This site loves to show history as interactive maps. On this page you’ll find a collection of these maps.
Milestones
Milestones are markers which were once very common across the country. They typically marked every mile to the nearest town centre, stretching along the main routes out into the country. Sometimes they would have more than one destination on them. The Milestone Society The Milestone Society have created a database… Read more
Domesday (West Derby Hundred)
This is something of an experiment: to map the values of vills as described in Domesday Book. Rather helpfully, instead of having to read the Book itself, I found that opendomesday.org have made their data available under a Creative Commons license. My task therefore involved downloading the data and filtering… Read more
Archaeological sites
Liverpool is not as well known for its archaeology as it is for its, for example, listed buildings and museums. Part of the reason for this is that it's often hard to distinguish between an archaeological site and some other kind of historic feature. This isn't the place to debate… Read more
Old streets of Liverpool
This is a map of all the old streets of Liverpool within the boundary of Queens Drive (plus a few helping roads at the far north and south). By 'old', I mean it shows the streets as they were before vast swathes were demolished in the first half of the… Read more
Hidden History
Although I'm usually most interested in landscapes, and the ways in which groups of historic features fit together, isolated hidden clues to Liverpool's history are also fun. In fact, the moment that inspired this whole site was a tale of a Liverpool tour guide telling a rapt school group (teachers… Read more
River Defences
This map is intended as one which will grow as more information comes to light, but is currently largely based on David Hearn's 2013 article The Defences of the Mersey. It was published in volume 12 of the Liverpool History Journal, and is available to buy here: https://liverpoolhistorysociety.org.uk/liverpool-history-journal-13/ Most of… Read more
Natural Landscapes of Merseyside
Every aspect of the landscape - every building, road, lake, stream and path - has been affected by what came before it. Roads avoid steep slopes and buildings prefer well-drained ground. Ancient field boundaries become fossilised into the pattern of streets. In turn the field boundaries would have been influenced… Read more
Ancient Crosses of Lancashire: a map
All cities (all everywhere, in fact) have nearly-hidden assortments of monuments. Sometimes it takes a person with a niche interest, and possibly a good helping of spare time, to publish them all in one place. Here's a quiz question: how many churches on Merseyside can you name which have pre-mid… Read more
Historic Parishes (1851)
This is a map of all the parishes in the Liverpool area and slightly beyond, as they were in 1851, plus some Anglican churches from the era. There is scant information at the moment (much taken from David Lewis's excellent The Churches of Liverpool), but this will be added to… Read more
History Map
This is a gazetteer of all the historic features of Liverpool and the wider region that can be found on the Historic Liverpool website. Click on a spot to see a name and brief description, and if there's more information available a link will take you through to a longer… Read more
Liverpool’s Historic Townships
Click on the map to explore a township, or use the controls in the top left to move around the map. Liverpool's suburbs Historic Liverpool includes histories of Liverpool's townships. From the Oxford English Dictionary, via Wikpedia: In England, a township (Latin - villa) is a local division or district… Read more