U.S. Engineers Special Road Map of England & Wales – Sheet 7 – Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire & Northern England – Second World War – c.1940s

Description: A large original Second World War U.S. Engineers Special Road Map of England & Wales, Sheet 7, produced for American military use in Britain and covering a strategically important swathe of northern England. Measuring an impressive 50.4 × 102 cm, the map extends across Yorkshire, Lancashire and Lincolnshire, with major centres including York, Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Harrogate, Ripon, Hull, Scarborough, Doncaster, Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester and Grimsby prominently represented. The road network is printed principally in red over a detailed black base map, with first-class and second-class roads, other roads, Ministry of Transport road numbering, railway routes, canals, county boundaries and important urban centres differentiated for rapid military reference. A substantial mileage table provides road distances between principal northern cities and towns, while the accompanying legend and folding instructions emphasise that this was conceived as a practical transport and logistical map rather than a conventional civilian road map.

The map belongs to a specialised series prepared for U.S. military personnel operating in Britain during the Second World War, at a time when the country was being used on an unprecedented scale as a base for the build-up of American and Allied forces ahead of operations in continental Europe. Surviving examples of other sheets in the series are explicitly described as being intended for War and Navy Department agencies, reinforcing their military rather than commercial function. Comparable sheets from the series survive on the market, although examples of Sheet 7 are relatively infrequently encountered.

Of particular local interest is the prominent inclusion of Ripon. During the Second World War the city and its surrounding military infrastructure once again played an important training role. Imperial War Museums records document Royal Engineers personnel undergoing recruit training with the 3rd Training Battalion, Royal Engineers, at Ripon during 1940–41, while another wartime memoir records service at Harper Barracks, Ripon before onward posting. Historic England also records extensive twentieth-century military training and defensive activity around Ripon, including Second World War training areas. For American and Allied forces moving through Britain, road maps of this type were therefore part of the logistical infrastructure needed to move troops, vehicles and materiel between camps, ports, railheads and operational centres.

The geographical coverage gives the sheet considerable interest beyond Ripon. Hull and Grimsby were major east-coast ports; Liverpool and Manchester were central to Atlantic supply and industrial logistics; and Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield sat at the heart of some of Britain’s most important wartime industrial districts. The concentration of roads and urban centres across the map vividly illustrates the transport network upon which wartime Britain depended.

Condition: Very good condition for a large wartime working map. Original folding throughout, with light handling, creasing and minor age-related marking. otherwise the map remains complete and highly presentable, with strong red and black printing and good clarity throughout. Please study the accompanying photographs carefully as they form an important part of the condition assessment.

Title: U.S. Engineers Special Road Map of England & Wales, Sheet 7
Authority: U.S. Engineers
Date: Second World War, circa 1940s
Sheet: 7
Area: Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire and northern England
Principal places shown: Ripon, York, Harrogate, Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Sheffield, Hull, Scarborough, Doncaster, Liverpool, Manchester and Grimsby
Sheet size: 50.4 × 102 cm
Format: Large folding colour road and military transport map

Every map offered by Hornseys is handled, inspected and catalogued individually in-house, with edition, imprint, cartographic content and condition assessed directly from the original sheet wherever possible.

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