Old Map of Gloucestershire in 1611 by John Speed - Bristol, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Kingswood, Filton cultural confluence piece and smaller settlements including Berkeley

and smaller settlements including Berkeley

vintage hues of the original artwork

or serene bedroom nook

The county Speed surveyed was already thick with castles built to guard the Welsh border: Chepstow

from humble beginnings to a thriving metropolis

Old Map of Gloucestershire in 1611 by John Speed - Bristol, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Kingswood, Filton cultural confluence piece and smaller settlements including BerkeleyCompiled for John Speed's 1611 Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, the first printed atlas devoted entirely to England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, the Gloucestershire sheet stands out even within that project for its decoration: the upper left corner carries Speed's own plan of Gloucester itself, keyed to twenty six numbered churches, gates and streets, with an adjoining panel on the city's government and parish divisions. Speed built his