Old Map of Surrey in 1611 by John Speed - Guildford, Croydon, Richmond, Woking

Long before Croydon, Richmond and Kingston were transferred into Greater London under the London Government Act of 1965, they belonged firmly within Surrey, and this map of the county, engraved for John Speed's 1611 Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, shows them as Surrey towns among the others surveyed for Speed's landmark atlas. Engraved in Amsterdam by Jodocus Hondius and hand-coloured in the style typical of the atlas, the sheet carries the county's coat of arms and a decorative scale bar in keeping with its companion county plates.

Guildford is marked on the River Wey as the county town, with Woking appearing to its northeast in what was then largely agricultural land rather than the commuter town it later became. Richmond is shown beside its royal palace on the Thames, and Croydon sits inland to the north, both well within Surrey's boundary as it stood for more than three and a half centuries after this map was drawn. The North Downs are traced across the county's northern reaches, and the map's southern edge runs close to the Sussex border.

This sheet fixes Surrey's boundary as it existed for centuries before London's twentieth-century expansion redrew it, making it a thoughtful gift for anyone who grew up in Guildford, Croydon or Richmond before they became part of Greater London. It is offered unframed in a full range of sizes.