| Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem | |
|---|---|
 Front page of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, illustrated with the Chain Gate fountain. See full pdf of the Ordnance Survey here | |
| Created | 1864–65 |
| Location | The National Archives (United Kingdom) |
| Author(s) | Charles William Wilson |
The Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem of 1864–65 was the first scientific mapping of Jerusalem, and the first Ordnance Survey to take place outside the United Kingdom.[1] It was undertaken by Charles William Wilson, a 28-year-old officer in the Royal Engineers corps of the British Army, under the authority of Sir Henry James, as Superintendent of the Ordnance Survey, and with the sanction of George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon as Secretary of State for War. The team of six Royal Engineers began their work on 3 October 1864. The work was completed on 16 June 1865, and the report was published on 29 March 1866.[2]
During the resulting search, he produced "the first perfectly accurate map [of Jerusalem], even in the eyes of modern cartography",[3] and identified the eponymous Wilson's Arch. He was unable to find a new source of water.[4]
Over a century after the survey, Dan Bahat described it as "a watershed in the exploration of Jerusalem and its past",[5]. The Jerusalem Post said that Wilson's efforts "served as the basis for all future Jerusalem research".[6]
The survey provided the foundation and impetus for the creation of the Palestine Exploration Fund.[7] The first meeting of the Fund took place on 22 June 1865, less than a week after the completion of the Ordnance Survey, and Charles Wilson was appointed by the Fund as the Chief Director of their proposed exploration of the rest of Palestine.[5][8] In July 1866 Dean Stanley described the Ordnance Survey as a "sort of pre-historic stage of our Palestine Exploration Fund".[9]
It was the most influential and reliable map of Jerusalem until the British Mandate's Survey of Palestine, which published a 1:2,500 map of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1936.[10]
- ^ Foliard 2017, p. 42a: “Of the many institutions involved in surveying and mapping the Orient, the Ordnance Survey might seem the most unlikely. It had developed as the main mapping organization for the British Isles and was placed under the authority of the WO in 1855. Its surveys had been strictly limited to the United Kingdom until that point. Despite this, the institution participated in one of the most systematic mapping projects of the mid- Victorian age in the East. Henry James, its director between 1854 and 1875, was keen to enlarge the scope of its surveys and, in a break with its normal practice, sponsored a survey of Palestine. The first expedition explored Jerusalem in 1864–65.”
- ^ Ordnance Survey, pp. 1, 2, 16
- ^ Levy-Rubin & Rubin 1996, p. 378.
- ^ Gibson 2011, p. 26.
- ^ a b Bahat 1980, p. 1.
- ^ Glatt, Benjamin (25 October 2016). "Surveying Jerusalem". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
- ^ Moscrop 2000, p. 57.
- ^ Ordnance Survey, p.2-3
- ^ Gibson 2011, p. 29: Gibson cites: “Report, July 23rd 1866,” PEF Proceedings and Notes, 1865–69: 19".
- ^ PALESTINE: ANNUAL REPORT, 1936, OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND SURVEYS, Empire Survey Review, 4:28, 362-380, DOI: 10.1179/sre.1938.4.28.362, pages 368, 368: "In 1936 a complete map of the Old City of Jerusalem was published on the scale 1/2,500. The only previous map of the Old City was that made in 1865 by Sir Charles Wilson, previously mentioned. This map is apparently often called by writers the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem! Anyhow, it proved itself worthy of the title, for Lieut-Col F. J. Salmon states that it was sufficiently accurate to be used as the framing of the new map. The old map showed no more than the streets and principal edifices; the new shows all the structures… Large-scale maps were also undertaken, including a 1/2,500 plan of the Old City of Jerusalem, previously mentioned. Provisional plans of Jerusalem and environs, on a scale of 1/5,000, were drawn and printed, though the survey was held up by the disturbances to a degree which is obviously not overestimated. These will subsequently be reduced to 1/10,000-a general map in demand for the city."