added. The maps never showed MoT road numbers, golf courses or youth hostels – a few additions that could have made the maps more customer-orientated at trivial expense. 

Much of the foregoing also applies to dating the small-scale ‘Safety/Graded’ national maps. This cannot cannot be precise, except for the early years, when the rapid changes in style, as well as the density of roads included, helps. The Scottish examples on the National Library of Scotland website are useful. Initially named ‘Safety Cycling Maps’ on covers, this changed to ‘Safety or Graded Road Maps’. Expansion and pricing of the Contour Road Books, often advertised on covers, is another dating clue. Railways on the earliest versions of the base map were alternate black and white; later continuous black was adopted except for freight lines. Railway revision after about 1905 is only patchy and an unreliable dating tool.

Contour Road Books

Gradients were of much interest to Victorian-era cyclists, not only from the point of view of difficulty in ascent on single-speed machines, but even more so from the point of dangerous descents. Whilst some information could be given on maps this was very subjective. The Gall & Inglis Contour Road Books showed principal routes in vertical profile, thus clearly indicating the physical difficulty of the road. Coupled with these profiles were detailed road mileages (to ⅛ mile) and comments on the quality of the road surface, steepness of hills and accuracy of any milestones. They were thus the twentieth century counterpart of the Road Books produced by Cary and others a hundred years before, and a natural complement to the rather basic character of contemporary maps. Some text extracts from them are included in this blog's page on Road Books. Gall & Inglis were famous for their ready-reckoners and other computing aids, and some of that quest for precision was carried over into their contour road books. Although not the only publishers of such products, those by this company were easily the most detailed. Early cyclists seem to have had an exaggerated idea of the additional distance a hilly road involves over its planar distance: it is of course the additional time necessitated that is much more significant.

The first volume to appear, in 1896, was the Contour Road Book of Scotland, edited by Harry R. G. (Robert Gall) Inglis, 1869 – 1939, son of Robert Inglis, and husband of James Gall’s granddaughter).  Harry Inglis was an authority on the old roads and maps of Scotland and later published Scottish Hill Passes, complementing the Road Book by covering pedestrian-only routes, many of which became popular with rough-stuff cyclists. He seems to have been the driving force in the firm’s cycling-related projects, such as the contour road books, the strips maps and the ‘graded’ road maps.  

The companion  three volumes of Contour Road Books covering England and Wales appeared in 1897 (North), 1898 (South-East) and 1900 (Western England & Wales). Each was available in a standard format and a lightweight and compact version on ‘fine India paper’ – easily slipped into a cyclist’s pocket. The Western volume was preceded by an 1899 ‘temporary’ volume, Devon, actually covering the area south and west of Bristol. This must have been popular, as it was perpetuated after completion of the full Western volume and in  1904 was joined by a simular volume just covering the Welsh routes. A combined volume of the three regional volumes for England appeared in 1901; also available as a luxury edition including town and environs plans. In 1903 a single volume for Great Britain was published, effectively the four constituent parts bound together. From 1906 two further options were available: Scotland bound with northern England, and the South-East and Western volumes bound together. These duplex volumes were the first to be withdrawn, not appearing post WW1.

Harry Inglis had meanwhile been working on an Ireland volume, but had been frustrated by the lack of contour information on the source Ordnance Survey sheets necessary for the road profiles. As a result, a ‘preliminary volume’ for Ireland covering just the major routes – named The Royal – emerged in 1902.  ‘Royal’ editions, covering principal roads only, had already appeared for England/Wales  and Scotland, and later also combined as a Great Britain Royal edition. The full-coverage volume for Ireland did not actually appear until 1908. A couple of features unique to this Irish volume are references to parts of certain routes not being marked on some contemporary maps, and references to footpath availability alongside particularly poor lengths of carriageway.

The route descriptions listed detailed locations and gradients for all steep hills – taken as those steeper than 1 in 25 (4%), which would be considered an unremarkable gradient with today’s brakes. “A descent does not become dangerous until it is 1 in 15 and then only with a sharp turn, but with anything steeper the danger increases”. Incidentally, for horse-drawn traffic a gradient of not more than 1 in 30 was considered desirable (though often infeasible) for newly-built roads: this is by coincidence the recommended maximum gradient for motorways.. By comparison, today’s OS Landranger maps indicate only those hills steeper than 1 in 7. In the uphill direction, “Cyclists usually walk up a hill of 1 in 17” appeared as late as 1927 – hardly true by that date, with the wide but far from universal adoption of multiple gears (as many as five!). 

Extracts from the ‘Contour’ books had appeared in Gall & Inglis’s Short Spins around Edinburgh – “A local Supplement to the Contour Road Book of Scotland” (1897). This was followed by Short Spins around London (1903-04: later assimilated into the Contour series as London North and London South, and from 1912 published by Cycling magazine as its 2-volume Road Book & Guide to the Environs of London). 

 The Contour Road Books proved extremely popular, with the Scottish volume going through new editions almost annually in its early years. The following, taken from a review of the 7th edition (1905) makes some interesting comments on the development of the Scottish road network at that time:

 Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Scottish roads is the improvement that has taken place in what was at one time a most trying experience for Scottish cyclists - the road from Blair Athole to Kingussie over the Grampians; and Glencoe. The latter is vastly improved in quality, while the former seems to be recovering its pristine glory as a  fast mail road, for on the Perthshire side the surface is all that could be desired, and in Inverness there are some stretches of fine, smooth, gravelmended road. Rumour has it that nearly 100 motor cars have been crossing the Pass in one summer's day, but probably quarter of that number would be more accurate. Curiously enough the other short Pass from Tyndrum to Dalmally which was one time an "experience" and a few years ago was put in order, has now relapsed into its old loose state. The great barrier to Braemar still exists in the Devil's Elbow, Glenshee. Many, many years ago Aberdeenshire improved its side of the Pass; and it now remains for Perthshire to get rid of this dangerous comer. The bad piece at Bridge of Cally on this road has now been made a splendid piece of road engineering, it is to be hoped that the other will soon find favour in the eyes of the authorities. The new list of ferry charges shows that there are a goodly number of ferries where motors cannot be carried. One in particular - Connell Ferry - is the direct result of the new railway to Ballachulish, as the "big" boat has been taken off. - St Andrews Citizen, 20 May 1905.

 The firm published their Contour Road Books, periodically updated, until the 1960s, although the second (and final) edition of the Irish volume did not appear until 1962. By this time, of the three England volumes and that of Scotland only the basic editions were still in print. Prices of the English volumes were increased to 7/6d each in 1960, but reduced to 5/- two years later, which tells its own story. The Scotland volume went through 24 editions, the last in 1963, now 8/6, with a subsequent loose-leaf addendum for the opening of the Forth and Tay road bridges, and was probably the last cycling-related production of the company. However, these and their map production had long become increasingly outdated and outclassed and was allowed to fade away.

The weekly paper Cycling (Iliffe & Sons: from 1913 as the Temple Press) ) also published its own Profile Road Book of England which used the main routes from the Gall & Inglis Contour Road Books, with different numbering and abbreviated text. It also published strip route maps accompanied with road profiles from the 1890s to (at least) 1927, which presumably were again the Gall & Inglis product.

Some of the Contour Road Books have been reprinted in facsimile. Others are available to read online at   

https://archive.org/search.php?query=contour%20road%20books&sin=TX

Gall & Inglis Strip Maps

Some of the profiles from the Contour Road Books were also used alongside a concertina strip of half-inch mapping in a series of maps covering the most important routes from London (also between some provincial cities, Land’s End to John o’ Groats, Edinburgh to Inverness), for the use of cyclists. They had their origins in a number of cycling maps on the half-inch scale produced by Harry Inglis (son of Robert), commencing with The London to Edinburgh Road: The Great North Road and East Coast Route in 1893. These were followed in 1894 by The Bath Road, The Holyhead Road, The Exeter Road, and Land’s End to John o’ Groats. They were originally titled ‘Continuous Strip Maps’: Each Map is a continuous strip of our ½” Map, joined together so as to produce a neat Map pocket size, showing the Road, and about 6 miles either side’. In concept these maps harked back to the earliest road maps of Britain, the strip maps produced by John Ogilby at the end of the 17th century, though these earlier works showed and gave detail only for the road in question, not detailing those aside of it. These maps were soon augmented by accompanying road profiles, derived from the Contour Road Books.

The maps originally went up to sixteen feet in length. By the time of the1904 catalogue about twenty routes were advertised, but these were later subdivided to give a more manageable length of eight feet or less, all priced at a shilling. Those for the southern half of England retained a Cruchley base.

For some years from 1903 these maps were rebranded as ‘Strip’ or ‘Motor Route’ maps (although, strangely, not titled as such in all publicity). The addition of ‘Motor’ reflects a marketing link to the new periodical of that name published by Temple Press, who were concurrently publishing some other Gall & Inglis products under the ‘Cycling’ name. The Contour Road Books were also marketed as Motor Contour Maps for a while.

The original Routes 1 and 2 (Land’s End – Worcester and Worcester – Edinburgh) were to be incorporated in other routes, although a 5-section Land’s End to John o’ Groats book was retained alongside (price 5/-, the maps thirty-two feet long!). 1906 saw the addition of 7 The Oxford Road, 9 The Midland Road and 18 Birmingham – Lancashire & N. Wales, the last with an expanded Route 8 replacing the former Route 19. Thereafter there were no increase in numbered editions, though there were some expansion and repackaging of the roads covered within them, away from a single ‘A to B’ route, and changes in title. Although route numbering went up to 28, gaps indicate that some contemplated maps never reached fruition – East Anglia and most of Wales were never covered. This suggests as a series they were not over-successful, particularly in post WW1 years: nevertheless they remained on sale until the 1930s.

An eight-foot long map would seem to be somewhat unwieldy to inspect on top of the Cheviots on a wet and windy day, but actually the book format meant that it was always open at one page at a time, so arguably less awkward in use than a conventional map. However, the value of strip maps would, I think, be rather limited, as they were confined to one route and one on which navigation would not be difficult. Nevertheless, the Strip Maps proved popular in their day. W. & A. K. Johnston brought out a rival London – Edinburgh strip map in 1907, utilising its 3m to an inch mapping.

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