Surrey is one of their earlier productions. The attention to detail is great with a large ‘Explanation’ lower left. A dedication is inserted lower right and it is finished off with an exquisite view of Kew Palace in the upper left. The map was issued in two formats, uncoloured and coloured as here. The two unsuccessful early railway lines are indicated: the Surrey Iron Railway and the Croydon, Merstham & Godstone Iron Railway. Provenance: Kensington Public Library ink stamps on canvas verso; Kentish Large Scale County Maps of England and Wales 1705-1832, no. 57; Private English collection.

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. Rodger (1972) 445.