Maps are a great tool for any historian, offering many tempting insights into a great number of local features. Obviously it is older maps which potentially hold most interest but these can often be scarce and, if found, on a small scale. To date the most useful map by far has been the 1885 Ordnance Survey map which is on a generous scale of 1:2500 (about 25" to a mile) so includes a lot of detail down to individual properties. However an exciting recent development is the availability of a much earlier map. This was issued in 1779 following a survey of the whole of Northamptonshire by a Kettering man called Thomas Eyre, a surveyor, bell-founder and clockmaker. However he died in 1757 so the data must come from before then. Subsequently noted cartographer Thomas Jefferys revised Eyre's survey and the second edition of the map (the one we have) was issued in 1791. Jefferys had died in 1771 so even the second edition is based on earlier revisions. To put it in some historical context Jefferys death in 1771 is the time when Capt. Cook was busy discovering Australia! For a map of that age the scale of nearly an inch to the mile is very detailed. Much work needs to be done to compare this map with the 1885 one but on preliminary investigation the content of the Eyre/Jefferys map could fundamentally change our present understanding of how the road and bridleway system around Denton parish worked. An extract from this map follows and further updates will follow when there is anything to report.
It seems that the archaeology of Denton parish has only been briefly researched. There are reports of the odd bit of pottery and even a Roman coin but scattered across the parish and, as yet, with no discernable pattern. However this does not mean very old artefacts are absent - merely that they have yet to be found. In fact a 450 year old coin token came to light recently from a Denton garden. Tokens were a form of barter currency, illustrating the historical economic practices in the area