ERO Presents: The Walkers of Hanningfield: Mapmakers of Tudor and Stuart Essex

Join the Essex Record Office to discover the joy of maps, including a once ‘lost’ and now ‘found’ Essex map, and time-travel back to the landscapes they depict.

An introduction to the Walkers of Hanningfield

10:30 -11:00

Neil Wiffen of the Essex Record Office, introduces the work and impact of the Walker Family on the cartographic record of Essex.

The Manor or Rivers Hall Boxted

11:00 - 11:15

Dr Christopher Thornton, Editor of the Victoria County History of Essex, makes a micro study of the Manor of Rivers Hall looking at it's ownership and the commissioning of it's 1586 map and survey. Chris will delve into the depiction of architectural features with a focus on a clothiers house.

Break - 11:15 - 11:40

Tudor and Stuart local maps: visions of lost landscapes

11:40 -12:30

Rose Mitchell, map specialist at The National Archives, traces the evolution of local maps from earlier sketches to the estate map genre, of which the Walker family of Essex were well-known exponents. She sets the local in context with a view of the wider cartography of the period reflecting matters of state and defence. Essex highlights of her talk include 1583 maps of Bradwell-on-Sea with images of ancient St Peter’s chapel, and a stunning decorated and gilded estate map of Audley End.