London County Council Bomb Damage Maps

The Bomb Damage Maps were annotated extensively with the use of colour keys by the Architects Department of the London County Council (LCC) to indicate, building by building, bomb damage in London during the Second World War. This is the most detailed record of damage to the capital’s built environment caused by aerial bombardment. An iconic and multi-layered source for London’s experience of war and its aftermath, it conveys complex survey data in the tradition of Leake’s Great Fire map, Milne’s land use map, Mylne’s geological maps and Booth’s poverty maps.

Used frequently by architects, surveyors, town planners and local and family historians seeking information on the precise degree of damage suffered by properties across the 117 square miles of the London Region 1940-1945, the maps are a symbol of Londoners’ resilience in adversity and highlight the enormous effort and forethought of the LCC to serve London and Londoners in their ‘hour of need’. Used by Patrick Abercrombie and John Henry Forshaw in drawing up the County of London Plan (1943) and the Greater London Plan (1944) to rebuild the capital in the post-war period, the maps are a key source for studies of post-war town planning in London and the UK.

The bomb damage maps have been inscribed onto the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register.

The Bomb Damage maps are available for consultation at LMA as colour facsimile copies or as digital copies on our ‘Magnifying the Metropolis’ application in our Mediatheque area.

You can also see the maps on the Layers of London website.