London and mappy maps

17/18 January 2026

Last weekend, JC and I popped up to London, lured by the British Museum's exhibition on secret maps.  We stayed near Southwick and, on our way out on the Saturday, discovered this exciting place, Maths World, which I would have certainly dragged the girls to when they were young.  Or maybe I still could...?

As it was a last minute visit, I hadn't pre-booked a slot in Caitlin's diary.  Fortunately, she was able to jog past our hotel first thing, so we had a quick catch up on the South Bank.

We caught the Thameslink (my first time I think) up to the British Library for the Secret Maps exhibition.  As expected, it was fascinating and I enjoyed getting up close to maps I usually only read about.  

The exhibition was categorised into groupings.  First up was 'Imperial Secrets' showing how colonising powers from western Europe used maps as they conquered other nations, such as this 1946 map of British India with proposed borders for the partition.  

This is an extract of a beautifully intricate maps of Kowloon Walled City, before it was torn down in 1994.   

Then it was 'State Secrets' which demonstrated how maps since the 16th century have been used by governments to consolidate power and conceal strategically important information.  This excerpt, showing the River Exe, is from a 1540 map of the South Coast of England drawn for King Henry VIII in response to threatened Spanish and French invasions.  The atlas was produced ~1542 by John Rotz for Henry VIII - Rotz was a Franco-Scottish map maker and secret agent who shared French secrets with the English before switching sides and working with the French.

This 1558 atlas was commissioned by the English Queen Mary I as a gift for her husband Philip of Spain.   

Willem Blaeu's 1616 globe was probably the first publication to show Le Maire Strait, the passage under South America into the Pacific.  The Dutch East India Company has sought to keep existence of this a secret to protect its trade monopoly.

I was quite taken by this - lingerie made from WWII escape maps.  

Next were 'Secrets in Society' illustrating the dual role of maps as cartographic artefacts but also reflecting society values and priorities.   For example, there was a road atlas of apartheid-era South Africa that only showed towns and cities with white populations.  And this Spanish map, which simply refused to acknowledge the existence of Gibraltar until the 1944 edition. 

Finally, there was 'Personal Secrets' showing how mapping can publicise private lives.  

I am probably an old fashioned cartographer, but I do like my maps in chronological order so I can follow the journey of map development - having the maps themed didn't work for me as well as for others.  It was, though, still a really interesting exhibition.

We spent nearly 2.5 hours in there and emerged ready for a cuppa in their lovely cafe, before walking down to Russell Square to meet my aunt for more tea.  We had a lovely couple of hours catching up and then wandered into Foyles.  I picked Sebastian Faulk's latest, Fires Which Burned Brightly, which I'm looking forward to.

We had supper in a wonderful Indian restaurant, Chettinad, before walking 3.5 km back across London to our hotel.  

On Sunday we spent a couple of hours in the Imperial War Museum. 

I'd wanted to see their Emergency Exits exhibition.  It was a very sober affair as you can imagine (you don't go to the IWM for light relief).  It was absorbing to read the horrific stories of how brutal the colonial powers were as they exited the colonies they had controlled.  Absolute carnage.

A quick wander around the WWII section.  This Lancaster bomber must have been pretrifying to sit in and shoot from.

We collected our luggage from the hotel and, as we left Southwick, JC spotted this Low Line marker.  In fact, there was more than one.  It didn't seem like a survey related thing, and then we found the sign which explained all.

That is on the list for my next visit (Caitlin take note).

We trundled back home down the Waterloo line without too much drama.  There was a train replacement bus thing from Crewkerne but not a problem.