Oxfordshire estate map among listing of UK public art works
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-13879363
'Monks' map was commissioned by Abingdon landowner' (BBC News Oxford, 23 June 2011).
As part of an ongoing project to document all works of art in British public collections, this concentrates on a map, 'created with a mixture of egg and pigment on calf skin', and measuring 42 x 265 cm, produced for a legal dispute around 1540.
'A painting long assumed to have been produced by monks is now thought to have been commissioned by a 16th century Abingdon landowner. The Monks' Map hangs in the Abingdon Guildhall and depicts the course of the Thames through the town and towards Oxford. After several lawsuits regarding the river's use a man called John Blacknall is thought to have had the map made to indicate who owned what. Jackie Smith, honorary archivist to Abingdon Town Council said: "He marked out the parts that were his and was particularly interested in the river and the fisheries because there were major disputes between different owners."
'At this time Abingdon was situated in Berkshire and not Oxfordshire. Blacknall had bought land where Abingdon Abbey was situated and decided it included the rights to the fish and eels in the river. The eels had been a major food commodity for the monks of the ancient Benedictine abbey. The monks had even been paid the price of 100 eels a year by the people of Oxford in return for a navigation channel on church land ...'
Tony Campbell
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