|
||
|
|
|
|
One of three county maps of Jamaica prepared by order of the Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica between 1756 and 1761, which if combined would form a 90 x 38 inch map of Jamaica. Please note that the maps are only being offered as a set and can be seen at:
In 1756, Thomas Craskell (chief engineer on the island) and James Simpson (and chief surveyor) were engaged to conduct the first detailed survey of the Island of Jamaica. The survey was conducted from 1756 to 1761 and resulted in the preparation of this monumental mapping of the 3 counties of Jamaica, which could also be combined to form a 90 x 38 inch map of Jamaica, dedicated to the Earl of Halifax.
Little is known James Simpson and Thomas Craskell. The National Maritime Museum holds two paintings by Craskell and note the following:
According to an e-mail of 4 November 2008 ' Captain, later Colonel, Thomas Craskell served a military engineer for his whole career in Jamaica. At the end of his career in 1795, he got into trouble by not being sensitive to the needs of Maroons (free but impoverished blacks in the mountains) of Trelawney Parish. In 1758, he was ordered to supervise the construction of the very handsome and impressive King's House (Governor's Mansion) at Spanishtown to designs by architect Peter Harrison of Newport, Rhode Island (about whom I am writing a book); the building was destroyed by fire in 1925, but its front wall still stands on the west side of the government square of the old capital, Spanishtown.
The Craskell & Simpson map would remain the most detailed mapping of Jamaica until the Robertson map appeared in 1804.
![Colton's West Indies [Bermuda and Havana insets]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/67374.jpg)
