Explore early Cheshire maps from the collection held at Cheshire Record Office. These maps give a fascinating insight into the history of a locality and are invaluable for local history and family history. Using the maps you can see how place names have changed and how the farms, hamlets, villages and towns of Cheshire, as well as its roads and canals, have developed over time.
If you want to know more about each map, more information will be found as each map is displayed.
Christopher Saxton 1577
The first map of Cheshire was produced by the Yorkshire surveyor, Christopher Saxton. It was one of 34 county maps that he produced over a five year period, 1574 to 1578. It is reasonably accurate in terms of the outline of the county and the location of towns and villages, less so in the depiction of rivers, hills and woodland. Saxton was fortunate in gaining royal support and the financial backing of Thomas Seckford, Master of Requests to Queen Elizabeth I.
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