J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales 1798 > Dynevor Castle Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscription by Turner: Itineraries in the English Midlands and Wales c.1798

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  • Inside front cover of sketchbook
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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Inscription by Turner: Itineraries in the English Midlands and Wales’ c.1798 (Inside front cover of sketchbook)
Inside front cover of sketchbook
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Inside Front Cover:
Inscription by Turner: Itineraries in the English Midlands and Wales c.1798
D40752
Pen and ink on white laid paper, 135 x 95 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pen and brown ink (see main catalogue entry)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner has almost filled the page with notes in two columns; the left-hand one reads:
   Croxden P 3 Cheadle           S
   Dudley P x C                         t
   Hilton S Newcaste [sic]        a
2 Rowton  Tutbury                   f
   Alton                                     f
   Cavershall 3 Cheadle            o
   Charsley 4 Stafford               r
   Tutberry    Eccleshale Pal    d
   Hagley 8 Tixley M House
   Maxtoke 3   Coleshill
   Do 1 – Mereval P 1 Atherstone
   Brownsover C in Rugby
   Braden Stoke 7 Chippenham
   Farly C 2 Phillips Norton
   Bordesley 4 Bromsgrove
            Brecknock
   Bramlys 6
   Penkelly 4
         Carmarthenshire
   Abergwilly CC
   Blanchard 4
   Green C 3 Carmarthen
   Newcastle 8 Cardigan
   Caernarvon
   Clynnog CC Aber
    [?Crickheath]
   Dolwyddlelan [sic]
    [?Gwyder]
The word ‘Stafford’ is written in upright letters down the right-hand side of this list, against a bracket extending from ‘Croxden’ to ‘Hagley’. The numeral ‘2’ in the extreme left column refers to a bracket beginning at the top line and terminating at ‘Cavershall Cheadle’. The three names from ‘Brecknock’ to ‘Penkelly’ are bracketed. ‘Warwick’ is written ascending vertically, against a bracket embracing ‘Maxstoke’ and ‘Phillips Norton’.
The right-hand column continues:
                  Flint
       St Asaph
       Basingwick 1 Holyw[ell]
       Rhudland 3 St Asaph
       Northop Ch 2 Flint
       Harwarden Rudland
              Glamorgansh
       Coity C 3 Bridgend
       St Donat 5 Cowburgh [sic]
              Morlash 6 [or ‘C’]
              Pennarth [sic] Penrice
              Coity Landaff 4
              Webley Wormshead
                                          Poin[t]
       Powis 1 W Pool
       Dolforwin C
St Dogmil..1 Cardigan
Lehaiden Narbeth [sic] 4
Kilgarren 3 Cardigan
‘Lehaiden’ towards the end perhaps indicates Llawhaden.
These lists of places are evidently taken from a gazetteer or route map. The running place-names on the left list are most likely centres from which trips to the other towns mentioned might be made. The note ‘C’ beside many entries here and in the list on the next page means that there is a castle worth looking at; it may sometimes refer to a church. Similarly, ‘P’ may stand for ‘priory’, and ‘A’ for ‘abbey’.
Compare the itinerary written out for Turner by another hand at the front of the 1795 South Wales sketchbook (Tate D40553–D40556; Turner Bequest XXVI); see also the topographical notes on the flyleaf opposite (D41434).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Inscription by Turner: Itineraries in the English Midlands and Wales c.1798 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-inscription-by-turner-itineraries-in-the-english-midlands-r1173694, accessed 24 November 2024.