Maps
Manchester Central Library has a good collection of maps of Manchester and the surrounding area, showing the development of the city from Roman times right up to the present day. We hold the various series and scales of Ordnance Survey maps from 1848 up to 2011.
Before this date, we have maps by various mapmakers who recorded the area using different scales, and with varying degrees of accuracy. Maps can be used to help establish the age of particular buildings, to examine the area in which your ancestors lived, to survey the viability of a site for future development or to establish boundaries or rights of way.
Digital copies of ordnance survey maps from the mid 19th century onwards are available on Old Maps. The following maps are also available on-line:
- The National Library of Scotland's map website hosts a good selection of Ordnance Survey maps for the UK. To use the map browser, select a location and a map series then choose the individual map you are interested in.
- Manchester street maps, 1750-1930 (these maps are inaccessible via Manchester City Council library PCs)
- Aerial bombs on the City of Manchester, 1940-1941 (these maps are inaccessible via Manchester City Council library PCs)
- A Plan of the Towns of Manchester and Salford c.1750
- Manchester Historical Maps beta web site contains old street maps of Manchester from 1772-2010
- Tithe maps (c.1840) and some old Ordnance Survey maps for the historic county of Cheshire are available on-line on the Cheshire Record Office website. This includes maps for Northenden and other parts of Greater Manchester which were historically part of Cheshire, such as Stockport, Altrincham, Sale or Hyde.
- The University of Manchester's map collection can be browsed online. This collection includes over 250 mostly nineteenth-century Ordnance Survey maps, including over 150 maps of Manchester from our collections. These maps are inaccessible via Manchester City Council library PCs.
- A good set of topographical, land use and boundary maps for Manchester through the years is available on the Vision of Britain website.
Some maps can be viewed on CD in the Central Library search room. No appointment required:
- 60 inch to 1 mile Ordnance Survey Town Plans: Manchester & Salford 1844 to 49 (also known as 5 foot to the mile, 1850 maps)
- 25 inch Ordnance Survey Maps of Lancashire 1888 to 1893 (Disc 1: Northern Section, Disc 2: Manchester & South East, Disc 3: Liverpool & South West)
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Historical maps of Manchester including Casson & Berry (1741, 1745, 1746, 1751), Tinker (1772), Laurent (1793), Green (1794), Johnson (1819), Johnson’s Plan of the Parish of Manchester (1818 -1819), Hennet’s Map of Lancashire (1830), Adshead’s Map of Manchester (1851)
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The Goad Maps of Manchester (c.1880s) - fire insurance plans of the city centre showing building layouts and businesses