Maps of London

Summary

Here’s a chronological summary of the most useful historical London maps available online. I’ve only included the most detailed maps, usually detailed enough to include street names and portray buildings individually. Also, the maps page on the Southwark Council site has some great period maps of London as high resolution PDFs.

1561 The Agas Woodcut Map
Map: Civitas Londinum is a bird’s-eye view of London first printed from woodblocks, offering a richly detailed view both of the buildings and streets of the city and of its environment.
This version: Possible to zoom in really close, very good.
1560/1572, Londinum Feracissimi An Gliae Regni Metroopolis by Braun and Hogenberg
Map: A good colour overview of London and the surrounding fields. Good for getting a sense of the scale and feel of the city. Few street names but all buildings shown.
This version: A single image but big enough to be detailed.
1593, A guide for Cuntrey men In the famous Cittey of LONDON by the helpe of wich plot they shall be able to know how farr it is to any Street… by John Norden
Map: Streets are numbered with a key provided. Stretches only from Gray’s Inn in the west to the Tower of London in the east.
This version: Zoomable and draggable with good detail.
1645, London before the fire by Wenceslas Hollar
Map: Very detailed. Not all street or place names included and only features “London” rather than Westminster or south of the river.
This version: Zoomable and draggable. Great detail.
1658, An Exact Delineation of the Cities of London and Westminster and the Surburbs by Richard Newcourt
Map: Extremely detailed and precise. Stretches from St James’ Palace in the west to Limehouse in the east.
This version: Zoomable with great detail. Split into pages.
1666, Plan of London before the fire by Wenceslas Hollar
Map: Not as detailed as Newcourt’s 1658 or Hollar’s 1645 (no room for street names for example, although some are numbered with a key) but not bad. Stretches from Westminster to Stepney and Redriff.
This version: Zoomable and draggable.
1666 (December), An exact surveigh of the streets, lanes and churches contained within the ruins of the City of London by John Leake (?)
Map: Focuses on the damage caused by the fire, from Fleet Street in the west to the Tower of London in the east. Pretty detailed, with many street names.
This version: Zoomable and draggable, although only within quite a small window. Sometimes it doesn’t quite zoom in close enough to read all the text.
1676, Ogilby and Morgan’s Survey of the City of London
Map: Wonderfully detailed, with most streets, alleys etc named and buildings shown.
This version: Click a sheet number below the map to zoom in a little, then click the map or Zoom level to zoom in further. Unfortunately it seems like a poor-quality scan at zoomed-in levels.
1676, Based on Ogilby and Morgan’s map, above
A re-drawn, more diagrammatic version of Ogilby and Morgan’s 1676 map, with links to versions that highlight specific elements, such as the City wall, prisons, the Fleet River, etc. Several maps aren’t done, but those that are are useful.
1720, A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster by John Strype
Map: (Click “List of Maps and Illustrations”.) Many detailed maps of individual wards and parishes.
This version: Each map opens quite small in a pop-up window, although the images are bigger and more detailed than displayed here. Zoom in or download the image to your computer to view full-size.
1746, A plan of the Cities of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark with the contiguous buildings by John Rocque
Map: Extremely detailed, with every street, square, alley, church, tavern, etc named. From Hyde Park and Chelsea in the west to Limehouse in the east.
This version: Searchable, zoomable to incredible detail, quite amazing. A less useful version is available at motco.com.
1755, Tower Street Ward by John Leake(?)
A detailed map which shows the location of the Navy Office, St Olave’s church and other landmarks.
This version: Detailed, of a small part of the City.
1792-1799, Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster,the Borough of Southwark, and Parts Adjoining. Showing Every House by Richard Horwood
Map: Extremely detailed. Stretches from Hyde Park in the west to Limehouse in the east. A less good version is available at Motco.
This version: Zoomable with great detail (each house is numbered!).
1801, Plan of Westminster and London by John Fairburn
Map: Very detailed. Stretches from Hyde Park in the west to the Lea River in the east.
This version: Zoomable, opening in new pages, each street is named.
1827, Map of London by John Greenwood
Map: Very detailed. From Kensington in the west to Greenwich in the east.
This version: Zoomable to great detail, split into pages. Includes a very useful clickable list of place names.
1830, Map of London by John Greenwood
Map: A new edition of Greenwood’s 1827 map, above. Very detailed with most streets named. Some colour added. From Kensington in the west to Greenwich in the east.
This version: Zoomable to great detail, split into pages. Once more, although there is a place name index, Motco have disabled it to make you buy the CD version.
1869-80, the first Ordnance Survey map of London
Map: Incredibly detailed and accurate, although obviously a couple of hundred years after Pepys’ London.
This version: Use the menu at the top-right of the map to choose this version. Searchable, zoomable, very good indeed.

London environs

1786, Fifteen miles round London by John Cary
Map: From Uxbridge in the west to Brentwood in the east. A great overview of the surrounding area, showing all villages and farms in an area that is now all part of built-up London.
This version: Zoomable to great detail, split into pages. Another disabled Motco place-name index.

27 Annotations

First Reading

michael f vincent  •  Link

map of huntington in detail
http://www.multimap.com/map/brows…

fascinating site; one get down to smallest area; you can zoom in on the SP house in Bramton

Phil  •  Link

An 18th century map of central London which includes some features (eg, The King's Wardrobe, Baynard's Castle) that are missing from other maps found online: http://www.londonancestor.com/map…

Peter  •  Link

The 1642 map that dirk has provided above is very interesting because of those fortifications which take in The City, Westminster and Southwark. Presumably they were ordered by Parliament at the start of the Civil War. Does anyone have any more details on them?

dirk  •  Link

1642 fortifications

"During the short period when England was a republic under Oliver Cromwell London was continuously under threat from the pro-Royalists so Cromwell built a new defensive city wall which conveniently defines the limits of London at that time.
Starting on the Thames well to the west of Westminster Abbey at present day Vauxhall Bridge the wall went north east to Hyde Park Corner. Then turning north west to present day New Oxford street and further North and east along present day Pentonville and City roads. Then in a southerly circular route along Great Eastern Street, Commercial street and south to the Thames at Wapping. The south side of the river had a city wall for the first time starting in the east, south of Wapping close to the southern entrance to present day Rotherhithe Tunnel along to an east west wall running from the Old Kent Road (Old Dover Road) to the Elephant and Castle to the Imperial War Museum then South West to Vauxhall Bridge. In all eleven miles.
This wall was never attacked and was demolished in 1647 such that today almost nothing remains."

The above quoted from
http://www.historyofengland.net/l…

Peter  •  Link

Thank you dirk! It seems amazing that what must have been a huge undertaking was only to last for 5 years.

dirk  •  Link

London population figures, to go with the maps...

"London boomed from a population of about 50,000 in 1500 to perhaps 140,000 in 1600, and to about 750,000 by 1700." from: http://web.archive.org/web/200312…

"The population of London had increased from 80,000 in 1500 to 250,000 in 1600 and 375,000 in 1650." from: http://web.archive.org/web/200311…

Comparing the two above (and there are more estimates available on the web, which situate somewhere between these two extremes) it seems that this is mere guesswork and nobody really knows. But at least it gives us an idea: somewhere around 300,000 (375,000 is maybe too high) in about 1650.

[Broken links replaced with archived versions on 2 January 2012. P.G.]

dirk  •  Link

Two maps of London - 1665

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17…
This HTML copy of the "History of the Plague in London", by Daniel Defoe, contains two nice maps (the City of London & "Greater" London) valid for the year 1665. (Scroll three screens down.)

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

Great find. One item, I find of Interest, is that the stairs appear to be more like piers going way out into the river. Am I being deceived?

dirk  •  Link

London ca 1560 -- before Sam's time, but most features would still have been relevant in the 1660s (before 1666 that is). Beautiful high resolution old map by Braun & Hogenberg, 1572.

http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il…

pjk  •  Link

"Panorama of 1616"
A more precise (more accurate?) panorama from a similar vantage point as the 1640 version above. The model for it?

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsw…

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

A new map of London during the Civil Wars is in the works! This article with present-day photographs and some contemporary illustrations explains all:

http://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/…

When it becomes available, I'll announce it through Phil in the current section.

Third Reading

Peter Johnson  •  Link

The November 2023 Newsletter of the London Topographical Society gives notice of a new project by the Historic Towns Trust to map London as it was just before the Great Fire in 1666. It will be in atlas form, and the work will start next year, hoping to complete in 2026, after which the atlas will be on sale. Copies will be distributed to LTS members.

It seems it will be a comprehensive and authoritative exercise, based on existing maps, hearth taxes, rebuilding records and other sources, and the map will be superimposed on a faded-down modern OS map.

It looks like something well worth saving up for - or perhaps another reason for joining the LTS.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"1746 in Colour: Wapping and Bermondsey
Colouring in the John Rocque map, one panel at a time.
Matt Brown -- Oct 23, 2024

"Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine.
"Today, I’m delighted to publish the fifth part of my ludicrously time-consuming project to colour in the 1746 John Rocque map of London.
This week, we’re heading east of London Bridge, to look at the panel that pulls in parts of Wapping and the East End, as well as Bermondsey on the southern shore.

"First, a quick recap for those new to the project. The story so far:
In 1746, John Rocque published the most detailed map of London ever created, up to that point. It is immense. Over 24 panels, Rocque and his crew mapped every street, square, farm, open space — even the alleyways — using professional surveying techniques.

"The resulting map is one of the treasures of London. It is simultaneously a work of great beauty and great historical value. But such is the level of detail that it can be difficult to fully discern boundary changes, watercourses and patterns of land use.
"To that end — and as an excuse to spend many hours poring over this most spellbinding of maps — I’ve set out to colour-in every panel. My digital paintbrush has not only flicked over the buildings and grassy areas, but also the streams, churches, orchards, ships, individual trees and even their shadows."

https://londonist.substack.com/p/…

Matt Brown includes links to other parts of the map which he has colorized so far. 100 years after Pepys, but still fascinating.

I find it impossible to imagine the Thames full of sailing ships, as shown here. It must have been breathtaking.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

A plan of the city and liberties of London after the dreadful conflagration of 1666. This map of the extent of the damage caused by the fire of London was published circa 1740. The damage extended to an area of more than 430 acres and it took decades to rebuild the city. Looting of the ruins was common occurrence and like the heaths and commons that surrounded London they became a haunt of thieves. It was engraved by Emanuel Bowen (1694 - 1767) after Wenceslaus Hollar's map.

Reproduction map laid on cloth. Pigment ink, archival paper, hand-laid on cloth, & folded into a marbled slip case as the original antique folding maps. (marbled slip case colour and pattern will vary). Individually made by hand in Devon. Dimensions 24 inches by 30 inches.

https://shop.nationalarchives.gov…

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