1783 Taylor & Skinner Newcastle, Castlewellan, Dundrum, Clough & Tyrella, Ireland Road Map
This hand-coloured antique Irish road map, published in 1783, is Map 8 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 through Castlewellan, Newcastle, Dundrum, Clough and Tyrella, together with numerous connecting roads, estates and settlements in County Down.
The original heading “From Dublin to Down-Patrick & Strangford” identifies the wider journey represented by this section of Taylor & Skinner’s road survey. This sheet concentrates particularly on the roads around Dundrum Bay, with several routes linking the principal towns and surrounding countryside.
Clough and Dundrum are shown prominently in the upper section of the map, with roads converging around the settlements and continuing beside Dundrum Bay. The engraving also records Murlough, nearby estates and the waterways and inlets that give this part of the coast its distinctive geography.
Further south, Newcastle appears beside the bay with roads leading towards Kilkeel, Tollymore and the surrounding estates. Nearby places and properties including Bryansford and other named residences add further local detail to this section of the engraving.
Castlewellan is shown as an important road junction, with roads leading towards Dromore, Ballynahinch, Newcastle and Dundrum. The surrounding landscape is carefully engraved with hills, lakes, wooded ground, country houses and estates, giving the map a particularly attractive and detailed appearance.
The lower section also records places and properties including Ballymoney, Cabra, Tollymore and Tyrella, together with the names of contemporary landowners. As throughout Taylor & Skinner’s survey, these details give the map additional interest for Irish local history, genealogy and family-history research.
A particularly interesting note at the foot of the engraving states that travelling “By the Ferry & Narrow Water is 2 Miles Shorter but not the Post road,” offering an unusual glimpse into the practical route choices available to late-18th-century travellers.
The map also preserves the historical form “Down-Patrick” in its title, while the modern spelling Downpatrick is used in this listing to make the location easier to identify.
Identified as Map 8 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.