The first geological map of a whole country

The collections of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery have a long history dating back over 200 years to the founding of the Bristol Institution in 1823. On 15th March of that year James Heaven, a Bristol merchant, donated a very special map to the newly founded Institution - a copy of the first geological map produced illustrating the whole of England and Wales and part of southern Scotland.

"A delineation of the Strata of England and Wales with part of Scotland; exhibiting the Collieries and Mines, the Marshes and Fen Lands originally overflowed by the Sea, and the varieties of soil according to the variations in the substrata, illustrated by the most descriptive names".

The map was created by William Smith (1769-1839) and published in 1815. Smith was an engineer and geologist who is sometimes called the 'father of English geology' as his work and ideas were very important in establishing geology as a scientific discipline.

Smith's map is significant as it is the first time such a large area had been mapped to show the differing rock types that occur across a country. The map is huge at approximately 9' x 3'. It was produced in fifteen individual panels, hand painted in watercolour. Only a few copies survive today making it even more special. 

images: above, William Smith's map, 1815, [Ci273]; below, undergoing conservation in 2015 for the map's bicentenary