Laugharne - Sheet SN 21-31

Laugharne – Sheet SN 21/31 (1978) – Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey | 1:25,000 Second Series | ISBN: None
Condition: Good | Sold by Crappy Old Books

Laugharne. A wonderfully atmospheric little Welsh town where ancient castles, tidal estuaries, winding streets and literary ghosts combine to create the impression that time has been moving rather more slowly than elsewhere. Most famously associated with Dylan Thomas, who spent his later years overlooking the Taf estuary, Laugharne is the sort of place where one might reasonably expect to encounter a poet contemplating mortality, a fisherman contemplating the tide, or a visitor contemplating why the local pub has closed just as he arrived.

Welcome to Laugharne – Sheet SN 21/31, a vintage 1978 Ordnance Survey map from the celebrated 1:25,000 Second Series, preserving a wonderfully detailed picture of this fascinating corner of Carmarthenshire before satellite navigation, digital mapping and the modern conviction that nobody should venture beyond their front door without consulting a smartphone.

At this splendidly detailed scale, four centimetres on the map represents one kilometre on the ground, allowing roads, footpaths, streams, buildings, contours and other geographical features to be examined with the extraordinary precision for which Ordnance Survey became internationally respected.

The map covers Laugharne and its surrounding countryside, a landscape of rolling farmland, small settlements, wooded valleys and tidal waterways where the relationship between land and sea has shaped local life for centuries.

Laugharne itself offers a particularly rich combination of history and literary association. Its medieval castle overlooks the estuary, while Dylan Thomas’s famous Boathouse and writing shed have become enduring symbols of the poet’s connection with the town. His remarkable ability to transform ordinary Welsh life into extraordinary language has ensured that Laugharne occupies a place in literary history considerably larger than its geographical dimensions might suggest.

For the cartographically inclined, however, there is plenty to appreciate beyond poetry and picturesque buildings. Historical maps offer an invaluable record of how landscapes once appeared, preserving the positions of roads, field boundaries, buildings and features that may have changed or disappeared during subsequent decades.

And 1978 was a particularly interesting period. Britain was struggling with economic difficulties, industrial disputes and the gradual transformation of its rural communities, while the ancient geography of Carmarthenshire continued its business with considerably less concern for inflation or government policy.

There is something magnificently reassuring about an old Ordnance Survey map. It never requires batteries, never loses its signal and never insists that you make a U-turn in the middle of a narrow country lane. Admittedly, it also refuses to tell you where you are, which can become inconvenient when standing in a field surrounded by suspiciously interested cattle.

The distinctive green Second Series cover is itself a pleasing piece of cartographic nostalgia, recalling an era when a folded paper map represented the height of navigational sophistication.

This 1978 Ordnance Survey Sheet SN 21/31, offered in Good condition by Crappy Old Books, is an appealing acquisition for Welsh local historians, walkers, collectors of vintage maps and admirers of Dylan Thomas interested in the landscape surrounding his beloved Laugharne.

A fascinating geographical snapshot of a beautiful and historically rich corner of Wales, captured before decades of subsequent change.

And if you become hopelessly lost while exploring the countryside, you can always take inspiration from Dylan Thomas.

Find somewhere comfortable, order a drink and turn the whole unfortunate experience into poetry.

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