by “You come to a Descent sprinkled with Woods, whence by Loudwater, a small Village, (a Brook accompanying your Road on the Left) at 32’3. You enter High Wickham, seated in a pleasant Vale, a large and Well-built Town, numbering near 200 Houses, with several good Inns, as the Cathern Wheel, etc. Is Govern’d by a Mayor, Recorder, etc. Sends Burgesses to Parliament, hath a well-frequented Market on Fridays, and two Fairs annually…”
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Outside of some slight language differences, that description of 17th century High Wycombe could be taken from any modern travel guide. It comes from John Ogilby’s 1675 book Britannia, Volume the First. Or an Illustration of the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales: By a Geographical and Historical Description of the Principal Roads thereof (the full title goes on much longer, and I’ll spare us all.) Britannia is, in essence, part road atlas and part travel guide—it also serves as the source for my latest brush set named after the man himself: Ogilby.
While the depictions of British towns, inns, and valleys are charming, the actual maps themselves are a delight. They are unlike anything I’ve seen before. These maps place the traveler’s perspective front and center making for a much more intimate experience. Read bottom to top and left to right one can trace their route through the countryside. Windmills, wells, ponds, homes, and churches are lovingly depicted as well as are the small towns clustered around roads and random points of interest. Climbs and descents are documented as one would encounter them as they crossed the rolling countryside. The route will move, but barely, instead, significant turns are shown with subtle shifts indicated by the compass rose that rotates on subsequent “scrolls.” I thought this was an interesting solution to show more substantial variations in a road’s direction.
Fiction has long had a fascination with the road story, and fantasy isn’t an exception. So it’s a wonder this sort of map hasn’t been attempted before. (Prove me wrong, if you know a book with this style of road atlas, let me know!) It’s so useful and such an interesting presentation. After spending some time with the plates and Ogilby’s descriptions, I knew at once these etchings would make an excellent brush set. Whether one is attempting to recreate an Ogilby-style road atlas or just using his various signs and symbols on a more standard map.
As I worked, I realized that I would need to build this set off of multiple plates, and uh… the set sort of grew in the making. Ogilby is now my largest set ever. Inside you’ll find over 870 brushes (yes, seriously), including:
- 60 Homesteads
- 50 Manor Halls
- 10 Hamlets
- 60 Villages
- 10 Large Villages
- 20 Steepled Churches
- 70 Towered Churches
- 10 Priories
- 5 Unique Churches
- 20 Castles
- 20 Unique Settlements
- 10 Ponds
- 20 Rills/Streams
- 10 Rills/Streams w/ Bridges
- 20 Rivers w/ Bridges
- 20 Heath/Wetlands
- 20 Hills
- 20 Upslopes (Hills with space for roads to pass up them)
- 20 Downslopes (Inverted hills with space for roads to pass down them)
- 20 Unique Slopes
- 30 Scrub Lands
- 30 Leafy Trees
- 30 Evergreen Trees
- 30 Bushy Trees
- 10 Leafy Forests
- 10 Evergreen Forests
- 30 Bushy Forests
- 40 Windmills
- 10 Elevated Windmills
- 20 Beacons
- 20 Gallows
- 5 Wells
- 5 Springs
- 10 Quarries
- 10 Coal Pits
- 10 Lead Mines
- 10 Parks
- 10 Monuments
- 15 Unique Points-of-Interest
- 20 “Plain” Compasses
- 35 Standard Compasses
- 15 Complex Compasses
- 5 Combined Compasses
- 3 Boats
The button below links to a ZIP file that contains a Photoshop brush set (it’ll work in GIMP as well) as well as a set of transparent PNGs in case you’re using a program that doesn’t support Adobe brush files. I’ve separated them by type, Settlements, Points of Interest, Flora, Cartouches, and Landforms. They’re black, and they’ll look broken if viewed in Chrome, but trust me, they’re all there.
[ ! ] Bonus #1 – I’ve also included the option to download a blank and layered PSD of the scroll background used in Ogilby’s original maps. To save on file size, this must be downloaded separately. It also includes a transparent png.
[ ! ] Bonus #2 – I found more success mimicking Ogibly’s road styles in Adobe Illustrator. This will allow one to recreate the various styles of roads Ogilby uses across his maps quickly and efficiently. Like the Scroll background, this must be downloaded separately and it requires Adobe Illustrator.
Download the Ogilby Scrolls Background
Download the Ogilby Illustrator Road Brush Set
As with all of my previous brush sets, Ogilby is free for any use. I distribute my sets with a Creative Common, No Rights Reserved License (CC0), which means you can freely use this and any of my brushes in commercial work and distribute adaptations. (Details on this decision here.) No attribution is required. Easy peasy!
Enjoy Ogilby. Feel free to show me what you created by sending me an email or finding me on Twitter. I love seeing how these brushes get used, and I’d be happy to share your work with my readers. Let me see what you make!
🌏 Ogilby In Use
Want to see this brush set in use? I put together a sample map using Ogilby, and you can see a few variants below. Just click on any of the images below to view them larger.
Support this Work
Brushes and tools released through the #NoBadMaps project will always be free and released under a public domain CC0 license. If you’d like to support the project and help me cover the cost of hosting, research, and tool-set development, I’ve put together three ways you can help, and all are detailed below.
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I’m not just a map enthusiast. I’m also a novelist! The easiest way to support me (and get something in return) is by purchasing one of my cosmic horror urban fantasy novels.
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K. M. Alexander 
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