Project Overview

Mayson’s Ordnance Model of the Lake District was an innovation of its time. Commissioned in 1875 by Henry Mayson it offered an unprecedented overview of the landscape they were about to explore. It was based ‘mathematically’ on the Ordnance Survey maps that had recently been completed for the area. It was displayed in Keswick until the 1970s but attempts to trace the remains of the model have failed.

When a large number of negative moulds were recovered from storage in 2013 we set out to explore the creation of the model and its role as a visitor experience. The work has brought together expertise across the University in 3D scanning, geographical information processing, and 3D fabrication. Ongoing work is currently being showcased at Keswick Museum & Art Gallery in the form of the public exhibition ‘The Grandest Views: Models of Lakeland from Victorian Times to the Present Day’.