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Linda's avatar

Oh Matt, making a connection between Jane Austen’s Henry Tilney and Hilary Mantel’s mention of Tilney Abbey is absolutely amazingly brilliant. Austen’s Friars! Professors in the US have gotten tenure for less! Thank you SO much for all the hard work that has gone into these posts. I LOVE them. I think our dearest Queen Hilary must be smiling at you too.

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Matt Brown's avatar

Oh that’s such a lovely comment, thank you Linda.

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sharon's avatar

Oh wow! This is amazing! 👏👏👏

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Heather Cawte's avatar

Your maps are extraordinary! I love to study them, and always learn so much from them

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Matt Brown's avatar

Thanks Heather!

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Vanessa Harding's avatar

Great stuff, Matt!

Readers may also like the Map of Tudor London c. 1520: https://www.historictownstrust.uk/maps/tudor-london and also on https://www.layersoflondon.org/map/overlays/tudor-map-1520. It isn’t the London of the novels, but it’s the city Cromwell grew up in, and it underlies the changed and changing London of the 1530s when most of Wolf Hall takes place.

I wonder if Tilney Abbey ought to be Tilty Abbey, in Essex? https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol2/pp134-136

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Matt Brown's avatar

Oh cripes... sorry Vanessa... I meant to put a link to the maps at the bottom of the article, as they were very useful in positioning some of the buildings. I'll add it in now.

Tilty is a good theory. If so, it may even be a 'deliberate error' by Mantel, as I believe that a few of the abbey names were mis-transcribed in the records.

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Simon Haisell's avatar

What an extraordinary thing you have done, Matt!

I can't thank you enough. Throughout this year, different readers have drawn out different aspects of the story. Someone was looking at food, another at the role of stitchwork and cloth. I kept count of the ghosts, obviously!

A cartography of Cromwell is such an amazing addition, giving us a whole new way of seeing Cromwell's world.

Thanks for plugging Wolf Crawl. Everyone's welcome to join. Our journey from Putney cobbles to Tower Hill begins 1 Jan. Weekly posts and podcasts, revised and updated with new illustrations, music, documents from the archives ... and now maps!

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Matt Brown's avatar

Thanks Simon! Looking forward to reading Wolf Crawl 2025, and helping out with the maps.

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Jonathan Crain's avatar

This is great! I might have to do another read just to use your maps. Thanks for sharing!

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wordsonlywords's avatar

that is just brilliant. thank you so much!

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Mark's avatar

Matt, echo all of the above. An awesome piece of work. Love the Tilney theory..

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Julie Babis's avatar

The maps are pure genius, thank you for sharing them! I’ve joined Wolf Crawl 2025, so it’s fascinating building a picture of what London would have looked like. And also understanding the inter-connectivity of European society and politics.

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Marge Anderson's avatar

So excited for this before my first trip to London in 2025!!!!

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June Girvin's avatar

Thank you for this. So interesting! Being able to visualise locations relative to each other is so helpful.

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Matt Brown's avatar

Thanks June!

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Holly A Brown's avatar

Such a fascinating endeavour Matt! And I love how you’ve mapped only the locations mentioned in the books: otherwise it wouldn’t show so clearly the world of Wolf Hall. It’s interesting to me how focused the narrative is on London north of the river, reflecting the world Cromwell lived in. And yet how connected he was - even if he didn’t personally travel - to the wider English & European landscape. Thanks for sharing!

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Valary Murphy's avatar

Hi Matt, this is just fantastic, and must have involved countless hours. I have enjoyed all of your maps, particularly the coloured versions of the London copper plate engraved maps. Just one thing...I'm sure I am not the first to notice that the 'L' in Mortlake is missing, and that the 'ou' in Boulogne is transposed.

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Matt Brown's avatar

Thanks Valary. Yes... a LOT of work, but the most rewarding kind of work. Thanks so much for your kind comments... and for spotting these typos, which I'll correct very soon.

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Rachel Gascoigne's avatar

This is amazing. Thank you. Now fantasising about a whole afternoon of the Christmas break to pore over these. And Dickens! I did not know… How do you do it?!

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Matt Brown's avatar

Haha, thanks Rachel. Acute insomnia is my superpower.

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Pina Baker's avatar

This is fantastic stuff! 👍👍👍 Ive been part of the #Wolf Crawl 2024 and forever had Google maps open beside me trying to look up every place. This would have been perfect in my read and I’m sure others will find useful. Thank you so much.

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Alison Macaulay's avatar

What a great idea!

Are you familiar with this website, which uses coroners' records from the early 14th century to map homicides in London, York and Oxford? Obviously, it pre-dates Cromwell's London by a good some 200 years, but gives quite a lot of detail, and the stories are fascinating if gory in places. https://medievalmurdermap.co.uk/maps/

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Matt Brown's avatar

Thanks. Yes, that’s a great site. The background map is by the same people who made the Tudor map linked at the bottom of my article, the Historic Towns Trust. Wonderful resources all.

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