Mapping the History of Liverpool

Historic Liverpool allows you to explore and learn more about the history of Liverpool through historic vintage maps of the city and an interactive map highlighting the city's most historic buildings and monuments. The site includes a number of interactive vintage maps dating from 1847 through to 1898.

My favorite vintage map of the city in the collection is Ackermann's Panoramic View of Liverpool (1847). This panoramic map shows the city in the mid-nineteenth century at a time when the city's docks were at the center of global trade. Albert Dock, which opened the year before this map was made, had recently revolutionized the way docks operated by halving the time in which ships could be unloaded and turned (with modern developments such as hydraulic cranes and fireproof warehouses).

By the end of the 19th century 9% of all world trade passed through the docks in Liverpool. You can see in Ackermann's map that even in the middle of the 19th century the entire north bank of the Mersey in Liverpool was dominated by the city's docks and warehouses.

Historic Liverpool also includes a modern map of the city on which the city's most important historic buildings and monuments have been marked. The History Map contains a number of categorized map markers showing the locations of archaeological sites, buildings, monuments and natural features important in Liverpool's history.