Maps
Maps Introduction
This section of our website, dedicated to maps of Leeds, is presented in two distinct parts. We have provided examples of some of the earliest maps of the city beginning with the first map of the town, our redrawn Tudor map of c. 1560. We have then provided John Ogilby’s strip map of 1675 with the rather mystifying comment ‘Holbeck alias Hunslet’ when both were distinctive out-townships in their own right. Next comes John Cossins’ classic 1726 A New and Exact Plan of the Town of Leedes. It is bordered by the most important buildings in the town and clearly shows the tenter grounds so important to the wool textile industry. Thomas Jefferys’ A Plan of Leeds, published in 1771, shows how rural much of Leeds still was.
The second part contains a series of maps specially created for the site to show the development of Leeds over the years. The first shows the Morley and Skyrack wapentakes with the settlements highlighted to indicate the Domesday Book records. The next is the 15th Century manor of Leeds, followed by a map of the parish of Leeds showing how extensive it was. The map showing the municipal imperialism of the town clearly shows how it expanded in the early years of the 20th Century whilst our last map is an overlay showing the manor, the parish, the borough and the metropolitan borough of Leeds.
Tudor map c. 1560
John Ogilby’s strip map of 1675
John Cossins’ 1726 A New and Exact Plan of the Town of Leedes
Thomas Jefferys’ A Plan of Leeds, published in 1771
Wapentakes
15th Century
Parish
Imperialism
Metropolitan
Take a look at the index of the Maps and Plans in our archives and browse through images of them.