Joanne Parker

Prior to the rise of the ubiquitous sat nav, most people’s experience of maps was the beautiful OS versions, though sadly these were normally folded badly and shoved into gloveboxes. But in this book Parker looks at five other ways that people see Britain and how they map it..

Starting with cavers, normally the only point visible on a regular map will be the entry point, but as these subterranean explorers have worked their way through the 1000 miles of caves below the country they have produced their own maps of the cavern, rivers and passageways unknown to most. Their biggest discovery so far is the three county cave system that is vast in size and depth, with 140m high caverns in some places. History also plays a part, with maps of the prehistoric landscape bringing alive the dolmens, henges and stone circles that dot our country. Apart from one like Stonehenge and Avebury, most people are totally unaware that these features are still visible, but to pagans and druids these place have a spiritual significance and resonance still. A lot of these sites have celestial links, either solar or lunar or tied in with the equinoxes; the exact reasons why we can only speculate at, but at the right time of the years the visual effect can be quite dramatic.

Staying on the spiritual side, there is a chapter on Ley Lines. This are considered by their advocates to link significant sacred places in straight lines right across the UK. The two main ones traverse diagonally from the west to the east and the south to the very north of Scotland, with many others in between. They supposedly carry energies and at significant points and intersections those energies peak. These were discovered by Alfred Watkins in 1921, or should that be created... Even though I am not sure that these are genuine, there are people who are convinced of their existence, and claim to be able to find them using divining rods, many of which which had the humble role as a coat hanger previously. Whilst Parker is not judgemental to their existence, she does put forward the point of view from the archaeology community, who are very sceptical of their existence let alone relevance.

From having your head in the clouds, to actually being in the clouds is the subject of another chapter where she looks at the commercial airspace of the UK. Extending far beyond the normal boundaries of the coastline this is a three dimensional map with layers of flight paths up to 24.500 feet, this is a fascinating map. She covers a little of the history of flight in the UK, from the brave souls who took to the air in balloons, to the early runways that became our major airport and military establishments. Also on the transport theme, and feet very much back on the ground, she looks at the canals. In the days when the roads were dangerous, rutted and frequently impassable, the advent of the canals meant that heavy and fragile goods could be moved from manufacturing centres to the ports with relative ease. The capital need to build these was immense, and whilst canal blossomed their day was shortlived as the railway age dawned. In the 1960’s canals were horrible places, full of decay and despair, but with an army of volunteers and enthusiasts in the last 40 years they have had a renaissance, but now as part of the leisure industry.

One nice touch is at the beginning of each chapter has a full page map of the UK, with each relevant subject overlaid to show that these things are not subject to county or other boundaries. It is a fascinating book, written well with authority and gravitas. One of the few flaws was that it wasn’t long enough, she talks about other subjects, such as the nuclear shelters needed for the cold war, but sadly doesn’t write about them. Good book about those unknown parts of the UK. 3.5 stars… (more)

Britannia Obscura – Surprisingly Engrossing!

Britannia Obscura by Joanne Parker is the book a lot of people will ignore thinking it is not for them as it will be rather academic and a little dry. Well they would be wrong as they would be missing an engrossing read where some facts you had an idea of and at the same time learn some very surprising facts. This book is more than just the map of Her Britannic Majesty’s kingdom that we see on the map but all the other maps of our nation. For a small land mass it is quite surprising what maps exist and for what reason, because everyone needs some sort of map!

This book is only five chapters long and it is through a series of meetings that Joanne Parker has that focuses on various different groups and communities who map the land but in a different way to what we normally see of Britain. How various people uses maps whether to map canals or to map crime the small fact that in 1861 Gloucester was Britain’s crime capital with Worcester not far behind, how times have changed today it is Stratford in East London.

Also a paragraph later we learn that the first bird watchers map of Britain was only created in 1976 based on the findings of 15,000 observers. This is only the introduction before we actually get in to the chapters!

Here in the north you quite often meet people who have hobbies that most sensible people with a full deck of cards would ignore but the ones without go potholing or at least caving. While I was going my geography ‘O’ Level back in the day we visited a couple of peak district caves, wet dark and cool not really my scene. But who knew that there are maps of these caves and pot holes so as to encourage the barmpots and the first chapter is their dream chapter!

Those that have studied industrial Britain and the it’s growth during the Industrial Revolution will know in the first phase we moved cargo around the country by barge. Clearly there are maps for the navigators of their time but it is also a lesson in lost canals today built over by town planners as in places with the Rochdale/Ashton Canal.

As someone who lives on the flight path to Manchester Airport I found the chapter on the Highways of the Sky very interesting especially when you think of the amount of flights that take a place across the country per day. How we got the air routes today is a fascinating read and why we have restricted airspace and that there are lower and higher flight paths. Just looking at those maps is rather confusing but interesting at the same time.

Britannia Obscura is a surprisingly engrossing read where there is always an interesting fact or two tucked away for information. I learnt quite a lot in a rather enjoyable book that has turned a subject that could be quite dry in to a pleasurable read.… (more)