Christopher Saxton (circa 1543 - circa 1610)

Christopher Saxton was born in Yorkshire in the early 1540s and during his early life gained an enthusiasm for and understanding of map-making under the direction of a local vicar John Rudd, himself a cartographer.

During the reign of Elizabeth I it was William Cecil later to become Lord Burghley, who saw the national importance of effective maps and with his enthusiasm and the patronage of Thomas Seckford an official in the Elizabethan court, Saxton was commissioned to survey the whole of England and Wales. A huge undertaking given the times and the means available to him. The survey began in the early 1570s and by 1574 the first plates had been engraved. By 1577 the whole of England was completed with the survey of Wales being completed the following year.

In the end the atlas comprised of a general map of England and Wales and 34 others of either individual or grouped counties. They were engraved by some of the best engravers of the time and when published they set a standard both in accuracy and decorative detail to the extent that they remained the basis for succeeding county maps for well over the following hundred years.

In the early 1600s Campden's 'Brittania' was published with individual county maps. William Hole and William Kip re-engraved Saxton's maps at a reduced size for this edition and on most of these maps Saxton is given credit in the title. There were three editions : 1607 with Latin text on the reverse ; 1610 with no text on the reverse and 1637 with an engraved plate number in the lower left corners of the maps.