Nature of Source
Introduction
Maps are invaluable tools for family history research. They provide a visual representation of places where our ancestors lived, worked and travelled. Gazetteers list place names often with extensive historical information and geographical features that can enhance your research. Large scale maps covering all areas were available by the 1880s.
Early Maps (16th Century)
The earliest maps date back to the 16th century and primarily portray individual counties. The most notable series was drawn by Christopher Saxton who completed his survey of the whole of England and Wales by 1577. His maps are some of the earliest comprehensive cartographic records available.
The earliest maps covering Scotland were drawn by Timothy Pont (died c.1614) which were then used by Willem Blaeu for his celebrated atlas, Atlas Novus published in 1635.
Town and Parish Maps (18th-19th Centuries)
As urban areas developed and spread, town plans began to emerge in the 18th century which provided detailed layouts of streets and buildings. Parish maps, drawn up in the 1840s, were created to assess Poor Law payments, a system of relief for the parish poor. These maps can be particularly useful for locating specific properties.
Ordnance Survey Maps
The late 18th century saw a significant development in map-making, prompted by concerns of a French military invasion. This fear led to the establishment of the Ordnance Survey which produced highly detailed and accurate maps to help protect Britain from invasion. OS maps are among the most useful resources for family historians as they provide detailed standardised map coverage for the whole of the UK. Unfortunately, many early OS records were destroyed by a fire in 1841at their original headquarters at the Tower of London. Further OS documents were lost during a WWII enemy raid on the War Office warehouse on Arnside Street in Walworth, south London.
Private Map Publishers
As the demand for maps expanded in the 19th century, private map publishing firms became increasingly important players in the industry. Stanford’s, founded by Edward Stanford in 1853, and Bartholomew & Son emerged as leading private map publishers of this time. The companies specialised in producing high-quality maps and atlases for commercial uses such as tourism and business, catering to a growing market.
Types of Maps for Research
- Enclosure Maps (18th century). These show areas of land enclosed by landowners which divided common land into individual plots. The maps often accompany enclosure awards which help track land ownership changes.
- Tithe Maps (19th century). These provide details of all land ownership and usage down to the plot level. The accompanying tithe apportionment records list landowners, tenants and how much rent or tithe was due.
- Estate Maps: These were commissioned by estate owners to track their land and holdings.
- Census Enumerator Maps: These maps were used during the taking of the censuses and show a detailed breakdown of areas for each census district.
- Fire Insurance Maps. Starting in the 18th century, these maps offer detailed, street-by-street coverage, including building outlines.
- Charles Booth Poverty Maps: These maps give detailed street views for the late 19th century and are specifically useful for charting London poverty levels.
- Infrastructure maps. These maps were created for infrastructure projects, such as railways, canals and sewer systems
One key challenge when using maps for research is that boundaries have changed over time. Parish, county, and even country borders have moved, so be aware these changes might affect your research.
Understanding Map Scale
When working with maps, it’s important to understand the concept of scale, which is measured as a ratio as one to a larger number (e.g. 1:10,000). The smaller the second number, the more detailed the map will be. Large-scale maps (like 1:1,250) are useful for concentrating on small areas such as individual streets and buildings, whilst smaller-scale maps (like 1:100,000) cover larger regions with less detail.
Also see
County & Local Histories
Enclosure Maps and Awards
Estate Maps
Fire Insurance Registers, Plans and Maps
Valuation Office Field Books & Maps
Where Found
County Record Offices
Local archives often hold a variety of map records including:
- Tithe Maps
- Ordnance Survey Maps
- Enclosure Maps
- Estate Maps
- Town Plans
- Parish Maps
- Mining maps
- Railway plans
- Waterway charts
The National Archives
The National Archives has one of the world’s largest holdings of historical maps and plans, approximately more than six million maps and plans with more added every year. Expect to find map collections relating to national surveys, military and architecture. Many of the maps have been digitised and are available in the online catalogue, Discovery. Major surveys include: the Tithe Survey of the 1840s; the Valuation Office Survey of around 1910; the National Farm Survey of the Second World War.
British Library
The Map Library has one of the largest collections of maps, plans, atlases, globes and globe gores, Ordnance Survey maps, fire insurance plans, admiralty charts, maritime maps and topographical views in the world, numbering some 4.5 million, with a chronological spread of over 2,000 years.
The London Archives
The collection includes various types of maps covering London from the 15th century to the present day, such as:
- Historical parish boundary maps
- Ordnance Survey maps
- Street maps
- Ward maps
- London gazetteers
- Booth Poverty Maps
- Bomb Damage Maps
- Historical parish boundary maps
- Fire insurance maps
National Library of Wales
Map Collection. The library hosts the largest map collection in Wales, featuring 1.5 million sheets of maps, charts, and plans along with thousands of atlases. This extensive collection includes significant historical maps from the 18th and early 19th centuries. The map collection includes:
- County Maps
- Estate Maps
- Town Plans
- Nautical Charts
- Welsh Tithe Maps
- First World War Maps
- Railway and Public Utility Plans
- Mining Plans
- Ordnance Survey Mapping
Bodleian Library Map Room
The library holds nearly two million maps and around 20,000 atlases and range in date from the fourteenth to the twenty-first century. Included in the collection are printed maps, town plans including historic maps of Oxford and London, manuscript estate maps and topographical series. The Bodleian holds an almost complete collection of all OS maps from the first sheet dated 1801 to the present as well as a collection of 2,500 World War I trench maps of the Western Front. Almost 2,500 digitised maps and atlases are available online at Digital Bodleian. The map collection can be searched using SOLO the Bodleian Libraries’ online catalogue.
ScotlandsPeople Centre
The centre hold original maps and plans of Scotland mostly dating from 1750. The Register House Plans is an artificial collection of around 170,000 topographical maps, plans, marine charts, architectural and engineering drawings.
University College Dublin
Digital Library. Collections include: Ordnance Survey Ireland 19th Century Historical Maps. A collection of mainly 19th century maps of almost 150 cities, towns, and villages in the Republic of Ireland including Dublin city and suburbs. Most are Town Plans which were surveyed at either five or ten foot to one mile scale between 1837 and 1896; Maps of Dublin accompanying Thom’s Official Directory. Nine Thom’s maps of the city and environs of Dublin from the collection of the School of Geography, Planning and Environmental.
Period Covered
1250 – Onwards
Genealogical Value
- Useful for locating places and addresses.
- Useful for researching house histories.
Further References
- Beech, Geraldine & Mitchell, Rose. Maps for Family and Local History: TNA, 2004
- Delano-Smith, Catherine & Kain, Roger. English Maps: A History: British Library, 1999
- Foxell, Simon. Mapping London: Making Sense of the City: Black Dog Publishing, 2007
- Foxell, Simon. Mapping England: Black Dog Publishing, 2007
- Hindle, Paul. Maps for Local History: Batsford, 1988
- Hindle, Paul. Maps for Historians: Phillimore, 1998
- Hindle, Paul. Medieval Roads and Tracks: Shire, 2008
- Howgego, James. Printed Maps of London circa 1553-1850: Dawson, 1978
- Hyde, Ralph. Printed Maps of Victorian London, 1851-1900: Dawson, 1975
- Masters, Charles. Essential Maps for Family Historians: Countryside Books, 2009
- Mitchell, Brian. A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2002
- Oliver, Richard. Ordnance Survey Maps: A Concise Guide for Historians, Charles Close Society, 1993
- Whitfield, Peter. London: A Life in Maps: British Library, 2006
- Whynne-Hammond, Charles. English Place Names Explained: Countryside Books, 2005
Websites
Researching Historic Buildings
Historic maps. This is an outline of the history of mapping in the British Isles, concentrating on the use of maps for building history.
Ordnance Survey
Discover the history of Ordnance Survey.
Ordnance Survey
Historical map and survey archives. Guide to historic OS maps and where to find archive collections.
Ordnance Survey
GetOutside Guides. The site offers a variety of articles and tips on subjects such as map reading, map scales and OS map symbols.
The National Archives Research Guide
How to look for records of Maps and plans. Use this guide for advice on how to find individual items among The National Archives prodigious collection of maps of the British Isles and places around the globe.
The National Archives Research Guide
How to look for records of Ordnance Survey. This guide will help you to find historical Ordnance Survey maps and records created or maintained by the Ordnance Survey.
Cassini Maps
Keys and Legends. The guide offers detailed information about the symbols, colours and notations used in Cassini’s historical Ordnance Survey maps.
British Cartographic Society
The Map Curators’ Toolbox. An online source of information and help for map curators, librarians and archivists including links to map-related organisations in the UK, Europe, and worldwide and information on major UK map collections and other significant collections.
British Cartographic Society
UK Map Collections Archive. The directory lists the major map collections in the UK.
Family Tree
A Map of Historical Scottish Counties
Map History
History of Cartography. Use this site to find the worthwhile free information about old maps with over 6,500 annotated links selected for relevance and quality.
Perry-Castañeda Library
University of Texas. The site provides an extensive list of historical map websites organised by region and country.
Latlong
Get Lat Long from Address. The website provides a tool to convert addresses into latitude and longitude coordinates. Users can input an address, including city/town, state and street name.
Latlong
Reverse Geocoding Convert Lat Long to Address. The website provides a tool that converts latitude and longitude coordinates into a readable address, a process known as reverse geocoding.
Who Do You Think You Are Magazine
Where to find old maps of your area. Jonathan Scott picks the best websites for finding old maps of where your ancestors lived and worked.
GENUKI Gazetteer
The Gazetteer covers the whole of England, Wales and Scotland and can be searched by place-name or Ordnance Survey Grid Reference.
The GENUKI Church Database
The Database covers the whole of England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. You can search to find the location of churches and discover which genealogical resources are available for them.
GENUKI
The site shows a map of the counties of England, Wales and Scotland as they existed before the 1974 boundary changes.
Gazetteer of British Place Names
Notes for Historians and Genealogists. The background article explains how gazetteers can be used for research purposes and the types of counties in Britain.
The Hunthouse Maps
The site offers various resources related to London’s history, particularly focusing on street names, maps, and historical guides and information. It features two comprehensive lists detailing street name changes that occurred between 1857-1929 and 1929-1945 and several resources for discovering lost London streets. Bartholomew’s Pocket Atlas and Guide to London from 1929 is available as a free resource.
Altea Gallery
The company offers a wide selection of superb antique maps, sea charts and atlases covering all parts of the world. Visitors to the site can view online digitised images of maps covering London and Britain.
London Census 1891 Transcription
The Streets of London 1891. The site has a complete listing of the Streets of London in 1891
British Placename Mapper
This tool lets you visualise British place names that match certain search terms on a map. Search terms can be used to match anywhere in the name, at the beginning or end, exactly, or using a regular expression.
The Institute for Name-Studies
University of Nottingham. The institute is the home of research into place-names and personal names. The INS conducts numerous research projects into the origins and meanings of names and place-names, derived from English, Norse, British Celtic, French, and Latin languages.
The English Place-Name Society
University of Nottingham. The society was established in 1923 to conduct a county-by-county survey of the place-names of England. Almost all English counties have been surveyed at least in part and work to complete the Survey is ongoing
A Vision of Britain through Time
The site brings together historical surveys of Britain to create a record of how the country and its localities have changed. The site includes place descriptions, statistics and 19th and 20th century British ordnance survey maps and a 19th century gazetteer search. The database also includes information on over 3,500 places in Ireland.
British History Online
Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of England, 1848. Seventh edition. Contains detailed topographical accounts of places, parishes and counties in England. Originally published in four volumes, here given together.
London Topographical Society
The Society is dedicated to documenting and preserving the topographical history of London. The primary focus is on publishing materials that illustrate the evolution of London’s topography and history from ancient times to the present day.
Scotland
National Records of Scotland
Research Guides: Maps and Plans.
National Library of Scotland Guide
Maps for Scottish local history. This resource explains some of the key kinds of maps that are useful for local history research. Maps can reveal detailed information about a local area over time, including buildings, gardens, industries, railways, roads, woodland and agricultural land.
National Library of Scotland
Scottish Counties and Parishes: their history and boundaries on maps. This guide provides information on local government units in Scotland, particularly parishes and counties, focusing on their boundaries and changes over time.
National Library of Scotland
Gazetteers of Scotland, 1803-1901. Digitised 20 volumes of the most popular descriptive gazetteers of Scotland, providing a comprehensive geographical encyclopaedia of Scotland in the 19th century.
National Library of Scotland
Digital Gallery. Maps & mapping. The gallery offers a collection of historical maps and mapping resources highlighting the collections held by the library.
Pastmap
Historic Environment Scotland. Explore historic 19th and 20th century OS maps as a backdrop to historic environment data and look at how the landscape has changed over time. The site provides detailed information about historic sites and landscapes across Scotland and can be used for research into the history of buildings, towns and cities.
Gazetteer for Scotland
The Gazetteer is a vast geographical encyclopaedia, featuring details of towns, villages, bens and glens from the Scottish Borders to the Northern Isles. The first comprehensive gazetteer produced for Scotland since 1885. The site includes Groome’s 19th century Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland.
Electric Scotland
Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland edited by Francis Groome, 1892-6.
Ireland
Internet Archive
1851 General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland.
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Townlands. In this section you can access lists of townlands arranged in the following different ways by county, by parish, within the estates of major landowners and alphabetically.
Irish Townlands
Based on data in OpenStreetMap, the site contains a list of counties in Ireland. Click on each county to see baronies, civil parishes and townlands in the respective county.
Tailte Éireann
The government body combines the former Property Registration Authority, Valuation Office and Ordnance Survey Ireland and is responsible for property-related services and information. Tailte Éireann is responsible for topographical surveying and mapping of Ireland.
John Grenham-Irish Roots
How to identify Irish places. Resources to help successfully identify and locate Irish places mentioned in historical records.
The National Archives
How to look for records of Irish maps c.1558-c.1610. These records comprise more than 60 different maps depicting plantations, fortifications and townships in Ireland during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The maps come from state papers Ireland, the main record of government business in Ireland during the early modern period.
Online Databases
England and Wales Resources
FamilySearch Historical Maps
Interactive mapping tools showing the administrative areas and units of England. For each place name the parish is shown and gives start date for parish registers and Bishop Transcripts. The name of the appropriate Probate Court, Diocese, Province, Poor Law Union and Hundred is shown. Contiguous parishes and parishes within a specified radius can be displayed. In addition map layers can be displayed showing boundaries for the Civil Registration District, the Parish, the County, the Diocese and other administrative areas.
National Library of Scotland
The Library offers an extensive online collection of historic maps offering free access to over 410,000 high-resolution images of historic maps spanning from the 1560s to the 1970s covering Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, and beyond. Highlights include:
- Ordnance Survey Maps
- Town plans and county maps
- Admiralty charts
- Various commercial series maps
- Bartholomew Archive
- Military maps from the Board of Ordnance
- National Grid maps from the 1940s onwards
- The Blaeu Atlas, recognised as the first atlas of Scotland, published in 1654
National Library of Scotland
Ordnance Survey Maps: The website hosts a large collection of Ordnance Survey maps covering England, Scotland, and Wales from the 1840s to the 1970s. The collection includes:
- OS County Series maps (from the 1840s onwards)
- Ordnance Survey, One-Inch Maps, England and Wales, ‘Old Series’, 1801-1869 (Includes the ‘Index to Tithe Survey’ One-inch to the mile maps of England and Wales)
- OS Town Plans of England and Wales, 1847-1895
- OS Six-inch maps England and Wales, 1842-1960
- OS 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain, 1937-1961
- OS 25 inch maps England and Wales, 1841-1952
- OS One-Inch Seventh Series, Great Britain, 1952-1970
- OS One-inch Revised New series, England and Wales, 1892-1908
National Library of Scotland
Georeferenced Maps. The platform offers high-quality, zoomable interactive maps and gazetteers with the ability to view historical maps overlaid upon modern maps, satellite and terrain layers.
Ancestry
Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers. Collections include:
- Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of England, 1845. The dictionary provides an in depth look at the townships, parishes, towns, cities, and counties of England.
- England, Wales, Scotland and Isle of Man, Old Series Maps, 1805-1874. Old Series maps were the result of the first national survey of Britain.
- England, County Maps, 1695-1940. This database contains a variety of maps from England created between 1695 and 1940. Most are maps of a county.
- Europe, Cassini Maps, 1800-1960. These maps provide snapshots of Europe, capturing over 150 years of jurisdictions and geographical features.
- UK, Revised New Series Maps,1896-1904. This database contains Revised New Series Ordnance Survey Maps of England, Scotland and Wales first published between 1896 and 1904.
- UK, Popular Edition Maps, 1919-1926. These detailed Ordnance Survey maps cover much of Britain.
- London, England, Stanfords London Maps, 1890.
- Topography and Gazetteer of England, 1831.
- Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland, 1898.
- UK, General Map of Great Britain, 1935-1937.
To view all data collections, click on ‘View all in Card Catalogue, on the Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers home page or search for a dataset in the Card Catalogue.
British History Online
The site host a collection of historic maps including:
- Agas Map of London 1561
- James De La Feuille’s Map of London c. 1690
- Leake’s Survey of the City After the Great Fire of 1666
- Morgan’s Map of the Whole of London in 1682
- Ogilby and Morgan’s Large Scale Map of the City As Rebuilt By 1676
- Ordnance Survey Maps. County series maps covering England and Scotland.
The Genealogist
Map Explorer. The feature provides georeferenced historic maps laid on top of modern background maps showing changes to the landscape over time. Historic map collections available include large scale detailed Ordnance Survey maps covering England, Scotland and Wales between the 1890s and 1960s. The LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) mapping layer provides a sharper ways to pinpoint where ancestors lived and understand the landscapes that shaped their lives. Record sets linked to the maps include: the 1841-1911 censuses, the 1939 Register, Tithe Awards, Valuation Office Field Maps, Lloyd George Survey, War Memorials, cemeteries and churchyards from across the country.
British Isles Gazetteers
Search this collection of 19th-century gazetteers for the parish or placename of your ancestors and delve into the local history and topography of the region. Explore period maps and illustrations to bring their world to life. Delve into the lives of your ancestors with this collection of gazetteers from the National Library of Scotland.
Findmypast
Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales, The online gazetteer gives a snapshot of England and Wales in 1895 with more than 25,000 individual entries and beautiful colour maps of every English and Welsh county.
Know Your Place West of England
The site offers a digital mapping resource that allows users to explore their neighbourhoods online through historic maps and linked information. This project, covers Bristol and six surrounding counties of Bath & North East Somerset, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. Map collections include: Tithe maps c.1840s; Enclosure maps c.18th-19th century, excluding Wiltshire and Devon; OS maps 25” 1st, 2nd, 3rd / revised editions c.1880s-1930s; OS Town Plans 1:500, c.1890s; Goad Fire Insurance plans for Bristol, Bath & Gloucester, Exeter & Plymouth late 19th century; National Grid sheets c.postwar-1965.
Know Your Place Worcester
Search hundreds of historic maps and photos of Worcester from a database of all known historic and archaeological sites, buildings and monuments within the city.
Norfolk Historical Map Explorer
Online access to Norfolk map collections including enclosure and tithe maps, aerial surveys, Ordnance Survey maps and other historical maps.
Bedfordshire Historical Record Society
Pre-enclosure village maps. Explore large scale reproduction map of the village’s pre-enclosure field system and a detailed analysis of the ownership and usage of the land, published separately between 1928 and 1934 The maps include Oakley Reynes 1795, Renhold 1781, Aspley Guise c.1745 and Eversholt, 1764
Staffordshire Past Track
Staffordshire County Council Archives & Heritage Service: Map Explorer. Use the Map Explorer to compare current maps with historic mapping layers which include 1900s and 1940s series OS maps and, uniquely, the William Yates 1” to 1 mile map of 1775.
Herefordshire History
Historic maps of Herefordshire. A selection of historical maps and street plans of Herefordshire. Hereford City and Ordnance Survey maps are located in their own collections
Historic Liverpool
Mapping the History of Liverpool. The site hosts over 25 historical maps of Liverpool, spanning from the 17th to the 20th century. These maps allow users to explore how their local areas have changed over the course of 300 years. Highlights include an 1851 map of Liverpool parishes and Anglican churches, a street map of pre-20th century Liverpool and a map of Liverpool’s listed buildings.
University of Manchester Library
John Rylands Research Institute and Library: Online Map Collection. Explore an extensive online selection of historical maps focusing on central Manchester. The maps date from the late 18th century to the middle of the 20th century, and comprise private surveys, detailed Ordnance Survey maps and a selection of plans showing the Manchester Ship Canal and Docks.
Worcestershire Tithe Mapping
Explore 18th and 19th century Tithe, Inclosure and Estate Maps searchable by name with transcribed entries from the original documentation. Digitised by Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service.
David Rumsey Map Collection
The collection includes rare 16th through 21st century maps of America, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific and the World. Categories include Ordnance Survey maps, street and town plans, county maps and national rail maps and London underground maps. The searchable database includes 134,000 maps and related images.
Faden’s Map of Norfolk
Digitised version of William Faden’s Map of Norfolk, published in 1797. This large-scale map, surveyed between 1790 and 1794, was the first of its kind to cover the entire county at a scale of one inch to the mile.
Birmingham Map Explorer
The Library of Birmingham. Explore a gallery of Birmingham Maps covering 1731 to 1833. All the maps reproduced are from those held by Birmingham Archives & Collections and have been selected by John Townley, who has also provided the accompanying text.
Northumberland Name Books
Search digitised and transcribed all 104 surviving Northumberland Name Books, making them fully searchable and browsable online. Name Books created around 1860 by Royal Engineers surveyors and civilian assistants during Ordnance Survey fieldwork. They record over 15,000 place-names, landscape features, antiquities, buildings and social history of Northumberland in the mid-19th century. The Name Books resource also includes individual personal names with thousands named in various contexts.
Gazetteer of British Place Names
Association of British Counties. The Gazetteer provides an exhaustive Place Name Index to Great Britain containing over 280,000 entries. It lists the historic county and the main administrative areas in which each place lies.
The National Archives Image Library
Maps and Plans. The online collection includes maps from 1485 to the early with a concentration around the 18th and 19th centuries. These include maps of America, Canada and the West Indies, plus military and political Foreign Office maps. There is also a collection of colourful maps of early England and Ireland.
British Museum Images
Search high-quality images, prints, drawings and maps covering early modern and 19th century Britain. Users can license images directly through the website.
OldMapsOnline
The site offers historic high-resolution scanned maps from around the world held in various repositories and libraries including the British Library and the National Library of Scotland. The collection spans various time periods and also features interactive maps with timelines.
MAPCO
Map And Plan Collection Online. The site offers free access to high-quality scans of rare and beautiful antique maps and views. The site displays a variety of highly collectable 18th and 19th century maps and plans of London and the British Isles, and also 19th century maps and engravings relating to Australia.
Olde Maps
The site provides access to old maps of British towns and cities from around the mid-20th century. It offers a collection of historical maps focusing on England, Scotland, and Wales, derived from the revised half-inch contoured map series produced by John Bartholomew & Son Ltd.
MAGIC Map of England
Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside. The site offers interactive mapping for Great Britain. Users can explore various geographic layers and datasets through the interactive map interface. The geographic layers include land use, habitats, and protected areas Natural England currently manages the MAGIC service.
The Gough Map of Great Britain
Interactive and searchable version of the Gough Map which is one of the earliest maps to show Britain in a geographically recognisable form.
List of Historic Place Names of Wales
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. The site contains hundreds of thousands of place names collected from historical maps and other sources including the research from the Cymru1900Wales project. The site provides an insight into the land-use, archaeology and history of Wales and includes names and spellings of settlements, buildings, fields and landscape features in Wales)
Mapping the Historic Boundaries of Wales
Explore two digital geospatial layers using late-medieval sources and historic parish boundaries to recreate the boundaries of the commotes (cymydau) and cantrefs (cantrefi) of medieval Wales. Cantrefs and commotes were ancient Welsh administrative divisions that played a crucial role in the governance of medieval Wales.
London Resources
Layers of London
The site offers digital mapping that allows users to explore the history of London through interactive maps. The site, developed by the Institute of Historical Research, provides access to free collections of digitised historic maps of London, photos and crowd-sourced histories and stories. Historic maps include: Rocque’s map of London, Westminster and Southwark, 1746; Booth’s Poverty Map, 1886-1903; OS Maps 1893-1896 and 1940s-1960s; RAF Aerial Collection, 1945-1949; Bomb Damage, 1945.
Locating London´s Past
This website allows you to search a wide body of digital resources relating to early modern and eighteenth-century London and to map the results on to a fully GIS compliant version of John Rocque’s 1746 map. The platform enables users to compare the 1746 map with the first accurate Ordnance Survey map of London (1869-80) and modern Google maps. The website offers access to several major datasets including Old Bailey records and London Lives documents.
British History Online
The site host a collection of historic maps including:
- Agas Map of London 1561
- James De La Feuille’s Map of London c. 1690
- Leake’s Survey of the City After the Great Fire of 1666
- Morgan’s Map of the Whole of London in 1682
- Ogilby and Morgan’s Large Scale Map of the City As Rebuilt By 1676
Charles Booth’s Poverty Maps
LSE Library. Explore the famous poverty maps and search, browse and download the original notebooks from the Inquiry into Life and Labour in London (1886-1903). The series of maps visually represent the extent of poverty in London using a seven-colour classification system to represent different social classes and income levels of residents on each street.
London Picture Archive
Search over 250,000 photographs, prints and drawings as well as over 1,000 maps of London from the collections at The London Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery. The collections can be searched by street and by using key words. The collection can also be browsed by subject.
The Underground Map
The site creates street histories for the areas of London and surrounding counties lying within the M25. The aim of the project is to find the location of every street in London, whether past or present. You can see each street on a present-day map and see its location on older maps. The website is based upon a series of maps from the 1750s until the 1950s, showing how London grew over the decades.
David Rumsey Map Collection
The collection includes rare 16th through 21st century maps of America, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific and the World. Categories include London Ordnance Survey maps, street and town plans, county maps and national rail maps and London underground maps. The searchable database includes 134,000 maps and related images.
MAPCO
Map of London 1868. The website showcases a highly detailed historical map of London from 1868, by Edward Weller, F.R.G.S, revised and corrected to the present time by John Dower, F.R.G.S. It shows various London developments up to 1868,
National Library of Scotland
Ordnance Survey Maps. London, Five feet to the Mile, 1893-1896. The most detailed mapping of London by Ordnance Survey, from just over a century ago. The five foot to the mile or 1:1,056 scale covered the capital in 729 sheets, based on a revision and survey of 1891-5.
RootsWeb
The Pocket Atlas and Guide to London, 1900 by J. G. Bartholomew. The index is organised alphabetically and includes various locations, streets and points of interest in London with digitised images of street plans, railway maps, railway stations Public buildings and institutions and County Council and Parliamentary Divisions
Old Maps of London
The site offers a comprehensive collection of historical maps depicting London in the early 20th century and derived from old maps of London published in 1940 by John Bartholomew and Son. The site presents a large-scale map of Greater London, divided into over 100 numbered grid squares. Each square is linked to a page showing detailed street maps of that specific area.
Map of London, 1862-1871
Index to Stanford’s Library Map of London and its suburbs in 24 sheets on the scale of six inches to a mile.
Scotland Resources
National Library of Scotland
The Library offers an extensive online collection of Scottish historic maps offering free access to over 410,000 high-resolution images of historic maps spanning from the 1560s to the 1970s. Highlights include:
- Ordnance Survey Maps
- Town plans and county maps
- Estate Maps of Scotland, 1730s-1950s: Access detailed maps showing the grounds or territories owned by landowners showing such features as enclosure of fields and common, field and common land boundaries and the development of planned villages
- Road and rail maps
- Various commercial series maps
- Bartholomew Archive
- Military maps from the Board of Ordnance
- National Grid maps from the 1940s onwards
- The Blaeu Atlas, recognised as the first atlas of Scotland, published in 1654
National Library of Scotland
Ordnance Survey Maps: The website hosts a large collection of Ordnance Survey maps covering Scotland from the 1840s to the 1970s. The collection includes:
- OS County Series maps (from the 1840s onwards)
- OS, Scotland, 25 inch to the mile, 1855-1882
- OS Half-Inch and Quarter-Inch Indexes, Scotland, 1890s-1960s
- OS 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain, 1937-1961
- Quarter-inch to the Mile maps of Scotland, 1901-1960
- OS One-Inch Seventh Series, Great Britain, 1952-1970
National Library of Scotland
Signet Library Maps, 1580s-1950s. The collection comes from the library of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet in Edinburgh and includes maps of Scotland as well as maps of England, Wales, Ireland and overseas. For Scotland expect to find maps covering the whole of Scotland, county or district maps, towns plans and estate plans as well as Ordnance Survey One-Inch to the mile series of Scotland. Non-Scottish maps include 32 maps of England, Wales and Ireland, 20 Ordnance Survey One-Inch Old Series maps and international maps.
National Library of Scotland
Georeferenced Maps. The platform offers high-quality, zoomable interactive maps and gazetteers with the ability to view historical maps overlaid upon modern maps, satellite and terrain layers.
National Library of Scotland
Digital Gallery. Maps & mapping. Gazetteers of Scotland, 1803-1901. Browse and search 20 volumes of the most popular descriptive gazetteers of 19th-century Scotland, covering towns, counties, parishes, glens and more.
ScotlandsPlaces
The site is a free resource that lets you explore thousands of records about Scotland simply by searching for a place name, clicking on a map or typing in your postcode. Search results bring together three national collections so that you can easily find maps, photographs and written records about your chosen place.
ScotlandsPlaces
Ordnance Survey Name Books. Digital volumes of the OS Name Books for counties in Scotland with indexes listing every place name found on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey maps. Each place name links to both the corresponding name book page as well as the map sheet where that place name may be found. The site also has an interactive map and gazetteer displaying the administrative areas and units of Scotland with the administrative history of each county or place. Each place name is accompanied by maps, plans and photographs in addition to historical tax rolls, official reports and boundary information.
National Library of Scotland
Finding Placenames. The research tool is focused on identifying and understanding historical Scottish and British place names as they appear on maps from different time periods. The site helps trace place names that no longer exist or have changed over time and link to their modern equivalent or location.
Canmore
National Record of the Historic Environment. Online catalogue of Scotland archaeology, buildings and other heritage sites. The catalogue holds detailed information and archive images for more than 300,000 historic places in Scotland and includes photographs, drawings, books, journals and maps.
Trove.scot
The site, managed by Historic Environment Scotland, brings together millions of records covering over 5,000 years of Scotland’s history and cultural heritage. The site includes records of listed buildings, over a million historic photographs, information on protected places like castles, battlefields and gardens. Search by place or keyword to uncover images, records or artifacts tied to ancestral locations or events. The site combines information from a number of sources, including: Historic Environment Portal, Canmore, SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network) and Property in Care Collections.
Charting the Nation
Edinburgh University Library. The site offers a wide variety of single maps and maps in atlases and other bound books, together with important manuscript and printed texts relating to the geography and mapping of Scotland from 1550 to 1740 and beyond.
Gazetteer for Scotland
The site offers detailed information about various places in Scotland. The Gazetteer incorporates the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, which adds historical context to many of the described places.
Ainmean-Àite
The website offers an A-Z list of Gaelic place names, insights into their meanings, and their historical context. It provides a single source of authoritative information on Gaelic forms of place-names.
Ireland Resources
PRONI Historical Maps viewer
Search and browse a range of historical Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland maps and find information on sites, buildings and landmarks of historical interest. The viewer displays county, parish and townland boundaries and includes information on sites, buildings and landmarks of historical interest.
GeoHive
Tailte Éireann (Ordnance Survey Ireland). The site serves as a platform for accessing and visualising geographic data related to Ireland providing users with various mapping tools and datasets. The site includes the Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer which enables users to search for townlands, view historical features, choose from a set of historical and current base maps and to use the swipe tool to compare maps.
Irish Placenames
Identify Irish placenames taken from the 1851 General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, parishes and Baronies of Ireland. Users can search the entire Index together with street listings from Dublin, Cork and Belfast. The site also includes browsable Civil parish maps, RC parish maps and Poor Law Union maps.
Ulster Historical Foundation
A Sense of Place. The website has been created especially for family historians interested in discovering more about the localities where their ancestors once lived across the historic province of Ulster. Resources include fully searchable indexes of the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, digitised volumes of the Place Names of Northern Ireland series as well as additional guidance and resources to help place your family in its historical and geographical context.
Findmypast
Dublin City Ordnance Survey Map, 1847. Explore 33 large-scale Ordinance Survey maps covering Dublin at the height of the Great Famine.
Findmypast
Ireland, Maps and Surveys 1558-1610. Early maps of Ireland digitised in full colour from TNA series MPF 1. The maps were created to assist the English in the plantation of Ireland a time when the English crown confiscated Irish lands and redistributed the land to English planters or settlers.
Ancestry
Ireland Ordnance Survey Maps, 1824-1846. The detailed maps of Ireland that make up this database took 20 years to complete and offer an unparalleled look at 19th-century Ireland around the time of the Great Famine.
My Heritage
1851 General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland. The over 900 densely printed pages show the county, barony, parish, and poor law union in which the 70,000 townlands were situated in 1851, as well as the location of the townlands on the Great Ordnance Survey maps, with appendices containing separate indexes to parishes and baronies.
Library Ireland
A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis. Search or browse the dictionary. This two-volume publication offers detailed historical and statistical descriptions of various locations throughout Ireland, including counties, cities, boroughs, towns, parishes, and villages.
Failte Romhat
The site offers a wealth of information extracted from various sources such as census records, directories, and cemetery transcriptions. It also includes Griffith’s Valuation extracts, maps, and historical books. Map resources include Dublin City, 1829 and various others.
Trinity College Dublin
The Down Survey of Ireland. Digital images of all the surviving Down Survey maps at parish, barony and county level with written descriptions of each barony and parish that accompanied the original map. The Survey, taken in the years 1656-1658, sought to measure all the land to be forfeited by the Catholic Irish and transferred to the Protestants.
Placenames Database of Ireland
Users can search for a placename in Irish or English including townlands, streets, electoral districts and civil parishes. Alternatively, users can explore Ireland’s placenames with the interactive map or browse by county.
The National Archives
How to look for records of Irish maps c.1558-c.1610. Search more than 60 different maps depicting plantations, fortifications and townships in Ireland during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Shane Wilson
The site provides a collection of digitised historic maps for Ireland, Belfast and Dublin. Also included are high resolution browsable maps for all 32 counties from Lewis Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837 and Civil Registration Districts Map browsable by county and registration district.
CD Roms
Cassini Maps
The company is a leading provider of high-quality historical maps of the UK and Ireland. They offer digitally enhanced reproductions of the original historical Ordnance Survey maps, town plans and parish maps. Instant downloads are also available.
Midland Ancestors Family History Shop
Birmingham c.1888 street maps detailed to individual house level. Download very detailed street maps of Birmingham and its surroundings that were surveyed by The Ordnance Survey around 1887-1888. A free comprehensive Birmingham 1888 Street Index is available to download showing streets, roads, public houses, hotels, railway stations, hospitals, schools, churches, post offices, police stations and wharfs.
The Hunthouse Maps
The site offers digital downloads of various historical maps and geographic information covering London, Britain and the world. Map downloads include: Philips’ Handy-Volume Atlas of the County of London c. 1922; Wyld’s New Plan of London 1851; Free download of Bartholomew’s Pocket Atlas and Guide to London from 1929.
University of Manchester
Maps Collection. The University map collection is the largest in the North West and comprises approximately 150,000 printed map sheets and 1,300 atlases. The collection offers an extensive range of mapping for the UK, as well as for the rest of the world. Historical mapping of the North West, generally, and Greater Manchester in particular, is excellent. The university’s rare book collection includes 500 atlases, early manuscript maps and county.
My History
Old maps on CD and a selection of books to help you get the best out of maps for your family history research. Also available are the detailed large scale range of Alan Godfrey Maps.
GenFair
Browse tens of thousands of family history products from hundreds of suppliers including county and country-wide map coverage.
Your Old Books & Maps
Town, City and County maps are available to purchase.
HathiTrust Digital Library
John Tallis’s London Street Views 1838-1840 available to read online or download. Between 1838 and 1840 London publisher John Tallis created a series of 88 pamphlets containing illustrated maps and street views of London’s main commercial streets
Digital Archives Association
Producer of high resolution images of historical maps on CD and DVD. The discs have been produced mainly from the 1 to 2500 (25 inches to 1 mile) County Series Ordnance Survey maps of the late 19th and early 20th century.
S & N Genealogy Supplies
Town, City and County maps including the ‘Handy Map of London’ circa 1890.
West Surrey Family History Society
Atlas of London, circa 1908 by J & A Catlyn with searchable index to over 7000 streets.
Lancashire Family History and Heraldry Society
Andrew Todd’s map of Lancashire 1851 showing the Registration Districts of Births, Marriages & Deaths, Registration Sub-Districts, Parishes, Townships and all Anglican churches and dates of their earliest registers.
