Christopher Saxton was a British cartographer, probably born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire around 1540.

Saxton grew up in the village of Dunningley, near Wakefield. As a young man he was employed as a servant of Dewsbury and Thornhill vicar John Rudd, who was a keen cartographer and passed on his skills to Saxton. In 1570 Saxton began a survey of the whole of England and Wales on the commission of Lord Burghley. This was a significant undertaking at the time, and yet by 1574 the first plates had been engraved and in 1578 the survey was complete. The maps produced set the standard for cartographers to follow, and base their own maps on, for hundreds of years to follow.

He died around 1610.

[edit] References

• Christopher Saxton, William Ravenhill (introduction), Christopher Saxton's 16th Century Maps, Chatsworth Library ISBN 1-85310-354-3 (hbk, 1992) ISBN 1-85310-724-7 (pbk, 1995).

[edit] External links

• Glasgow University article on the atlas of England & Wales
• Antique Maps and Prints - Chapter 15
• How did Saxton make his maps?
• Christopher Saxton and the first Atlas of England and Wales, 1579-1979
• A False Start on Christopher Saxton's Wall-map of 1583