A Special Collections Exhibition
|
Regional European Mapping |
|
|
Christopher
Saxton, Facsimile of a map of the county of Suffolk, 1573
During the latter part of the sixteenth century, regions like Spain, Bavaria and Naples began to be mapped in considerable detail. So too did England, with the maps of Christopher Saxton, born about 1540. Saxton had been an estate surveyor, and during the 1570s he greatly expanded his scope to draw maps of all the counties of England and Wales. He had received a special permission to visit “high places,” and probably drew his maps by taking bearings from such eminences as hills and church towers.
Our
detail of the facsimile shows (upper middle) the notation “Sekford;” Saxton
took care to include the country house of Thomas Seckford, his great patron and
a high-ranking officer in the administration of Queen Elizabeth.
© Special Collections Division
The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
For further information:
