English Town Plans
A town has its own economy with goods being made and traded. Preferred sites for establishment might have been therefore on a bend of a river or besides a river crossing. The more ancient and well established towns were mapped by the early cartographers of the 16th and 17th centuries. Some of our now well established cities and towns grew rapidly over the last two centuries, great planning was needed so many town plans were produced in the 18th and 19th centuries that give us a fascinating insight into such historic periods in our nation's growth. However there are over 15,000 towns and villages across the many counties so over the last 10 years we have started producing a series of Victorian Maps centred on of some of the smaller towns and villages. The aim is to give even more people the opportunity to discover how their towns and villages looked during that time of great social and economic change. This section is organised with alphabetical sub categories for the name of the town or village to be represented.
Town plans appeared through the ensuing centuries in all sorts of publications. Many great atlases were produced which contained maps of counties; however those also containing city and town plans are highly sought after by collectors and dealers – for the plans. In addition to these atlases, many individual plans were commissioned, usually because of proposed development of a new estate, or to publicise the development of a new feature; these town plans were even produced for the popular gentleman’s magazines of the day.
By the early 1800’s long established towns began bursting out beyond their medieval walls in a flowering of late Georgian squares and crescents. Town plans from the British Atlas, by George Cole, cartographer and John Roper, engraver are just some of the featured plans that capture this point in time.
Section from Chester 1805 by Cole and Roper
As well as the growing industrial towns, with rising wealth came a new type of town; fishing hamlets blossomed into Regency seaside resorts. These grew even more as the railways brought travel within the grasp of the masses. By the mid 19th century they were attracting mainly middle class families, but by the 1890’s increased factory wages were sufficient enough for a seaside holiday for many working families.
Section from Bournemouth 1898 from the Royal Atlas
1. SELECT SUPER CATEGORY
Click on a super category image or title from the 'Map Shop' page to reveal sub-categories in the shop menu for that section.
2. SELECT SUB CATEGORY
Click on a sub-category from those highlighted in the shop menu to display maps/plans available for that section.
3. SELECT A MAP/PLAN
Click on any map/plan to view a detailed image and description together with the buying options available for that item.
4. SELECT A PRODUCT
Click on your choice of product type displayed on the right of the screen to reveal product sizes available.
5. ADD TO BASKET
Select a product size by clicking "Add to basket", then you can proceed to the checkout process where you can either pay online securely or continue shopping.
Free mapseeker membership registration
We accept payment from all major credit cards
