Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Adams, Robert (d.1595)

by Ernest Radford

ADAMS, ROBERT (d. 1595), architect, was author of a large plan of Middleburgh, dated 1588, and a pen-and-ink drawing intended to demonstrate the complete defensibility of London, called ‘Thamesis Descriptio.’ With the same object he ‘drew and engraved,’ according to Walpole, ‘representations of the several actions while the Spanish Armada was on the British coasts.’ It seems, however, that Ryther engraved them. Adams was ‘surveyor of the queen's buildings’ and a ‘man of abilities.’ An inscription to his memory is in the north aisle of Greenwich Church.

[Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting; Redgrave's Dict. of English Artists.]

E. R.