John Rocque Estate Map

(M/X/129)

Within the collection is a very large 1748 estate map of Deuddwr in Montgomeryshire, engraved by John Rocque, who was a significant surveyor and engraver of the mid eighteenth century. 

The Newport Estate was that of the Earls of Bradford, who in addition to this part of Montgomeryshire administered large estates in Shropshire and Staffordshire.  The Newport family seem to have long associations with Montgomeryshire and were Lords of the Manor of Deuddwr.  The 1748 map of Deuddwr was probably drawn up to mark John Newport finally coming into the Newport estates at the age of 26. 

John Rocque, a French Huguenot émigré, was a French surveyor and engraver who settled in Britain in the early eighteenth century. His earliest published maps were plans of gardens or estates, including properties owned by the crown and some of the leading nobles in Britain.  His first was of Richmond Gardens, now the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.  Subsequently, he produced fine plans of Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace, Sion House, and Chiswick House.  

As his career progressed Rocque branched out into a new field and commenced preparation of a series of large scale plans of cities of England and Ireland. In 1746 he produced a detailed plan of London, which today is an invaluable record of Georgian London and a masterpiece of the engraver’s art.

The third phase of Rocque’s career was the publication of a small number of large scale maps of the English counties, including Shropshire, Berkshire, Middlesex and Surrey.  He capitalised on individual pride for his estate plans, and wealthy families and individuals, like John Newport were happy to underwrite the expenses involved in survey work.  In 1751, a few years after he had completed his survey work in Montgomeryshire Rocque was appointed chorographer to the Prince of Wales.