The survey of Somerset by the Greenwood brothers is one of three published in 1822. They are the first published under the new partnership between them. Despite this example being uncoloured it is in its preferred LOOSE SHEET FORM, un-dissected and uncut complete with imprints outside the borders. It is engraved in large scale at one inch to the mile and differentiates between woods and plantations, heaths and commons, different types of waterway and roads. Watermills, windmills and coal pits are identified indicating their significance to the local economy. A large vignette of Wells Cathedral occupies the lower left corner and a compass rose to the title sheet. A fine large scale map of the county in loose sheets.

Christopher Greenwood (1786-1855) was a surveyor from Wakefield, Yorkshire and moved to London in 1818. His brother John was also a surveyor and in 1821 they joined forces and with the distribution capabilities of George Pringle and Son, made an immediate impact with their series of large scale surveys of many English counties. The early 1800s was a time of rapid change in the landscape with the burgeoning industrial revolution. Their surveys utilised the latest system of triangulation adopted by Colonel Mudge and his surveyors for the Ordnance Survey. Indeed they were in open competition with them. The Greenwood maps were coloured as opposed to the more functional black and white Ordnance Survey’s of the period. Needell (1995) 50; Rodger (1972) 400.