Plan of fortification, possibly at Newtown, Isle of Wight.

The plan is signed "Le Lieutenant Collo. de Stroff fecit." Saunders notes: "Paul August de Storff was employed to survey garrisons in the Isle of Wight from 1671 and the next year was involved with alterations to Rincurran Fort, Kinsale. He was appointed as an engineer to the English Ordnance in 1678 until his discharge three months later" (see: Saunders, Andrew. Fortress Builder, p. 243). Three other Isle of Wight fortification plans by Storff are also present in the YCBA collection, depicting: Newport and Cowes (Dartmouth vi.2); Sandown (Dartmouth vi.3); and Carisbrooke Castle (Dartmouth vi.4).
Provenance: From the collection of George Legge, first Baron Dartmouth, 1648-1691 (see Sotheby's sale, March 8-10, 1948). Baron Dartmouth was Master-General of the Ordnance to Charles II and James II. His collection of maps was partly abstracted from Royal map collections, an arrangement described by Pepys in Bodleian Library MS Rawl. A. 171, 17r-20v. See also Skelton and Wallis. The map is numbered "1" in black ink, "vi.1" in graphite.
Mounted on cloth.
Scale approximated from bar scale given in feet.
Title devised by cataloger.
Skelton, R. "The Royal map collections of England." In Imago mundi, vol. 13 (1956), p. 181-183
Wallis, H. "The Royal map collections of England." In Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, vol. XXVIII (1980), p. 466-467
Manuscript plan for an unidentified fortification on the Isle of Wight, perhaps at Newtown, by Paul Auguste de Storff. The shape of the coastline conforms to an isthmus at the entry of the harbor at Newtown, on the north shore of the Isle. Two versions of the fort plan are given, the second presented on an overlay flap. Land surrounding the fort is rendered semi-pictorially, displaying trees, etc. The sheet is titled on the verso "The Isle of Weight [sic], Decbr. 1671" (this inscription is visible through the cloth backing).