1783 Taylor & Skinner Banbridge, Gilford, Waringstown, Loughbrickland and Donaghcloney, Ireland Road Map
This hand-coloured antique Irish road map, published in 1783, is Map 15 from the second revised edition of Taylor & Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland. Surveyed in 1777 and corrected down to 1783, it records the historic road network around Loughbrickland, Banbridge, Gilford, Waringstown and Donaghcloney, together with connecting roads, estates and settlements in County Down.
The original heading “Road from Dublin to Colerain by Antrim” identifies the wider journey represented by this section of the survey. Extensive mileage tables record routes towards Coleraine, Lurgan, Antrim, Randalstown, Ballymena, Moira and Portglenone, as well as several cross-roads linking the principal towns.
Banbridge is prominently shown as an important road junction, with routes towards Belfast, Castlewellan and Rathfriland, together with the road continuing south towards Loughbrickland. Numerous nearby estates, country houses and local roads are carefully engraved around the town.
The route also passes through Gilford, where roads connect towards Armagh, Tandragee, Lurgan and Dromore. The surrounding landscape includes Halls Mill, Rosehall, Greenfield, Glebe House and other named properties associated with contemporary landowners.
Waringstown forms another prominent settlement on the sheet, with nearby estates and roads linking it into the wider network. The engraving also records Donaghcloney, together with neighbouring properties, waterways, churches and wooded grounds.
Loughbrickland appears at the lower end of the mapped route and forms another important point in the road network, connecting this sheet with adjoining sections of Taylor & Skinner’s survey.
The mileage tables are especially detailed on Map 15, recording not only the principal journey towards Coleraine but also routes between Banbridge, Gilford, Lurgan, Waringstown, Ballymena, Moira and Portglenone. They provide an unusually rich record of late-18th-century road distances and connections through this part of Ireland.
The engraving preserves the historical spelling “Colerain” for modern Coleraine. The modern form is used throughout this product description to make the location easier to identify, while the original 18th-century spelling remains visible on the antique map itself.
As throughout Taylor & Skinner’s survey, numerous named estates, country houses and contemporary landowners appear beside the roads, giving the engraving additional interest for Irish local history, genealogy and family-history research.
Identified as Map 15 in Taylor & Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland, it forms part of their extensive late-18th-century survey of Ireland’s principal roads.