Place & Past in Medieval England

The short answer is that they were. From early on, historians of Britain or England began their works with brief accounts of the land they were describing. By the ninth century these accounts included ‘wonders’ – mountains, caves and rivers with mysterious properties. The Welsh writer or writers now known as Nennius (fl.c.770-c.810) pioneered this kind of description, which was followed in the twelfth century by authors like Henry of Huntingdon (c.1088-c.1157), Geoffrey of Monmouth, (d.1154/5) and Gerald of Wales (c.1146-1220). The first detailed maps of Britain date from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and they list a number of important geographical sites. Monks of St Albans produced a group of four maps in about 1250, and the unique Gough Map dates from about 1360. Finally there were antiquaries: William Worcester, who rode through southern England in 1478-80, and John Leland, who did the same on a larger scale around England and Wales between about 1533 and 1543. Both observed the landscape and buildings they passed on their travels.