The local historical group and charity, The Frome Society for a Local Study, has just produced its finest publication to date – a full-scale atlas of the Frome Selwood area first drafted by Longleat’s leading professional land surveyor and map maker Jeremiah Cruse in 1813.
Cruse (1758-1819) was a native of Rode and resident of Frome who for most of his career worked from premises in Bath carrying out a wide range of land surveying and mapping commissions. For a short while he was in partnership with William ‘Strata’ Smith known as the father of English geology.
This magnificent 204-page full colour hardback contains the entire map together with a complete transcription of the original survey book which serves as an index and was completed in 1814. This survey of land holders and occupiers identifies over 3,000 plots numbered on the map with their names, state of cultivation, sizes, the proprietors who held each piece of land, the tenure and the occupiers. Originally produced to map out the holdings of the second Marquis of Bath. it is a remarkable record of Frome, its parish and its people.
The Atlas is published as a series of 110 full colour plates at the original scale of 20 inches to one mile. Fields, roads hamlets, dwellings, farms, mills and many other features are shown in remarkable detail. The streets and buildings of Frome town and Keyford are also fully delineated.
The original is of exceptional size measuring over 11 feet high and nearly seven feet wide and covering an area of 6.7 x 4 miles. The map belongs to Frome but is stored at the Somerset Heritage Centre in Taunton for safekeeping.
The Atlas costs £45, it is produced on a not-for-profit basis and is obtainable in person from Frome Museum: 1, North Parade BA11 1AT 01373 454 611, frome-heritage-museum.org or by post from publications@fsls .org.uk; postage and packing charged at cost.