Old Maps

From an early age I've always had a fascination with maps. I'd find myself staring into them for long periods my eyes following rivers, picking out cities with exotic names and searching out mountain ranges. Even better though are old maps which are like a kind of time-machine.

The segment above is from a map I found in a guidebook to the New Forest. The book itself appears to have been published just after the war, though it is unclear how old the map is - it is quite possible the map dated from a few years before the books publication.

The map clearly shows the newly reclaimed Western docks. Work on these began in 1927 and the docks were opened in 1934. Quite visible on the map is the original shore-line of the city which runs alongside the railway and can also bee seen in the photo below which dates from 1932.

A number of the streets featured on the map no longer exist. One of these is Kingsfield Street (roughly where Skandia Life's main office stands today) and was home to my great-grandparents. My great-grandmother lived there right up until the house was destroyed in the blitz of 1940. Other roads in the central area have also been lost to development, such as Manchester Street, which was demolished to make way for the Marlands shopping centre.