Magnifying the Metropolis

On Magnifying the Metropolis, you will find a variety of maps from our archive that have been digitised and now made available to view only on terminals in our Mediatheque area.

Highlights available on Magnifying the Metropolis

LCC Bomb Damage maps 1939-1945

The Bomb Damage maps were hand-coloured by the London County Council Architect's Department between 1939 and 1945, covering the City of London and the 28 Metropolitan Boroughs. They are based on the Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 editions of 1916. If you are unable to visit LMA these are also available on Layers of London. 

School Board for London maps

View the locations of individual schools within the divisions for the years 1881, 1886, 1892, 1902, 1907 and 1947.

City of London ward (1855-58) and local parish (19th century) maps

Today the City of London is divided into 25 wards, including Bread Street, Candlewick and Langbourn. See how these wards looked during the 19th century, as well as finding out what individual parish boundaries existed within parts of North London and South London.

Stanford's new two-inch map of London 1913

This version of Stanford's new two-inch map of London and its environs was published in 1913.

Extent: Tottenham — Ilford — Croydon — Twickenham

Metropolitan Asylums Board smallpox maps 1871-1885

One of the maps created in 1881-2 by the Metropolitan Asylums Board for the Royal Commission on Smallpox and Fever Hospitals relating London smallpox cases to hospitals of treatment for 1871-2, 1878, 1880 and 1885, and an inter-epidemical period 1873-5 (GLC/DG/AE/ROL/92/001-005).

Ordnance Survey maps

View the Ordnance Survey 25": 1 Mile (1:2500) 1916 OS maps.

All the maps displayed on Magnifying the Metropolis are interactive and rather than being just a photograph of the map you can zoom into specific areas and move around using simple controls, in a similar way to other popular modern map sites.