Market Drayton
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This plan covers the Shropshire,Northern Plain, near the border with Cheshire and Staffordshire. The area,is characterised by small woodlands, formal parkland, meres (lakes), mosses, pools and other wetland habitats. Mills are indicated near the town of Market Drayton, central towards the top,,where about two hundred workers were employed in the manufacture of horse-hair products.
Stevens, Henry
Map of Shropshire f. 75*
This is a manuscript map of Shropshire. It forms part of an atlat which belonged to Lord Burghley, Secretary of State to Elizabeth I, who used it to illustrate domestic matters. It shows only the principal towns, distinguishing between those with a castle and those without by means of a symbol of two connected towers with crenellations. The River Severn, marked Sabrina F, is charted. Lord Burghley has added a name adjacent to a place where the river is bridged. Lord Burghley was concerned with communication routes as revealed by his annotation. The draughtsman has indicated relief by hill symbols in two places. The map features a scale bar, but this is partly obscured by damage to the map.
Comitatus Palatinus Cestriae
This is a map of Cheshire by William Smith. It dates from 1585. William Smith was Rouge Dragon at the College of Heralds/College of Arms, an institution that specialised in genealogical work, increasingly more so during the Elizabethan age as the gentry class rose in importance. The Rouge Dragon is the name of one of the Pursuivants, a heraldic officer attendant on the heralds, often attached to a particular nobleman, named so because of their badges. The prominent coat of arms on this plan reveals Smiths heraldic interests. In 1588 Smith completed "The Particuler Description of England. With the portratures of certaine of the cheiffest citties & townes". This work consisted of drawings of English cities and towns in a traditional bird's eye view style, drawings amalgamating bird's eye and plan. In the years 1602-03, William Smith anonymously published maps of Chester, Essex, Hertfordshire Lancashire, Leicester, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. These were probably engraved in Amsterdam and were intended to form sheets of a new atlas. After the publication of Saxton’s county maps in the 1570s, cartographers attempted to improve on Saxton’s atlas and replicate its success. Unfortunately for Smith, another cartographer, John Speed, was also preparing county maps at this time and competition proved too great, Speed being the victor.
Smith, William