Libraries Archive and Local Collections

Maps, Directories and Phone Books

Maps

The Manchester Room@City Library has a good collection of maps of Manchester and the surrounding area, showing the development of the city from Roman times right up to the present day. We hold the various series and scales of Ordnance Survey maps from 1848 up to 2011.

Before this date, we have maps by various mapmakers who recorded the area using different scales, and with varying degrees of accuracy. Maps can be used to help establish the age of particular buildings, to examine the area in which your ancestors lived, to survey the viability of a site for future development or to establish boundaries or rights of way. We also have some maps available on CD-ROM.

Digital copies of ordnance survey maps from the mid 19th century onwards are available on Old Maps. The following maps are also available on-line:

• NEW! See how your street and neighbourhood have changed since 1848. The Historic Ordnance Survey Map Browser is available on two PCs in the Manchester Room. This geo-referenced resource allows users to explore and compare Ordnance Survey maps of the City of Manchester between 1848 and the second world war.
• Manchester street maps, 1750-1930 (these maps are inaccessible via Manchester City Council library PCs)
• Aerial bombs on the City of Manchester, 1940-1941 (these maps are inaccessible via Manchester City Council library PCs)
• A Plan of the Towns of Manchester and Salford c.1750
• A Plan of Manchester and Salford c.1787-1797
• Manchester Historical Maps beta web site contains old street maps of Manchester from 1772-2010.
• Plans of Manchester and Salford by J. Piggot 1809, 1821, 1836, and 1848
• Ordnance Survey Maps of Manchester and Salford c.1850
• Tithe maps (c.1840) and some old Ordnance Survey maps for the historic county of Cheshire are available on-line on the Cheshire Record Office website. This includes maps for Northenden and other parts of Greater Manchester which were historically part of Cheshire, such as Stockport, Altrincham, Sale or Hyde.
• The University of Manchester's map collection can be browsed online. This collection includes over 250 mostly nineteenth-century Ordnance Survey maps, including over 150 maps of Manchester. These maps are inaccessible via Manchester City Council library PCs.

Directories

Directories can be viewed on microfilm at the Manchester Room@City Library covering Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire:

• Manchester: 1772, 1773, 1781, 1788*, 1794**, 1797**, 1800, 1802, 1804, 1808, 1809, 1811, 1813, 1814, 1815, 1817, 1819, 1820, 1821**, 1822, 1824, 1825, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1832, 1836, 1838, 1841**, 1843, 1845, 1848, 1850**, 1851, 1852*, 1855*, 1856, 1858, 1860, 1861, 1863**, 1865, 1869, 1871, 1872, 1874, 1876**, 1877**, 1878, 1879, 1881, 1882, 1883**, 1884, 1885, 1886**, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895* **, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1903**, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909**, 1910, 1911**, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929*, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1945, 1948, 1951, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969.
• Lancashire: 1818, 1820, 1824*, 1828*, 1829, 1834*, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1848*, 1851, 1855*, 1856, 1858, 1864, 1869*, 1872, 1873, 1876, 1879, 1881, 1887, 1888, 1890, 1892, 1909, 1913*, 1918.
• Cheshire: 1850, 1851, 1860, 1864, 1865, 1874, 1878, 1886, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1896, 1906, 1914, 1923, 1928, 1934, 1939.

• Derbyshire (some also include Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire & Rutland): 1855, 1863, 1864, 1874, 1884, 1891.

*Available on-line at Ancestry.co.uk (a subcription web site - free access to Ancestry is available at The Manchester Room@City Library or at any Manchester City Council library.). 

**Available on-line at Historical Directories. 

Phone books

British phone books published between 1880, the year after the public telephone service was introduced, and 1984, from the historic phone book collection held by BT Archives are also available on-line at Ancestry.co.uk. The database currently contains 1780 phone books and provides near full county coverage for England. This includes coverage for Manchester from the 1880s to the 1970s. Free access to Ancestry Library Edition is available at The Manchester Room@City Library or at any Manchester City Council library.