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Online Maps - Old Maps

(See also Map Collections and Online Catalogues section of our web pages and the Images of Early Maps on the Web section of the Map History / History of Cartography website)

QUICK LINK:

London Maps

American Memory Maps. From the Library of Congress.

Alan Godfrey Maps. Sells facsimiles of old Ordnance Survey maps. Cannot view maps online but can see index diagrams. 

Bibliothèque nationale de France - Gallica-BNF.

The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes. Digital version of this medieval Arabic treatise on the depiction of the Heavens and the Earth that was acquired by the Bodleian Library in 2002.

BAAS digital archive British Association for the Advancement of Science Collections on the History of Science: 1830-1970 (from Wiley).

British Historic Towns Atlas. Text and maps of some volumes (including Cambridge) are available to view as PDFs.

British History Online. Six inch (1:10,560) Ordnance Survey County Series maps for Great Britain. Published 1844-1899. 25 inch (1:2,500) Ordnance Survey maps for some large cities. The Ordnance Survey maps can searched by keyword, title or postcode. Also other historical maps, mostly of London, and the 7th, 1848, edition of Samuel Lewis' Topographical dictionary of England.

Broer Map Library (California but maps of other areas avaiable). A collection of online digital historic maps. In August 2021 the link to its search engine was broken, a Google search may reveal more pages of relevance.

Cambridge Antiquarian Society website has images of maps of Cambridge from the 16th to 20th centuries.

Canalmaps Archive. Historic Maps and Plans of Inland Navigation. Some online images. Maintained by Richard Dean.

Caribmap. Images of Caribbean maps printed since the early 16th century including modern topographic maps. 

Cartographic Images. Images of maps from 6,200 B.C. to 1800. 

CartoMundi. A collaborative project producing a union catalogue of maps and plans of all parts of the world though originally concentrating on Mediterranean countries. Includes written descriptions of maps and map series, graphic indexes and, in the Digital Map Library section, some map images. 

Cartophilia (previously Genmaps). Old maps of the counties of England, Wales and Scotland.

Catalonia - Map Library Digital Collections. Maps of Catalonia, Spain and other parts of the world.

Cheshire - e-mapping Victorian Cheshire: Cheshire's Tithe Maps Online. 

David Rumsey Collection. Extensive collection of scanned images of historic maps which may be reproduced and transmitted for non-commercial use. If you use the MapRank Search option, as you can zoom into your area of interest on the map, thumbnails of maps covering that area appear on the right-hand side.

Devon - Printed Maps of Devon. Internet version of the revised second edition of The Printed Maps of Devon: county maps 1575-1837 by Francis Bennett and Kit Batten [CUL classmark S696.b.99.138]

Digimap. Online service run by EDINA that delivers Ordnance Survey Map Data to UK Tertiary Education. The data is available either for download to use with appropriate application software such as GIS or CAD, or as maps generated by Digimap online. You need to be a registered user to progress beyond the general information pages. Since May 2005 Digimap has included historic as well as current Ordnance Survey map data. Click here for more information on subscribing to Digimap at Cambridge University.

Digital Archives Association. Produces high resolution images of historical maps on CD-ROM.

Digital Wisdom Inc. Antique Maps of the World on CD-ROM.

Discover Maps, Unlock the Past : Explore historical maps of Singapore and Southeast Asia. The Digital Historical Maps of Singapore and Southeast Asia project is funded by Singapore's Ministry of Education Social Science Research (SSR) Thematic Grant. Participating scholars and libraries have collaborated to curate a unique on-line collection that showcases pre-1900 maps of Southeast Asia. 

Dudley Knox Library Naval Postgraduate School. Lots of useful links especially to military maps. Many online maps.

English Jurisdictions 1851. Displays boundaries of different types for administrative units of 1851. Hosted by the Family Search website.

Europeana Explore the digital resources of Europe's museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections. Includes maps. 

Faden's Map of Norfolk - digitally redrawn. View compressed images online or order a printed copy [CUL's copy is atMaps.aa.20.G.13-19]. Tom Williamson and Andrew Macnair have also written a book on the map [CUL classmark: S696.c.201.17].

France - Geoportal. Online mapping facility including modern and historic mapping. 

Game of Goose - Giochi dell'Oca. Some of the printed board games shown on this site have a cartographic base.

German World War II Captured maps. UC Berkeley Earth Sciences & Map Library's digitized collection of maps captured from the German military during World War II.

Geologic Atlas of the United States. Published by USGS between 1894 and 1945. 

GeoWeb. Collection of over 29,000 cartographic and graphic images, with bibliographical details, available either in low resolution or high resolution with a digital watermark from the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice. There is also a list of their manuscript maps.

Gough Map. A zoomable, panable digital version of the Gough Map - which is believed to date from around 1360 - that is fully searchable and browseable by place name (current and medieval), and also by geographical features. Information regarding a location's geographical appearance, etymology, appearance on earlier maps, and much, much more is also revealed. Includes a series of essays.

Hereford Mappa Mundi. Excellent images with many ways to eplore the map.

Heritage Cartography. 19th century British town plans usually redrawn from Ordnance Survey maps. Limited viewing possible on website from which copies can be purchased. 

Historic Cities. Maps, literature, documents, books and other relevant material concerning the past, present and future of historic cities.

Historic County Borders Project. The project is digitising the borders of the historic counties of the United Kingdom at a scale of 1:100000 and making them available for public and commercial use. Includes a downloadable file containing all boundary data. [Note that county borders have changed over time].

Holy Land Maps. Maps from the Eran Laor Collection.

Iran / Persia. Maps of Persia : the Dr Cyrus Ala'i Collection, part of SOAS Digital Collections.

Ireland - Down Survey Project. Taken in the years 1656-1658, the Down Survey of Ireland is the first ever detailed land survey on a national scale anywhere in the world. Copies of these maps have survived in dozens of libraries and archives throughout Ireland and Britain, as well as in the National Library of France. This Project has brought together for the first time in over 300 years all the surviving maps, digitised them and made them available as a public online resource.

Ireland - Griffith's Valuation. Ireland's Valuation Office conducted its first survey of property ownership in Ireland from 1847  to 1864. This survey became known as "Griffith's Valuation" after Richard Griffith who was the Director of the Office at that time. It is one of the most important surviving 19th century genealogical sources. The survey was used to determine the amount of tax each person should pay towards the support of the poor within their poor law union. This involved determining the value of all privately held lands and buildings in rural as well as urban areas to figure the rate at which each unit of property could be rented year after year. The resulting survey was arranged by barony and civil parish with an index to the townlands appearing in each volume. On the website, identify occupants and display the maps. 

Ireland - Heritagemaps.ie.  Allows you to look at a wide range of built and natural heritage data sets in map form, much of which have never been accessible to the public before.

Ireland - Northern Ireland Place-Name Project - Placenames NI. Search for a place names and also for modern and historic maps from the 1830s. This is an ongoing project. 

Ireland - Ordnance Survey Ireland, GeoHive. Access to historic digitised maps from Ordnance Survey Ireland published 1837-1913, plus recent aerial photographs and street map..

Ireland - Historic Map Viewer. PRONI and Land & Property Services have worked together to digitise and make available a range of historical Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) maps. 

Ireland - University College Dublin (UCD) Library. LibGuide with links to online maps of Ireland, including county and town maps.

Ireland - Valuation Revision Books. On the PRONI website. Fully searchable placename index to the Valuation Revision Books (VAL/12/B) covering counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone between the years 1864 to 1933.  In total, c.3,900 volumes were digitally captured, with over 440,000 images now available to view online. No maps. 

Japan - Cortazzi Map Collection. Housed in the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures in Norwich.

King George III's Collection of Military Maps. Some 3,000 maps, views and prints ranging from the disposition of Charles V's armies at Vienna in 1532 to the Battle of Waterloo (1815). Catalogued by Dr Yolande Hodson.

Legacies of British Slavery. Incudes maps of estates and plantations in Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada as well as maps showing addresses in Great Britain with links to slavery.

Lincs to the Past. Integrated catalogues from Lincolnshire Archives, Tennyson Research Centre, libraries, museums and the Historic Environment Record, together with online exhibitions highlighting collections, learning resources, and more than 500,000 images, documenting thousands of years of Lincolnshire history.  Digitised documents include parish registers, probate inventories and maps.

London Maps:

  • Agas Map of London, ca. 1561.
  • British Library Online Gallery. See especially the Crace Collection.
  • British Museum. The Museum's Online Collection Database includes images of views of London. 
  • Charles Booth Online Archive. Images and documents relating to Booth's survey into life and labour in London (1886-1903).
  • Evolution of London Tube Map. On the Retronaut website. 
  • John Snow Site. A site devoted to the life and times of Dr. John Snow (1813-1858), a legendary figure in the history of public health, epidemiology and anesthesiology who was responsible for identifying water-pumps as the source of cholera outbreaks in London. Includes maps of London for the period 1818-1872. 
  • John Strype's Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster. A full-text electronic version of Strype’s two-volume edition of 1720, complete with maps and plates, which depict the prominent buildings, street plans and ward boundaries of the late Stuart capital. 
  • Layers of London from the University of London's Institute of Historical Research. Launched in September 2018. Includes digitised historic maps of London such as John Rocque (1746) and William Morgan (1682) 
  • London Ancester.com. Maps of London, and some other areas, e.g. New South Wales, Australia. 
  • London Historians. Launched in August 2010 as a club for Londoners who’d like to learn more about their city’s history. Extensive links page.
  • London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) [incorporating the Guildhall Library's prints and maps collection]. Large collection of maps, views, etc. of London. London Picture Archive is their image database which includes some maps and views. LMA address is 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R 0HB.
  • London Topographical Society. No maps online but the Society publishes some very useful facsimiles. Website has selection of websites with a London focus.
  • MAPCO. Maps of London but also of British Isles and Australia. 
  • Map of London. Stanford's 6 inch Library Map of London and its suburbs 1862-1871. 
  • Maps-of-London.com. Maps of twentieth century London. 
  • Mapping London. "Highlighting the best London maps." 
  • Old Maps online : London.
  • Romantic London. Research project exploring life and culture in London around the turn of the nineteenth century using Richard Horwood’s pioneering PLAN of the Cities of LONDON and WESTMINSTER the Borough of SOUTHWARK, and PARTS adjoining Shewing every HOUSE (published between 1792 and 1799). The site is based around two digital version of Horwood’s Plan: the original version and William Faden’s 1819 fourth edition (which shows the considerable changes that occurred in the early nineteenth century).  Both of these are laid over modern maps of the city, allowing for detailed examinations and comparisons.
  • Transport for London on Google Arts & Culture. Includes a large number of underground maps.
  • Victorian Dictionary. Maps of London published from 1827 to 1899, plus other information about Victorian London.

Manchester University Online Map Collection. Includes Manchester Blitz maps.

MapRef. An online source on non-printed reference material - including images - on the subject of historical maps & cartography.

Mapseeker. Reproductions of historical maps for purchase as prints, jigsaws, etc. Includes many Collins Bartholomew maps. 

Maps of the Past. "The Web’s Leading Source of Historical Map Prints". Images of old maps of which they have copies to sell. Many of USA.

National Library of Australia Digital Collections.

National Library of Scotland. The extensive online collection of maps of Scotland is being increasingly augmented by maps of other areas including detailed Ordnance Survey maps of England, Wales and Scotland, and World War I trench maps

National Maritime Museum - Collections Online.

Network Rail Virtual Archive. Includes drawings by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, blueprints by Robert Stephenson and designs by Joseph Locke, William Henry Barlow and others. 

New Landscapes: Enclosure in Berkshire. Maps and land awards on this site show the process of enclosing the common fields of the county of Berkshire between 1738 and 1883. Lots of background information on enclosure. 

New Popular Edition Maps. 1-inch Ordnance Survey series from the 1940s (or thereabouts), making it the most complete and recent out-of-copyright mapping. Has a postcode-collecting interface.

New York Public Library - Digital Gallery.

Norfolk County Council Historic Maps Online.

Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. "Established to provide free worldwide public access to an extraordinary collection of more than 200,000 original historic maps and 5,000 atlases that will be integrated with the technologies of Geographic Information Systems through its programs, exhibits, lectures and website".

oldaerialphotos.com. Historical UK aerial photography from the 40s to the 90s. Search for your area of interest by postcode, street name, city or grid reference. Photos are available for purchase BUT cannot see preview, even when you register. 

Old MapsOnline Portal. An easy-to-use gateway to historical maps in libraries around the world. Background information can be found at OldMapsOnline.org. - a research project which aims to develop software to assist in the management, manipulation and visualisation of historical map collections on the web. Provides free software and tutorials for online publishing of your scanned maps on your own hardware infrastructure - either as pre-rendered tiles (Zoomify) or in a dynamic form directly from your TIFF / JPEG2000 images. The software is open-source. 

Old Hampshire Mapped. Historical maps of Hampshire. 

Old Maps of Essex. Historical maps of the County of Essex

Old Sussex Mapped. Historical maps of the County of Sussex. 

OpenStreet Map Out of Copyright Maps. 

Ordnance Survey Books of Reference for Scotland, 1850s-1880s. 22 volumes of OS Books of Reference to the first edition 25 inch maps. For scans of the maps see the National Library of Scotland's website.

Ordnance Survey Maps via the Charles CloseSociety Sheetfinder web page. Includes links to images of Old Series maps at the National Library of Australia (published between 1805 and 1873 ; click 'browse' or 'interactive map index') and New Series published 1864 to 1898 ; or use this clickable index provided by the Charles Close Society.

Ordnance Survey Maps via the National Library of Scotland web site. Extensive collection of Ordnance Survey maps at all scales. Collection is continually expanding and includes non-OS mapping, especially for Scotland.

Ordnance Survey Name Books for Scotland. These are available on the ScotlandsPlaces website. For more information click here.

Ordnance Survey Name Books for England. Only books relating to the counties of Cumberland, Durham, Hampshire, Northumberland and Westmorland survived enemy action in 1940. These can be consulted at The National Archives. 1 September 2021: The Northumberland Name Books now available online.

Osher Map Library. Plenty of map images and lots of other information too. 

Persuasive Cartography. Online collection of “persuasive” cartography: ​more than 800 ​ maps intended primarily to influence opinions or beliefs - to send a message - rather than to communicate geographic information.

Polish Mapping 1919-1939.

Princeton University Library Digital Collections - Maps. Over 300,000 maps and charts, aerial photographs, and satellite images accessible online. The digital maps and geospatial data can be searched, browsed, viewed, and downloaded. 

Wiley Digital Archives: Royal Geographical Society for images of some of the RGS collection, including some maps.

Ryhiner Collection. Click on 'Visit Group'. Over 16,000 high resolution images: maps, town plans and topographical views from the 16th to the early 19th century. A printed description of the items in the collection, plus an index, can be found at CUL classmark S696.b.200.254-257.

SABRE. Information on British and Irish roads. Includes scans of old maps, including Ordnance Survey and Bartholomew mapping. 

Shanghai - Virtual Shanghai. "Virtual Shanghai is a research and resource platform on the history of Shanghai from the mid-nineteenth century to nowadays. It incorporates various sets of documents: essays, original documents, photographs, maps, quantitative data, etc. The objective of the project is to write a history of the city through the combined mobilization of these various types of documents".

Scotland - National Library of Scotland. Extensive online collection of maps of Scotland (and elsewhere).

Scotland - ScotlandsPeople  Maps and Plans Search. Registration (free) required to use and view maps.

S & N Genealogy Supplies. Plenty of cartographic CDs avaiable for purchase. 

Survey of India. Some scanned sheets can be found at Zenodo.org and half-inch series (1:126,720) on the National Library of Australia web site. The index can be accessed on the University of Chicago websire.

Transport for London on Google Arts & Culture. Includes a large number of underground maps.

Trench Maps. TrenchMapper from the Western Front Association. Also trench maps on the National Library of Scotland website.

UNESCO World Digital Library. Includes pictures of antiquarian maps as well as other illustrations. 

Virginia Company Archives: first Contacts and the Atlantic World. The Ferrar Papers, 1590-1790, from Magdalene College Cambridge. Includes maps. Available on campus without passwords and off-campus with a Raven ID and password (off-campus users should follow the link marked 'The UK Access Management Federation' and not Athens).

Vision of Britain Through Time. An extensive site offering descriptive information on boundary changes as well as images of old maps, census data and travellers' tales.

Wales - Welsh Tithe Maps.

Warsaw Ghetto. Topography of Terror: maps of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Wenceslaus Hollar Digital Collection. Featuring over 2500 of the prints of Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) including maps, portraits and historical prints.

Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny 1919 - 1939 Map Archive. Non-commercial project with scans of maps and geographic materials published by the Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny (WIG), Poland. Includes non-WIG mapping. The maps are mostly of Poland but maps of neighbouring areas are also included.

 

Opening Times

Map Room Opening Times

Monday to Thursday 9am to 12:45pm and 2pm to 5:10pm
Friday 9am to 12:45pm and 2pm to 4:50pm 

i.e., we are closed lunch time, in the evenings and on Saturdays. However, given sufficient notice, we may be able to transfer Map Department items to the Rare Books Reading Room for consultation during these closed periods. 

Remember: Pencils only in the Map Room and No food or drink!

Where to Find Us

Library Floorplan

The Map Room - the Map Department's Reading Room - is on the first floor of the Library at the far end of the North Gallery. At the top of the stairs from the Library's Entrance Hall, turn right and the Map Room is at the end of the corridor. 

We are very close to the Tea Room.

Contact us

Map Department 
Cambridge University Library 
West Road 
Cambridge 
CB3 9DR 

Email: maps@lib.cam.ac.uk

Telephone:
+44 (0) 1223 333041
+44 (0) 1223 333042
 
Our LibGuide may help with some enquiries