Grandest Views: Models of Lakeland Exhibition
You may remember me writing recently about the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery and its marvellously eclectic collection. One of the things which, as a map enthusiast, I'm surprised I forgot to mention was their three dimensional map of the Lake District.
However it turns out that there was once another three dimensional map: the Mayson map. Only one tile is known to survive but 140 of the original plaster moulds used to create it do still exist.
That's where Dr Gary Priestnall, at Nottingham University's School of Geography, steps into the story. He's used modern technology to create a whole new set of tiles from the original moulds and these are now being shown in an exhibition at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery The Grandest Views: Models of Lakeland from Victorian Times to the Present Day, running from 9th February to 17th May.
The new exhibition has been created in collaboration with museum's curator Sue Mackay and is being run in partnership with Ordnance Survey who have provided digital information and a sweeping floor map which is the exact size of the original to breath new life and meaning into the plaster moulds, re-interpreting them for a 21st century audience. Visitors will have the opportunity to see the last remaining original tile, the original Ordnance Survey maps used to create the model along with the floor map.
You can read more about Dr Priestnall's work to re-create the tiles on the Ordnance Survey blog.
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