London 1805-1822

Series details

£9.99

Created from four Ordnance Survey Old Series maps first published between 1805 and 1822 re-projected to match Ordnance Survey Landranger®.

This map shows London as a metropolis of around 1.1 million people: tiny by today’s standards, but large enough to make it the world’s second most populous city after Peking. Apart from a built-up area from Lambeth to Rotherhithe, the city is all north of the river and hardly extends as far as today’s Circle line. Although ribbon development was starting to take place along the main routes leading out of London, places such as Wandsworth, Acton, Hampstead, West Ham and Streatham were quite distinct settlements, while numerous other parts of the present-day metropolis like Morden, Ealing, Finchley, Ilford and Sydenham were little more than villages, surrounded by fields and open countryside. Greenwich, Kingston, Richmond and Croydon were already sizeable towns on London’s outskirts.

The map describes a city that was already large but on the threshold of still greater expansion. Many of the mills, farms, parks, hamlets and houses that the map reveals were soon to swept away for good, although some survive as place names. Many of these had remained unchanged for centuries. Ordnance Survey’s early 19th-century surveyors captured numerous aspects of the human landscape just as they were about to be engulfed by the ever-encroaching metropolis.
Key features include:

- Digitally enhanced cartography
- All maps combined and enlarged to match present-day 1:50,000 scale
- British National Grid for ease of reference
- Locator map featuring modern-day settlements
- Sheet indicator showing maps used
- Robust laminated cover with contemporary illustration
- Cover: 4-colour gloss laminated
- Sheet: 2-colour
- Historical notes

About this series:
The Cassini Historical Maps of London provide a unique and fascinating overview of 150 years of London’s rich history from 1805 to 1946.They reveal how the capital engulfed surrounding villages to become, for much of this period, the largest city in the world. Each map explores a crucial period in London’s recent history: the late Georgian (1805-22), the late Victorian railway era (1897-8), the dawn of the motoring age (1919-20) and the period of reconstruction following the Second World War 1945-6). Cartographical and historical notes provide background information to help bring London’s past to life.