This color lithograph dissected pocket map of mid-19th century London even in its title suggests the rapid growth of the city and the changes required to cope with population surges, public health, sanitation and ultimately increased demands for new burial sites. London sanitation up to 1847 was notable in its absence, the first year the map was published being also the year that the Ordinance of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers required all waste to be carried out by sewers that led to the Thames. However, public sewer systems taking sewage out of London and not into the Thames were only first built in London in 1859 under the direction of London civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette. Thus the actual 1847 dated edition of the map captured London modernizing its infrastructure and attempting to address serious public health concerns, such as cholera. This edition of the map suggests sewer line expansion. The map also presents London as a dense hub fed by train lines, connected to the south by new and existing bridges over the Thames and expanding over the Thames with engineering works, such as the Thames Tunnel. New housing development and attractions such as the anticipated relocation of the Chrystal Palace and Park are shown here as well.
The map key explains the color coding system. New Cemeteries are in yellow, railway stations are shown in full in red, a symbol is shown for landing piers for steam vessels. On this edition of the map, Metropolitan Improvements are shown by parallel dotted lines although hatch marked parallel lines also abound and suggest proposed roads. Parks, both large and small are shown in green. The Thames, a defining feature graphically as well as geographically is shown in blue. Buildings are drawn in plan, and many are labeled. Streets of all sizes are labeled. Many other kinds of locations and structures are labeled as well, including schools, libraries and museums.
This Davies 1847 "published" edition of the pocket map is updated to at least the end of 1851, based on the presence of two Chelsea Bridges, the original (wood) Chelsea Bridge leading to farms in Battersea and the Timber Docks and the "New Chelsea Bridge" that opened to the public in 1858 and leads to housing and numerous new roads. The original Chrystal Palace was relocated from Hyde Park to south of the Thames near Sydenham Station along the Croyden Railway with its own park after the 1851 Exhibition closed in October, 1851 and is on this edition of the map thus shown at this new location as " Site of the Crystal Palace and Park." The relocation and reconstruction of the Crystal Palace itself began in 1852. It is in the next Davies Jan.1,1854 edition of London and Its Environs, whose scope extends further south of the Thames that the map shows the Crystal Palace as constructed in plan view sited in its new Park. The view of London on this updated 1847 edition of the map describes a vast city with only limited remaining agriculture and forests south of the Thames or far to the north, and in full industrial bore. In the northern outskirts of London, near Stroud Green and Crouch Hill is a structure called Japan House that likely also helps date this updated edition of the originally published 1847 map.
All along the Thames industry and trade are represented on the map by labeled structures and infrastructure. One of the world's largest cities, London's population surged in the late 1840's due to immigration, including during the 1848 Great Famine when Irish immigration surged. An already dense central London became the setting for notorious poverty and a neighborhood called The Rookery. London's public transportation was an essential component of the city's financial life, and especially its train system is shown on this later edition of the Davies 1847 map including the tunnels and bridges required to carry trains, both passenger and freight over wetlands, rivers and the Thames itself. The routes presented on this edition of Davies' map further help us date the edition to c. 1851. The Great Northern Railroad opened March 1, 1848 north of London for passengers and freight. The Great Northern Railway line into London opened August 1850 only for goods and coal. The London station was named the Great Northern Station. It was not until October 12, 1852 that passenger service on this railway line to and from London commenced, and the London railway station was renamed King's Cross Station. Our edition of the map does not show King's Cross Station, but instead shows the Great Northern Station thus dating the map to the first quarter of 1852 and most likely the end of 1851.
Outlying metropolitan boroughs are shown in great detail as well. In fact, the term "metropolitan" is used in the map's title in an urban planning sense of the word and indicates awareness by the mapmaker that a growing urban center and its metropolitan surroundings grow in lockstep. 1
Note:
1. At the bottom of the Davies 1847 map, a continuing subtitle explains: "This Map is chiefly from the Ordnance Survey; the Railroads and other improvements, are from the Official copies, the Borough of Marleybone from the Survey Published by Mr. Britton___The whole corrected from personal observation & measurement. " A helpful way to track changes in London from 1847 through 1851 especially and beyond those dates is to reference the Ordnance Surveys of individual towns and counties. Fine detail is available on these maps.