A Lord of the Rings fan has created a very unique map of Bristol - with hilarious place names for suburbs in our city.
Chris Birse took up map drawing around three years ago when writing a fantasy novel and has stuck at it ever since. Bristol and the surrounding areas weren't the 35-year-old's first map and it definitely won’t be his last.
On the map, the centre is depicted as a large castle structure and the rest of the city has clever Lord of the Rings references. Just across from Southmead Goram's chair can be seen on the map while near Yate there's the Road to Nowhere and The Beeracres Stone.
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Talking about the process Chris explained: “It takes about four weeks for each one. The first is just about getting the geography in, so rivers, mountains and larger towns. Then at the halfway point I share it in local groups to see what they want represented on the map.”
So far he has managed to draw maps for around 30 English counties and Herefordshire is his next on the list. While not having trained in art, Chris has seen much success from what he calls a ‘side hobby’, and said: “Once this is done I think I’d like to travel the UK to see these weird and wonderful places.”
Having shared the finished piece on Reddit, Chris received a lot of positive feedback on his map and has even got people ordering prints. One person said: “That’s cool! Looks fantastic and has places I’d actually like to see. I grew up in Rockhampton and somehow was not aware of either the standing stone OR camp hill.”
Not only has Chris discovered places he had ever heard of before but he’s managed to introduce locals to new things that they can discover in their own areas.
Another commented: “I’m from Shire (not The Shire, but Shirehampton). Love the fact you put Goram’s Chair on there. Excellent map mate.” While someone else said: “So cool!! Love seeing all the little details/local areas of interest included, such a high level of detail.”
Many were pleased to see their hometowns and villages made the map with one saying: “This is amazing it’s even got my little home village on it. I’d love to buy one.”
With the high level of requests to buy one, Chris has set up a shop on Etsy where people who want a print can head to.
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