Maps have had an important function as legal documents. This is an estate map drawn up by Henry Maxted recording a farm and adjacent land by the sea at Reculver in Kent. It was made in 1730 and it is drawn on vellum, a material often used for documents because of its durability. This map was clearly made to record land ownership and would have been useful for management of the estate. For example the draughtsman has added a coded key to distinguish different types of ground, such as the green areas labelled M and L which the key records as Marsh Land. The map mixes the diagrammatic features of conventional maps with fanciful pictorial elements. The pair of compasses shown at the lower right corner indicates the scale of map. The scale is given in perches; a perch was a linear measure (now defunct) equal to 5.50 yards (5.03 metres).