aldercopse
antique folding & pocket maps
Email: oldfoldingmaps@gmail.com
Tel: +44 (0) 7913 383346
English Shires or Counties
Shire is an Old English word and was a division of land devised by the Saxons in
Wessex. Wessex was the Kingdom of the West Saxons. This system spread as the Saxons
extended their control of what would become England over the succeeding centuries.
The shire was then sub-
To govern the shire the crown appointed a shire reeve, the origin of the word “sheriff”. It was such an efficient system that the Normans retained it. While in the 19th century borders of all the enclaves of one shire within the borders of another were tidied up, most shires, or counties, are still recognizable in their original form. For example, part of Kent was in Essex, just north of Woolwich, and there was a narrow finger of Hampshire extending south from Haslemere into Sussex.
Essex detail
Our maps
Our maps are printed with pigment ink on to archival paper and then each one is hand laid on tocloth. The maps are presented in beautiful slip cases which are made individually or framed in our moulding's which are hand finished in black or in Birds Eye Maple veneer. We are a small family business and nothing is mass produced.
We have been collectors for more than 40 years and own all the originals that you see on this site. To read our press release please click here.
Being passionate about maps means we have worked hard to create reproductions that are as close to, and as beautiful as, the originals. They have starred in BBC series 'Cranford', the stage play 'Les Miserables' and have even appeared in a Hollywood film..
Kent detail
