1783 Taylor & Skinner Cookstown, Dungiven, Lissan, Banagher, Londonderry Ireland Road Map
Published in 1783, this hand-coloured antique Ireland road map is Map 31 from the second revised edition of Taylor & Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland. The survey was undertaken in 1777, first published in 1778 and corrected for the 1783 edition.
The engraved heading, “From Dublin to L. Derry by Cookstown,” identifies the wider journey represented on the sheet. The mileage table records stages through Cookstown and Dungiven before the route continues towards Londonderry.
The map is arranged as two adjoining road strips, allowing a long section of the historic route between Cookstown and Dungiven to be shown on a single engraved page. Numerous connecting roads branch from the principal route towards neighbouring settlements and districts.
Cookstown is prominently shown at the foot of the left-hand strip as an important road junction. Roads lead towards Dublin, Coagh, Coleraine and Gortin, while nearby Lissan and the road towards Moneymore are also clearly recorded.
Beyond Cookstown the route passes through an upland landscape of hills, streams and mountain ground. Lough Fea is shown beside the road, together with the Blackwater crossing and several smaller bodies of water.
The engraving records the country around Slieve Gallion, using Taylor & Skinner’s distinctive shaded hill forms to show the mountainous terrain. The Moyola River and roads towards Maghera and Gortin add further geographical detail.
The adjoining strip records the approach to Dungiven. Drumnamet and Banagher Church appear along the route, together with smaller roads, houses and scattered properties across the surrounding countryside.
Dungiven is prominently shown beside the River Roe, with several roads converging around the settlement. Connections towards Limavady and neighbouring districts demonstrate Dungiven’s importance on the road network leading onward towards Londonderry.
The combination of Cookstown, Dungiven, Lissan, Banagher, Lough Fea and Slieve Gallion makes this sheet particularly interesting for County Tyrone and County Derry / Londonderry local history, Irish genealogy and family-history research.
Identified as Map 31 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.