Hi John, Interesting question! Somebody is sure to come up with earlier examples, but for Northumberland we have John Ogilby's strip map of the road from Tynemouth to Carlisle 1765, Robert Morden's playing card map, showing only the Great North Road and the Tynemouth to Haltwhistle 1676 (he did all counties of England & Wales) and John Warburton's map of 1716, possibly the earliest to show all the main roads. The first Ordnance Survey maps of Northumberland (25 inches to the mile, 1218 sheets!) were published 1859-66. Maps with roads occur regularly in directories from the early 1800s. Whether they were affordable for our ancestors to peruse is another matter! Jim Balmer Website: freespace.virgin.net/jim.balmer