Bowle’s Two Sheet Plan of the Cities of London & Westminster with the Borough of Southwark

Detailed plan of London and the immediate surroundings published in the early 19th century.

Carrington Bowles first issued this map in 1777, and updated it regularly through the first decade of the 19th century. In addition to providing large scale detail, Bowles maps are also illustrative of the city’s tremendous physical growth during the Industrial Revolution. This is one of the last editions published, showing the city of London from the eastern portion of Hyde Park to Wapping.

An immense amount of information is provided in the map’s image, down to labeling prominent individual buildings and most of the narrow, winding streets. The West India Docks, first constructed in 1802, can be seen on the Isle of Dogs in a small inset in the lower right. Districts and parishes in both London and Westminster are listed and the borders of the medieval city are outlined in orange, providing a physical reminder of the city’s expansion through the late 18th and early 19th centuries.