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John Rocque (originally Jean; –1762) was a French-born British surveyor and cartographer, best known for his detailed map of London published in 1746.
In addition to his work as a surveyor and mapmaker, Rocque was an engraver and map seller. He was also involved in some way in gardening as a young man, living with his brother Bartholomew, who was a landscape gardener, and producing plans for , perhaps recording pre-existing designs, but few details of this work are known. Rocque produced engraved plans of the gardens at Wrest Park (1735), Claremont (1738), Charles Hamilton's naturalistic landscape garden at Painshill Park, Surrey (1744), Wanstead House (1745) and Wilton House (1746).
Rocque is now remembered principally for his Map of London. He began work on this in 1737 and it was published in 24 printed sheets in 1746. It was by far the most detailed map of London published up to that time and remains an important historical resource.
The map of London and his other maps brought him an appointment as cartographer to Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1751. A fire in 1750 destroyed his premises and stock, but by 1753, he was employing ten draughtsmen, and The Small British Atlas: Being a New set of Maps of all the Counties of England and Wales appeared. There was a second edition in 1762.
He also surveyed and published maps of Middlesex, Oxford, Berkshire, & Buckinghamshire in 1760.
Rocque also covered the hinterland of Dublin in A Survey of the City Harbour Bay and Environs of Dublin, published in four sheets in 1758. These extended as far as Skerries and Cardy Rocks to the north, Carton House to the west, Blessington to the south-west and Enniskerry to the south. In 1760 the Irish engraver John Dixon engraved Rocque's map of County Dublin.
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