Maps & Resources
This is a list of some resources I have found useful in my historical researches on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway and Liverpool history more generally. I will hopefully update it on an occasional basis. The entries below were current as of 26th Aug 2026.
(A) = adverts
Archives
National & Regional
- National Archives
- Cheshire
- JISC Archives Hub
- Knowsley
- Lancashire
- Liverpool
- Liverpool Digital Archive
- Digest of Liverpool Municipal Archives (1700-1835)
- Manchester
- St Helens
- University of Liverpool archives
- LJMU archives
- University of Manchester archives (John Rylands)
- University of Salford archives
Railways
Maps
Liverpool
- Maps via Liverpool1207 (A)
- Martin Greaney’s maps at Historic Liverpool (A)
- Wikimedia various
- David Rumsey Map Collection
- BL via Flickr (Eyes 1765, Perry 1769, Horwood 1803)
- Eyes 1785
- Gore 1790
- Gregory 1806 (Royal Collection)
- Faden 1816
- Gore 1817
- Swires 1824 (colour version) (also at Historic Liverpool)
- Undated, possibly 1825
- Gage 1836; Also at Harvard, Historic Liverpool
- Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 1836
- New Universal Gazeteer 1842
- Town plan 1848
- 1851 OS
- Bradshaw 1853
- Austen 1854
- Letts 1883
- Bacon 1891
North-west
UK
- A Vision of Britain
- National Library of Scotland
- Goad fire insurance maps / Liverpool: Key Map I / Key Map II / Key Map III / Key Map IV
- Old Maps Online
Railways
Images, etc
National & regional
- British Library Online Collection
- Red Rose Collections (Lancashire)
- Cheshire Image Bank
- Britain from Above
- Cambridge air photos
- Cambridge Landscape Histories
- Historic England Aerial Photo Explorer
- Francis Frith (commercial)
- Liverpool History Society links
- Historic England Archive, e.g. Bedford Lemere photographs
- Lancashire Illustrated (book)
Railways
Panoramas
- Liverpool, 1725 (pdf)
- Buck’s South West Prospect of Liverpoole, 1728, alt1
- South East Prospect of Leverpool taken from the Seacombe boathouse, 1770
- A view of the Town and Harbour of Leverpool, 1770
- View by JT Serres, 1797
Aerial panoramas
Aerial panoramas by Ed Farrell
Herdman
General art sites
Texts
General
Liverpool
- Baines. Liverpool in 1859
- Britton & Brayley (1807). The Beauties of England and Wales
- Brooke. Liverpool as it was during the last quarter of the 18th century
- Butterworth. A Statistical Sketch of the county Palatine of Lancaster (1841)
- Corry (images by Troughton). History of Liverpool etc (1810)
- Enfield. Essay towards a History of Liverpool (pre-1800)
- Customs Letter-books of the Period 1711-1813
- Fraser’s Guide to Liverpool & Birkenhead (1855)
- Gregson’s Portfolio of Fragments (1824/1869)
- Hope. City of Liverpool (compiled for 1903 Public Health congress)
- Hughes. Liverpool Banks & Bankers (1907)
- Liverpool Memorandum Book (1753)
- Moss. Liverpool Guide (1801)
- Muir. History of Liverpool
- Muir. Bygone Liverpool
- Muir. History of Municipal Government in Liverpool to 1835
- An Old Stager. Liverpool a few years since
- Picton. Memorials of Liverpool Volume 1, Volume 2
- Picton. Architectural History of Liverpool
- Poole. Commerce of Liverpool (1854) (dead link = check)
- Port of Liverpool (1920)
- Silliman. Visit to Europe in 1851
- Stranger’s Guide to Liverpool (1833)
- Smith’s Strangers' Guide to Liverpool (1843)
- Smithers. Commerce, statistics & institutions of Liverpool (1825)
- Stonehouse. Recollections of old Liverpool by a nonagenerian. Pub 1863
- Unknown. Picture of Liverpool (1805)
- Unknown. Picture of Liverpool (1834)
- Unknown. The royal picturesque hand-book of Liverpool (1852)
- Unknown. Liverpool of Today (1888)
- Wallace. General and descriptive history … of Liverpool (1796)
- Ward & Lock’s Tourist Guide to Liverpool (1881)
Newspapers
Directories
- Gore’s Liverpool 1766 (facsimile)
- Gore’s Liverpool 1773 (edited data)
- Gore’s Liverpool 1790 (edited data)
- Liverpool Pollbook 1806
- Baines. History, Directory, Gazeteer of the county Palatine of Lancaster (1824)
- Commercial directory inc Liverpool 1818-20
- Gore’s Liverpool 1825
- Gore’s Liverpool 1827
- Gore’s Liverpool 1829
- Pigot 1829
- Liverpool Pollbook 1833
- Gore’s Liverpool 1834
- Pigot 1837
- Gore’s Liverpool 1853
- Gore’s Liverpool 1860
- Green’s Liverpool 1870
- Black’s Guide to Liverpool & Birkenhead 1871
- Black’s Guide to Liverpool etc 1884