Lancastriae is the proud Latin title crowning Christopher Saxton’s groundbreaking county map of 1579, an achievement conceived at the height of Elizabeth I’s reign and executed with official sanction. Saxton, under the patronage of Thomas Seckford and the authority of the Queen’s Privy Council, produced the first systematic portrait of Lancashire for his seminal Atlas of England and Wales. Engraved with consummate skill by Remigius Hogenberg, the sheet unites statecraft with artistry: a highly ornate cartouche adorned with winged cupids, the royal coat-of-arms, and Seckford’s family crest assert both nobility and purpose. This is the moment when English cartography became an instrument of governance—its lines defining jurisdictions, its symbols organizing knowledge, its heraldry broadcasting the Crown’s reach across shire and shore.

Saxton’s Lancashire unfolds as a living landscape, its Irish Sea coast crisply drawn and its river systems—Lune, Ribble, Wyre, Mersey, and Irwell—threading inland like purposeful arteries. Hills rise in the classic Elizabethan “molehills,” cumulatively suggesting the Pennine spine and the uplands that hem the shire. Towns, villages, and smaller settlements are differentiated by precise symbols and labeled in English, a pragmatic choice aligning the map with the needs of sheriffs, justices, and surveyors. The county boundary is traced with clarity, while the scale at lower left announces the map’s practical ambitions. This is measured beauty: decorative when it may be, exacting when it must, and always attentive to the topographic bones of the realm.

The coast bears the imprint of a martial age. In the decades of mounting Spanish menace, Saxton’s delineation of Lancashire’s harbors, estuaries, and headlands served a state increasingly alert to attack from the west. The sea itself is animated with ships under sail and a menagerie of fish and sea monsters—emblems both delightful and didactic, signaling the strategic and economic weight of maritime space. Lancaster’s approach via the Lune, the Ribble’s wide mouth by Preston, and the Mersey’s sinuous channel toward Liverpool are all rendered with an eye to navigable reality. Such emphases were not idle artistry; they encoded the vital knowledge required for musters, provisioning, and the vigilant choreography of coastal defense.

Within this framework, Saxton situates a network of settlements that reveal Lancashire’s emerging character. Manchester, set along the Irwell, appears as a compact urban node; Liverpool, at the Mersey, is a modest but strategic port; Lancaster stands sentinel on the Lune; and Preston anchors the Ribble crossing. Wigan, Blackburn, Bury, and Accrington mark the inland gradient, from market boroughs to upland communities tied to pastures, woodland, and early craft production. Saxton’s symbology grades status with disciplined economy—larger icons for principal towns, smaller for villages—while the English toponyms preserve the living sound of local speech. Bridges, fords, and confluences imply the quiet circuitry of trade and jurisdiction that underpinned Elizabethan governance.

Yet utility never overwhelms ornament. Winged cupids flank the cartouche like keepers of knowledge, while the royal arms and Seckford crest knit art to authority in a single heraldic flourish. Ships heel into stylized waves; sea creatures curve through the margins of the Irish Sea; and the land itself, stippled with hills and threaded by rivers, reads as both diagram and drama. Saxton’s name appears alongside that of his engraver, Remigius Hogenberg, an acknowledgment of a collaboration that set the standard for English mapping. The result is not merely a document but a statement: that Lancashire, in all its coasts, commons, towns, and waters, could be known, governed, and imagined—an Elizabethan synthesis of precision, power, and poetic design.

Cities and towns on this map

• Manchester
• Liverpool
• Preston
• Lancaster
• Wigan
• Accrington
• Bury
• Blackburn

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Ornate cartouche with Latin title "Lancastriae"
• Imagery of ships, fish, and sea monsters denoting both functional and decorative elements
• Royal coat-of-arms and Seckford family crest
• Illustrated rivers and hills differentiating geographical features
• Symbols denoting towns, villages, and settlements, labeled in English
• Scale indicated at the lower left
• Mark of the cartographer, Saxton, and the engraver, Remigius Hogenberg

Historical and design context

• Created in 1579 during Elizabeth I’s reign
• Mapmaker: Christopher Saxton; first county map of Lancashire; part of Saxton’s Atlas of England and Wales (35 maps)
• Publisher and authority: funded by Thomas Seckford under the Queen’s Privy Council
• Strategic context: emphasis on coastal defense amid the threat of Spanish naval attack
• Saxton’s grapes watermark marking authenticity of the original
• Reflects the era’s cartographic techniques and the socio-political importance of accurate mapping during a time of potential conflict

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 90in (230cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.