Goad Maps: History, Purpose, Map Keys, etc.

[Archaic]

Hi folks.

Here's an interesting PDF by Gwyn Rowley that discusses the history and usage of Goad Fire Insurance Plans, otherwise known as Goad Maps.

http://www.mcrh.mmu.ac.uk/pubs/pdf/mrhr_03ii_rowley.pdf

For those of you who aren't already Goad map aficionados-
civil engineer Charles E. Goad created these detailed plans because fire was an ever-present threat in the 19th Century. In order to establish the proper rates for their fire insurance premiums, insurance companies needed to know all kinds of details about the risk inherent in a given area. These included the size of its buildings, the materials employed in their construction, the use of each building, whether it was inhabited, the location of shared walls and outbuildings, the layout of streets, yards and alleys, and the location of fire departments and water supplies.

I'm posting this as a little token of thanks to Rob Clack, who patiently answers all my questions and sends me colorful Goad map attachments from his vast personal archive to rescue me from my own disorientation and help me comprehend various Ripper-related locations.

I thought the PDF might be useful to Casebook members as many of us see posts containing attachments taken from Goad Fire Insurance Plans, but we don't always understand all the details the maps contain due to our unfamiliarity with the letter, symbol, and color keys used. The Rowley paper helps explains them. Each Goad Fire Insurance Plan contained its own 'legend' or 'map key'. For example, brick and stone buildings were colored that pinkish-red tint we're all so familiar with.

I've also attached a screenshot of the 1926 Goad map legend contained within the paper to show that its symbols contain a wealth of information.
(The PDF isn't very high-res and is in black & white, so if somebody would be so kind as to post a clearer Goad map legend in color, that would be terrific.)

Best regards,
Archaic

[Rob Clack]

Thanks Bun, looking at a Goad Map is one of the few things that get me excited these days

Rob

[Archaic]

Goad Map Legends From 1910 & 1880

You're very welcome Rob.

For some reason I kind of picture your flat being wallpapered floor-to-ceiling in rare, complete, original, handpainted Goad maps.


Here are two more examples of Goad map legends. These are from the University of Prince Edward Island Robertson Library in Canada.

The second one is an 1880 map key for the area and includes symbols to designate streams, swamps, bluffs, sand, quarries, mills, etc.

http://www.islandimagined.ca/guides/map_elements/map_legends

Best regards,
Archaic

[Monty]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Goads Bunny.

The currancey of our cartel (joke Trevor, before you get excited again). Great maps as they help you really visualise the area due to their fine detail.

Rob and I have discussed this but my opinion is that these maps are not only educational but are simply works of art. I've a few framed around my home.

So what you say in jest......

Monty

[Archaic]

Thanks, Monty!

When you said Goad maps are 'the currency of your cartel', I had a sudden vision of you and Rob settling your pub tab by grandly flourishing oversized bill-folds full of colorful antique fire insurance plans...


...thankfully I closed my eyes right before the part where you both get mugged!

(Whew! That was close.)


Archaic

[Monty]

Seriously Bunny, they are extremely important nuggets of information.

Jake Luukanen relies on the when compiling his reconstructions, he uses them as a base.

Monty

[Archaic]

Oh, I know they are. Honest.

I admit I didn't fully appreciate Goad maps at first, but I kind of got into them once I had a better understanding of their purpose and all the detailed information they convey. They're actually like little data-banks if you know how to read them- but better, because antique maps are also works of art. That's why I decided to start this thread, because I thought it might encourage others to take a closer look at them.

And also because Rob lives 5,000 miles away from me, so if I send him a thank-you in the form of homemade cookies I'm afraid that by the time they arrive they'll deserve the pinkish-red designation on a Goad map.

Best regards,
Archaic

[Archaic]

1901 Article re: London Fire Risk and Goad Plans

The following is from 'The Chartered Insurance Institute', 1901.

It offers a good summary concerning the serious fire risk in London and contains an expression of gratitude for the work of Charles Goad.

Best regards,
Archaic

[Rob Clack]

Hi Bun,

I have a colour legend, but it's from the 1938 revised editions. I shouldn't think there was any major differences.





Rob

[Archaic]

Goad Abbreviations

Thanks Rob.

I was reading the legend, and noticed details like the abbreviations for "asbestos roofs"- Yikes!

At top left under 'Abbreviations' it says "Jewellery". What does that mean in a building context? All I can think is that it might refer to metal-casting equipment, but it seem that it would be simpler to just say that. Anyone know?

Thanks,
Archaic

[Rob Clack]

Hi Bun,

In that context it just means it was a Jewellers shop, like P.H. is for Public House.
This is Houndsditch from 1939 and shows the Jewellers at 119.



Rob

[Archaic]

Thank you Rob, that makes sense- though I would still expect the map to say 'Jeweller' rather than 'Jewellery'. Maybe it's an archaic usage of the word.

How often were the Goad maps updated?
It must have been quite a headache tracking down the current use of a tiny shop so it could be labeled properly on each new version of the map.

I can see that fire insurance companies would be especially concerned with tailor's shops, drapers, paper makers, anyplace likely to keep a large quantity of highly flammable material, especially if the place was a sweatshop where people worked under very cramped conditions. I'm thinking of the terrible fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City in 1911. Someone accidentally dropped a match or cigarette butt in a bin full of clothing scraps, the fire spread instantly, and so many workers died that it became the worst disaster in NYC history until the Sept 11 attacks. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangl...t_Factory_fire)

Best regards,
Archaic

[Rob Clack]

How often were the Goad maps updated?

Good question. I'm not sure myself. The City of London was done between 1886, 1887 and 1889. North, East, South and West was completed in 1890 and 1899. The next set of plans I know of were from 1929 and these were revised in 1938/39 and 1941 and then again in 1957/58. I don't know of any other dates. They were updated sporadically though by having changes on small pieces of paper and pasted over the original copy. Like this Durward Street one from 1956.



Rob

[Archaic]

'Mapping the Murder Sites' On Goad Maps

Thanks Rob, that's interesting. The invention of self-adhesive little Post-It Notes would have made their lives so much easier.
It must have been quite a laborious job to draw and tint these maps by hand. Glad it wasn't me doing the work; I'd have smeared the ink for sure.


For anyone who would like to see the Goad map representation of some of the Ripper Murder locations, here's a link to 'Mapping the Murder Sites' by Rob Clack.

'Mapping the Murder Sites': http://blog.casebook.org/robclack/ca...-murder-sites/

Best regards,
Archaic

[Stephen Thomas]

One thing I realised from one of Rob's Goad Maps is that the word 'factory', which everybody knows, is actually a corruption of an older word ie 'manufactory'.

Which I suppose would mean, Latinwise, a place where stuff is made by hand.

Rather like 'burger' being a corruption of 'Hamburger'.