SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 341 



level of the sea. In the Middle Ages a considerable amount of land was flooded by 

 the sea ; in the seventeenth century the reclamation of ' polders ' by means of wind- 

 mills began ; a number of lakes were drained. Between 1849 and 1852 Haarlem Lake, 

 the last large one left, of about 44,000 acres, was drained. At the same time schemes 

 of a much larger scope were published, viz. to drain the Zuiderzee. After careful 

 consideration, a scheme proposed by Dr. C. Lely was sanctioned by the Dutch 

 parliament in 1918, and is now being carried out. The result will be the reclamation 

 of about 550,000 acres of excellent soil, or an increase of the arable part of Holland 

 by about 10 per cent. 



Sir George Fordham. — Surveys and Maps of the Elizabethan Period 

 remaining in manuscript — Saxton, Symonson and Norden. 



This paper is an attempt to gather up the work, other than that which has been 

 perpetuated by the engraver's art, of three representative surveyors and cartographers 

 who flourished during the last quarter of the sixteenth and the first of the seventeenth 

 centuries — Christopher Saxton, Philip Symonson, and John Norden. 



Saxton's activity in private practice as a surveyor seems to have been confined 

 to a period of ten years, 1596-1606 ; his atlas of the countries of England and Wales 

 having been completed in 1579, and his large scale map of England and Wales having 

 been published about 1580. He surveyed Manchester in 1596, but this map cannot 

 now be found. In the same year Saxton was a witness in proceedings as to boundaries 

 in Lincolnshire, and in 1599 he was similarly engaged, as he was also in 1601 and 1606 

 in controversies as to water-rights, in all of which proceedings he prepared and certified 

 plans. These plans are now in the Public Record Office. A plan of Dewsbury and 

 of the River Calder above that town, by Saxton, is in the Dewsbury Free Library, 

 and dated 1600. 



Symonson is only known generally by his important map of Kent of 1596. He 

 was superintendent and surveyor of the Rochester Bridge Estates from 1592 until 

 his death in 1598. During his term of office he surveyed and mapped four of the 

 estates, the property of the Bridge Wardens, and three of these maps still exist 

 among the archives of this corporation. In art, appearance and colouring, they 

 resemble closely the work of Saxton. 



Norden's work in estate survey is much more instructive from the point of view 

 of the history of cartography in England than that of either of his contemporaries. 

 In 1600-1601 he made an elaborate survey, drawn in twenty-eight large sheets, of the 

 estates of Sir Michael Stanhope in and around Orford, on the coast of Suffolk. These 

 maps are now in two sections, following a division of the original estate, of which one 

 (maps I to X) is in Woodbridge, in the office of Mr. Ernest Wood, solicitor, and the 

 other (maps XI to XXVIII — except XIII, which is missing) is in the Sudbourne 

 Estate Office, at Chillesford Lodge, near Orford. This series is of uniform appearance 

 and detail, and is drawn in bright colours on vellum sheets measuring about 528 mm. 

 in height by 722 mm. in width. It is a work of considerable cartographical importance, 

 and geographically is interesting for the delineation of a long length of coast line, 

 since 1600 subject to alteration and erosion. The total acreage mapped is about 15,000. 



Norden's next important work was a survey of the Honor of Windsor, with the 

 Castle and all the forests, walks, parks, &c, and details of the head of deer in each. 

 This i3 of 1601 and is on seventeen sheets of vellum, drawn in colours and gilded. Two 

 copies are known, that made for the king (James I) is in the British Museum 

 (Harleian MS.), and a duplicate made for Henry, Prince of Wales, has been lately 

 acquired by the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. 



A further important work was confided to Norden at this period, that of a com- 

 plete survey of the manors and property of the Duchy of Cornwall in the West of 

 England, made in the years 1609 to 1616. This also is now at Windsor, having been 

 recently presented to the King by Lord Verulam from the Gorhambury Library. It 

 has, however, but a few sketch maps, and is generally the written record of inquiries 

 relating to the estates, and summaries of the particulars thus obtained, made up into 

 two quarto volumes. It is obviously only of collateral interest in connection with 

 the present subject. 



The paper deals fully with the maps and plans enumerated above, which are, 

 especially those of Norden, instructive" as illustrating the progress achieved in the 

 reign of Elizabeth in the art and practice of survey and map construction. Pew such 

 maps, whatever may have been their original number, have survived to the present 



