George Hennet (1799-1857) is little known and is identified with only this published map. Eden identifies him as a surveyor of ‘road, railway, public works; engineer’. This large scale map of Lancashire was engraved by James Bingley (1796-1869) on the scale of three quarters of an inch to the mile. He engraved a number of items but is probably best known for his contribution to Thomas Moule’s ‘English Counties Delineated’, first published in 1830-35. The Explanation differentiates between woods and plantations, parks, heaths and commons, different types of waterway and road. Both watermills and windmills are identified indicating their significance to the local economy.

There are also several railways indicated, the most famous of which was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened on 15 September 1830, four months after this was published. It is world famous for being the first passenger railway to rely on locomotives for traction. On that open day the Home Secretary William Huskisson was killed in an accident. The early 1800s was a time of rapid change in the landscape with the burgeoning industrial revolution. A large illustration of the New Custom House, Liverpool, is engraved below the title. The first stone was laid in August 1828 but the building was not finished until 1839. Eden (1979) H298; Rodger (1972) 258; Tooley’s Dictionary; Worms & Baynton-William (2011).