Clarke, James

James Clarke (1745–1790) was a surveyor based in Penrith, in the English Lake District. He is known for his meticulous work, “A Survey of the Lakes of Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire”, first published in 1787 with a second edition in 1789. This elephant folio-sized volume contained twelve (2nd edition eleven) large maps of the region and its lakes, including the first detailed plan of Penrith, and a diagram of the view from Penrith Beacon. The maps featured remarkable detail, such as field boundaries and landowners' names. The book was apparently marketed at tourists drawn to the Lake District during a time when European wars restricted foreign travel. A more portable quarto edition was published posthumously in 1793.