He was born at or near Ripon and started work as a carpenter.
[1] He later became an assistant to John Carr and was employed at Buxton, Harewood and elsewhere.
In 1786 he became responsible for maintaining York's corporation property, and subsequently took over Carr's extensive works in Yorkshire and further north.
His son, Peter, himself had sons John Bownas Atkinson (1807–1874) and William Atkinson (architect, born 1811).
[2] Before their father's death, the two sons had taken over and for the next thirty plus years they were the most prolific of the city's architects.