Mayson's Ordnance Model of the English Lake District was created in 1875 as a visitor attraction in Keswick. The model was commissioned by photographer Henry Mayson (right) and his brother Thomas, and was built by Raffaelle Monti and his team of scultors. Although the original model is believed to have been destroyed in the 1980s the discovery of many negative moulds from the model in 2012 allowed some of the details of ths innovative display to be explored.
The Flintoft model built in 1836 had proved popular with visitors and Mayson recognised the power of relief models to draw people into his studio.
The Flintoft model built in 1836 had proved popular with visitors and Mayson recognised the power of relief models to draw people into his studio.
The arrival of the railway in Keswick in 1865 opened up the town to mass tourism at a time when maps would not have been readily available.
In the 1860s the Ordnance Survey completed the six inches to the mile map series which offered detailed portrayal of the terrain using contour lines.
Background to the Mayson Model
Early visitors to the Lake District tended to be artists, poets, the weathly or the adventurous. Maps lacked detail so gaining an understanding of the geography of the landscape was difficult. One way to give visitors an overview of an unfamiliar landscapes was the relief model, originally used for military purposes but later finding popularity with visitors to mountainous areas. One of the best examples of this was Pfyffer’s model of central Switzerland completed in 1786. This featured in William Wordsworth’s 1810 ‘Guide to the Lakes’ where he recalls a visit to the Pfyffer model:
“.. the sublime and beautiful region, with all its hidden treasures, and their bearings and relations to each other, is thereby comprehended and understood at once”
In 1834 Joseph Flintoft completed a relief model of the English Lake District which was displayed in the Moot Hall in the centre of Keswick and became a popular visitor attraction.
In 1875 Henry Mayson was establishing a photography business in Keswick and saw an opportunity to create one of the largest and most accurate landscape models ever built. Three factors contributed to this:
Reconstruction of the Mayson Model
The Mayson model is believed to have been displayed in Keswick until the 1970s but attempts to trace the actual model have failed. In 2012 a set of negative moulds were discovered in storage which allowed a detailed exploration of the model to begin. Below is a digital reconstruction of what the model may have looked like when on display in Mayson's Lake Road studio in Kewswick. In 2015 a full exhibition called 'Grandest Views: Models of Lakeland from Victorian Times to the Present Day' was put on at Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. It showcased reconstruction work undertaken so far on the Mayson model but also showed visitors how landscape models are made today, both digital 'virtual' models but also new ways of making physical models through milling and 3D prinitng.
