For the East Riding another source of evidence on ’emparked’ private park landscapes are the county maps dating from the late 18th and 19th centuries. A complete collection may be viewed at the county archives lodged at the Treasure House, Beverley.
One good example is Emanuel Bowen’s county map of the mid 18th century. Bowen, an engraver, publisher and print-seller based in London, was appointed ‘Engraver of Maps’ to George II. His engraved map shows emparked land as being fenced-in, probably his choice of symbol rather than factually accurate. Surprisingly he shows the largest parkland area still in the 1750s as being Beverley Parks (see initial Public Parks blog). Risby Park (then home of the Ellerker family) is shown just to its south as is the Constable family’s park at Burton Constable in Holderness. ‘Lonesborough’ Park (then owned by the Earl of Burlington) was sited between Market Weighton and Pocklington (see above picture taken from Neave, D. Yorkshire: York and the East Riding, county gazetteer, (2005, 603). The engraving shows a mix of formal gardens and some early landscaping.
Incidentally Bowen’s map includes ‘a fine engraving of Kingston upon Hull displaying the town along the river (estuary) side, the pier and the twelve-gun battery very clearly drawn’.