Welsh Journals

The said mappe was first made and contryved by my ould M[aste]rs direction & commandment, there is conteyned in it all the earles of Pembroke] since Strong- bowes, names & armes [of] all the gentlemen of Pembroke & their pat[ernal] coats of Armes, all the rivers brookes portes & bayes of the Shire & divers good matters, the briefe of the Antiquitie and excellency of the said Shire, above any in Wales, as may appere by the same. John Browne From this it is clear that Browne was preparing to make a copy of a map which was 28" in depth (i.e. width), exactly the same measurement as the one under discussion, but 21" longer across than the earlier 1602 version which is 251" x 24" overall. Therefore he was about to copy either a lost intermediary version also measuring 28" along one side or this surviving 1603 map of equal proportions. It follows that at least three copies of the map were made. There must have been some demand from the gentry for such informative and colourfully ornamental maps, especially if their own emblazoned arms formed part of the embellishments. Why and for whom was this 1603 version produced? It may well be that it was produced for William Herbert, the then earl of Pembroke, for in the top right hand corner of the map square Owen introduced the coat of arms of the earl (per pale, az. and gu, three lions rampant arg.) surrounded by the garter bearing the motto 'Honi soit qui mal y pense' which is not included in the 1602 version. This new addition may be significant perhaps a gesture of respect to the great man for whom the map may have been intended. This of course is mere conjecture. Already in 1595 Owen had made a map of Milford Haven for the earl. They regarded each other as 'cousins'. Nothing is known of the provenance of this map- Sotheby's sale catalogue does not even name the vendor. As the two extant versions of the actual map are more or less identical in scale, cartographic symbols and topographical features it is not necessary here to make a detailed comparison between them, only to draw attention to the more significant variations. There are many minor differences in the spellings of place-names on the map and also in the tables but these are of little consequence and are normal in the unstandardised orthography of the period. The main omission in the 1603 copy is the boundaries of the hundreds into which the county was divided. The sugar- loaf symbols used to denote high ground are shaded but not coloured green. Instead of hatching along the coast and stippling within Milford Haven a light shade of blue (faded along parts of the coast) is used. The part of Carmarthenshire on the map is painted light red, that of Cardiganshire is left white. The only addition seems to be the name Percele Hilles along the range of symbols denoting the hills of Presely. In the sea off Tenby, Manorbier and St. Anne's Head three ships in full sail are depicted.