• Skip to content
• Standard style
• Easy Read

• Basics
• Archives
• Books
• Building types
• The Church
• Primary sources
• Style
• About

Image catalogues, indexes and online databases

• 
• Barley, M.M., A Guide to British Topographical Collections (1974). This valuable book describes local and national collections of topographical drawings, watercolours, prints and photographs in England, Scotland and Wales. It is now dated, so repository locations in some cases have changed.
• Country Life Cumulative Index lists all Country Life articles on country houses and gardens since 1897. New editions appear periodically. And see below under 19th century.
• Harris, J. The Artist and the Country House: a history of country house and garden view painting in Britain 1540-1870 (1979). Incorporates a fully illustrated catalogue covering the British Isles.
• Harris, J., A Country House Index (1971). Index to country houses in the UK and Ireland illustrated in 107 books published between 1715 and 1872.
• Holmes, M., The Country House Described: an index to the country houses of Great Britain and Ireland (1987). Index to illustrations and descriptions.
• Richardson, R. and Thorne, R., The Builder: illustrations index 1843-1883 (1994).

Online catalogues and image databases are listed below by region and by period. See Archives for online catalogues of major collections, particularly those of museums and art galleries: there are several combined image databases listed there. 

Genmaps is a huge online collection of old maps of England, Wales and Scotland, arranged by county.  

Online images and maps: England

• England general: See below under the period and see museums and art galleries. By historic county: 
• Bedfordshire:
  • Bedfordshire Community Archives: parish histories from Bedfordshire and Luton Archives, illustrated with maps and photographs from the collections.
  • How We Built Bedfordshire: Bedfordshire Libraries provide both modern photographs and historic images of buildings in the county, arranged by type of building, plus a pdf guide "Bedfordshire Buildings and Monuments".
• Berkshire:
  • New Landscapes: Enclosures in Berkshire: enclosure maps 1738-1883 from Berkshire Record Office.
  • Reading Local Studies Collection: images from the collections of Reading Library, including estate maps and topographical watercolours and photographs of Reading and surrounding towns and villages, organised by subject.
  • Sense of Place South East: collections of museums and libraries in West Berkshire and Hampshire, Slough, Reading, Windsor and Maidenhead.
• Buckinghamshire:
  • Buckinghamshire Photographs: a collection of over 20,000 old photographs from Buckinghamshire County Museum and archives.
  • Sharing Wycombe's Old Photographs: over 15,000 images of High Wycombe and the surrounding towns and villages from High Wycombe Library, the Wycombe Museum, and the local newspaper the Bucks Free Press.
• Cambridgeshire with Huntingdonshire: Peterborough Sense of Place: database of the collections of Peterborough City Council, Burghley House, Thorney Museum and Nene Valley Railway, which include photographs, maps and plans.
• Cheshire:
  • Chester Image Bank: historic photographs, postcards, sketches, prints and water colours of Chester and district from Chester City Archives.
  • Old Maps and Aerial Views of Chester includes McGahey's view of Chester from a balloon in 1855.
  • Picture Cheshire: photographs from the Cheshire Record Office and Cheshire libraries.
• Cornwall:
  • A Cornish Sourcebook: Chris Bond's online collection includes historic maps, engravings and postcards.
  • Genmaps: Cornwall makes available scans of a large collection of maps.
  • Photographs of Cornwall is a selection from the collection of historic images held by the Cornwall Centre in Redruth.
  • Postcards of Old Cornwall: a large collection of old postcards, arranged by place.
• Cumbria (the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland):
  • Cumbria Image Bank: images from Cumbria County Council Libraries and Archives Service.
    
• Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire:
  • Picture the Past: thousands of historic photographs, postcards and engravings from the collections of the libraries and museums of Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
  • Lower Dove Tithe Maps and Apportionments: covering a collection of parishes on the Derbyshire-Staffordshire border.
• Devon:
  • Devon Libraries Map Search provides a datebase of map information and links to some online maps of the county.
  • Etched on Devon's Memory: around Devon with early topographical prints, from Devon Library and Information Services.
  • Genmaps: Devonshire: makes available scans of a large collection of maps.
  • Plymouth’s Architectural Heritage has over 100 building control plans online.
  • Steve Johnson, Ye Olde Maps of Ye Plymouthe reproduces a number of maps, but does not date and identify all of them. For further information see Elisabeth Stuart, Lost Landscapes of Plymouth: Maps, charts and plans to 1800 (1991).
• Dorset: Dorset Coast Digital Archive includes some topographical material from Dorset County Museum and the Dorset History Centre.
• Durham:
  • The Durham Record is a searchable online collection of photographs from museums, libraries and archives around County Durham. It has links where relevant to the Keys to the Past site (see below).
  • Keys to the Past provides a guide to the archaeological record of County Durham and Northumberland. It includes parish histories with modern and historic maps.
  • Pictures in Print: printed maps and topographical prints of County Durham created before 1860 held by Durham University Library, Durham County Library, Durham Cathedral Library and the British Library.
  • Structural Images of the North-East: the architectural heritage of Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Durham and Teesside shown in photographs, slides, sketches, paintings, etchings and drawings from a number of collections digitised by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Includes sketches of old North Shields by William Henry Charlton (1846-1918).
• Hampshire:
  • Hantsphere: digitised local studies collections from across Hampshire, including Southampton and Portsmouth. Includes old photographs, postcards and prints.
  • The North Hampshire Tithe Map Project aims to transcribe and digitise all the Tithe Apportionments and Tithe Maps for the area covered by the present Borough of Basingstoke & Deane.
  • Old Hampshire Mapped: county maps and itineraries, with notes by Jean and Martin Norgate, Geography Department, Portsmouth University.
  • Sense of Place South East: collections of museums and libraries in West Berkshire and Hampshire, Slough, Reading, Windsor and Maidenhead.
• Kent:
  • Canterbury Buildings: Maps: maps of the city from 1580 to the modern period.
  • Here's History Kent: a range of local history materials for the towns and parishes of Kent, including old photographs and other images.
• Lancashire:
  • Gallery Oldham Collections Online: objects and artworks from the gallery's collections include topographical paintings.
  • Lancashire Lantern: local photographs, postcards and other images held in libraries across the county.
  • Lancaster Historic Maps:  maps from the Lancaster University Library Map Collection.
  • Manchester Local Image Collection: over 80,000 photographs and other visual images of Manchester and its suburbs from Manchester Archives and Local Studies at Manchester Central Library.
  • Old Maps of Lancashire: maps mainly from the Lancashire Record Office, including OS first editions.
  • Picture Blackpool: photographs of Blackpool and the neighbouring area from Blackpool Central Library.
  • Tameside Image Archive: old photographs from the collection of Tameside Local Studies and Archives Service.
• Lincolnshire:
  • The Lincolnshire Illustrations Index: over 50,000 photographs in the collections in Lincolnshire's libraries and museums.
  • North Lincolnshire Image Archive: thousands of photographs from the North Lincolnshire Council's Museums Service and Library Service.
• London:
  • Ackermann, Microcosm of London (1808): scanned images of all engravings at Motco.
  • Edwin C. Bolles collection of publications, maps and images on the history and topography of London, from Tufts University.
  • Charles Booth Online Archive includes his poverty map of London 1898-9.
  • Collage is a searchable online image database with 20,000 items from the Guildhall Library and Guildhall Art Gallery.
  • Collect Britain: Depford Plans and Drawings: 130 drawings and plans of the area around the royal dockyards,  from the 17th to the 19th century.
  • Crace Collection of Maps of London: c.1200 printed and hand-drawn maps from the British Library charting the development of the city from around 1570 to 1860. Includes some building plans. 
    
  • Hackney Historic Images On-Line: a database from Hackney Archives.
  • Illustrated London News: has selection of images online. Another selection is available at London Genealogy. Although not restricted to London, there are many illustrations of buildings in London.
  • London Genealogy hosts engravings of London buildings c.1830 after the drawings of Thomas H. Shepherd, and interior views from London Interiors, [1841].
  • Malton, Thomas, Picturesque Tour of London and Westminster (1792): scanned images of all engravings at Motco.
  • Mapco has scanned maps and views of London and environs, including plans and elevations of the public buildings
    in the Borough of St. Marylebone taken from a 1834 map of St. Marylebone by F.A. Bartlett. 
  • Maps: individual maps of London online include:
    • Leake's survey of the city after the Great Fire, engraved by Wenceslaus Hollar 1667.
    • John Rocque, London, Westminster and Southwark 1746 (at Motco).
    • Greenwood's Map of London 1827.
  • Moto UK Directory and Image Database: print-seller with a large online reference catalogue, particularly rich in images and maps of London.
  • Old London Maps: hosts maps and views of the city from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
  • PhotoLondon: photographs of London from the Guildhall Library, Museum of London, London Metropolitan Archives, Westminster City Archives and National Monuments Record.
• Norfolk:
  • Norfolk E-Map Explorer: compares aerial photographs and historical maps of Norfolk from the county record office.
  • NOAH: Norfolk Online Access to Heritage seaches the combined on-line collections of Cultural Services at Norfolk County Council. These include Picture Norfolk - a database of thousands of digitised photographs and topographical sketches; you can use the Advanced Search option to restrict your search to this database.
• Northamptonshire: Heritage East Midlands Sense of Place: Northamptonshire: material from the Northamptonshire Studies collections includes historic maps and photographs.
• Northumberland:
  • Grimm's Northumberland Sketchbooks: late 18th-century drawings by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm from the British Library.
  • Keys to the Past provides a guide to the archaeological record of County Durham and Northumberland. It includes parish histories with modern and historic maps.
  • Structural Images of the North-East: the architectural heritage of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham and Teesside shown in photographs, slides, sketches, paintings, etchings and drawings from a number of collections digitised by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Includes sketches of old North Shields by William Henry Charlton (1846-1918).
• Nottinghamshire: see Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire above.
• Oxfordshire:
  • How, F. D., Pictures from Oxford (c.1935). Scans of water-colours by Ernest Haslehust.
  • Lang, A., Oxford: Brief Historical and Descriptive Notes, 6th edition (1896). Scanned images of the illustrations.
  • Oxfordshire Photographic Archive (part of Oxfordshire Heritage Search): over 60,000 digital images (and catalogue records of a further 100,000 images) of Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties.
• Shropshire:
  • Darwin Country: Images: searchable online image database from Shrewsbury Museums Service includes topographical drawings and paintings.
  • Secret Shropshire: Shropshire County Council provides an online database of thousands of images, including over 4,000 of buildings and monuments.
• Somerset:
  • Bath in Time: historic images from public and private collections of Bath and the surrounding villages.
  • Freshford.com: this local history website covers Bath and selected villages around it in Somerset and Wiltshire. It includes historic maps and images for Bath, Bradford-on-Avon, Freshford, Hinton Charterhouse and Limpley Stoke. 
  • Somerset Documents Online: historic postcards, engravings, views and OS maps from the Somerset Record Office.
  • Genmaps: Somersetshire makes available scans of a large collection of maps.
• Staffordshire:
  • Lower Dove Tithe Maps and Apportionments: covering a collection of parishes on the Derbyshire-Staffordshire border.
  • Staffordshire Past-Track: has thousands of old photographs and other images of buildings in the county. It includes The Staffordshire Views: 2,684 watercolours, drawings, sketches, engravings and lithographs of churches, public buildings, country houses and landscapes from the William Salt Library, Stafford, commissioned and collected by William Salt in the 1830s and 1840s.
  • Stoke-on-Trent Museums online database has hundreds of photographs, plans and drawings of historic buildings, including those of the 1982 Stoke-on-Trent Historic Building Survey.
  • Walsall A Click In Time: photographs from Walsall Local History Centre. 
• Suffolk: Sense of Place Suffolk: collections of museums and archives in the county.
• Sussex:
  • Holmes, Edric, Seaward Sussex illustrated by Mary M. Vigers (1920).
  • Old Sussex Mapped: two centuries of Sussex county maps put online by Dominic Fontana, Geography Department, University of Portsmouth.
  • West Sussex Past Pictures: the official database of heritage photographs, prints, drawings and paintings provided by local museums and the County Library Service.
• Warwickshire:
  • Morley, G., Warwick and Leamington, Beautiful England series (c.1920). Scans of all the water-colours by Ernest Haslehust.
  • Pictures of Coventry:  photographs from Coventry Libraries and Information Services. 
  • Smith, W., A New and Compendious History of the County of Warwick (1830/1): scans of all plates.
  • Windows on Warwickshire: digital database of local history including old photographs, maps, and paintings.
• Wiltshire:
  • Freshford.com: this local history website covers Bath and selected villages around it in Somerset and Wiltshire. It includes historic maps and images for Bath, Bradford-on-Avon, Freshford, Hinton Charterhouse and Limpley Stoke. 
  • Wiltshire Community: town and parish histories from Wiltshire Libraries and Heritage, illustrated with maps and photographs from the collections.
  • Genmaps: Wiltshire makes available scans of a large collection of maps.
• Worcestershire:
  • Worcester City Museums has put online over 160 old pictures and photographs of Worcester from collections, and also a selection of historic maps of the city.
  • Prints from Worcestershire Record Office from topographical drawings and watercolours in its collection.
  • The Worcestershire Drawings of E. F. and T. F. Burney: a large collection of late 18th-century and early 19th-century topographical watercolours and drawings from Worcestershire Record Office.
  • Worcestershire Tithe and Inclosure Map Project: 18th and 19th century maps from Worcestershire Record Office.
• Yorkshire:
  • Allen, Thomas, A New and Complete History of the County of York (1831): scans of all the steel engravings by Nathaniel Whittock.
  • Home, Gordon, Yorkshire Painted And Described (1904).
  • Hull's old harbour, photographed in 1864.
  • Imagine York: searchable database of historic photographs from York Library and City Archives.
  • Kirklees Image Archive: over 60,000 images from the Tolson Memorial Museum, Huddersfield.  
  • Leodis: a photographic archive of Leeds, from Leeds Library and Information Service.
  • Picture Sheffield: around 11,000 pictures from the collection of Sheffield Local Studies Library.
  • Twixt Aire and Calder: searchable online database of around 10,000 Wakefield District images from the Wakefield Metropolitan District Council Libraries and Information Services.
  • Wakefield & District Family History Society has made Tithe Maps of Alverthorpe, Crigglestone, Stanley cum Wrenthorpe and Thornes available for download in pdf format.

Online images and maps: Isle of Man

• Manx Notebook: Engraved Views of the Isle of Man has topographical prints from the 17th to the 19th century. 

Online images and maps: Ireland

• Ask About Ireland a national collaboration of libraries, museums and archives to make available online publication of material from their local studies' collections, including photographs, maps and documents.
• BBC: London Companies: maps of the London Companies (Plantation of Londonderry) by the cartographer Thomas Raven, commissioned in 1622.
• Clare County Library has made available online local maps and photographs.
• Cork Past and Present: Maps and Images: Cork City Libraries has put online an impressive collection of maps from 1545 onwards, and collections of old photographs. 
• Mayo Maps Online: Mayo County Library has put a large number of estate maps online.  To view them you need the SVG-Viewer or the DjVu-Viewer plugin.
• National Library of Ireland online catalogue includes prints, drawings and photographs, with images.
• Philip's Handy Atlas of the Counties of Ireland (1882).
• Royal Irish Academy: As I Walked Out: a photographic memoir of Dublin in ruins, May 1916, by T.J. Westropp.
• Royal Irish Academy: Drawings of Irish Antiquities: c.7,000 antiquarian sketches and drawings between the late 18th and early 20th centuries.
• Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland (c.1841). Scanned images of all engravings.
• Wright, G.N., Ireland Illustrated (1881). Scanned images of all engravings.

Online images and maps: Scotland

• Am Baile provides a digital archive of the history and culture of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, with material from archives, libraries, museums and private collections, including old photographs of buildings.
• Beattie, William, Scotland Illustrated (c.1840). Scanned images of all engravings.
• Charting the Nation is a collaborative digital imaging and cataloguing project at the University of Edinburgh covering maps of Scotland and their associated texts c.1550-1740.
• Over 20,000 Dean of Guild plans for the Royal Burgh of Dumfries are being entered into an online database.
  
• Edwardian Scotland: Slideshows of postcards 1890-1900 on YouTube: South Scotland; North Scotland.   
• Maps of Scotland 1560-1928 from the National Library of Scotland has c.800 of the most important maps from the first four centuries of the mapping of Scotland, including large scale OS maps of Scottish towns (1847-95) and the Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, 1654, with text here translated into English for the first time.
• The National Galleries of Scotland now have an online catalogue including some of their collection of topographical paintings.
• Shepherd, T.H., Modern Athens or Edinburgh in the 19th Century (1829). Scans of all images.
• Shetland Museum and Archives Photo Library: a searchable database of thousands of photographs.
• Virtual Mitchell: photographs of Glasgow housed in the Mitchell Library, together with images from Glasgow Museums and private owners.
• For Great Britain generally see below under the period.

Online images: Wales

• The Architecture of Wales: architectural drawings in the National Library of Wales.
• Art Collection of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales: the online catalogue of paintings and sculptures includes many topographical views.
• Cardiff: The building of a capital: catalogues thousands of plans submitted to meet building regulations and now housed in Glamorgan Record Office.
• Gastineau, H.G., Wales Illustrated (1829/31). Scanned images of many of the engravings.
• Gathering the Jewels includes a selection of estate maps and plans.
• Thomas Taylor's county maps 1718: from the National Library of Wales.
• Woodward, B. B., The History of Wales (1853). Scanned images of a selection of the engravings.
• For Great Britain generally see below under the period.

Online images and indexes by period

Medieval images:

• The Unveiling of Britain: hundreds of maps and views of the British Isles created between 800 and 1600, from the British Library.
• The Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi is an international research project dedicated to the publication of medieval stained glass. The section for great Britain has made thousands of images available online in a searchable database.

Seventeenth-century images:

• Dummer, E. and Wiltshaw, T.,  South Coast Harbours 1698: a report to the Admiralty assessing 18 harbours along the south coast of England from Dover to Land’s End, with harbour charts. From Hampshire County Council Museums Service.
• Magalotti, L., Travels of Cosmo the Third 1669: illustrations scanned.
• Schellinks, Esselens and Doomer: list of drawings with sample images.
• Speed, J., Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain (1612), has bird's-eye views of major towns inset in the corners of his county maps. Most of his town maps are provided online by Occidental College at Speed: Cities and Towns.

Eighteenth-century images:

• Boswell's Antiquities of England, Wales and Scotland (c.1786). Index of engravings by Richard Nicholson.
• Complete English Traveller (Nathaniel Spencer 1771): scanned images of all engravings.
• Dalton, W.H., The New and Complete English Traveller (1784): list of the maps and engravings, with some scanned images.
• Grimm, Samuel Hieronymus: Late 18th-century topographical drawings from the British Library.
• Grose, F., The Antiquities of England and Wales (1783). 
• King George III Topographical Collection at the British Library: contains some 50,000 items, dating from around 1500 to 1824, but it is particularly strong in maps, prints, drawings and watercolours from the mid-1760s to 1800.

Nineteenth-century images:

• Allingham, Helen: online galleries of her paintings of country cottages 1880s to 1920s. And see below under 20th century: Holme.
• Allom, Thomas - architect turned illustrator. Many of his engravings included in the general index of topographical prints by print-seller Richard Nicholson.
• Britton, J., Picturesque Antiquities of English Cities (1836): scanned images of all engravings.
• Country Life Picture Library has a selection online from its archives.
• Illustrated London News: a selection of images online. Another selection is available at London Genealogy. Although there are many illustrations of buildings in London, it also depicted buildings in other parts of the British Isles, and sometimes further afield.
• Daniell, William, Voyage Round Great Britain (1814-25): scanned images of all engravings at Motco. Selection scanned by Richard Nicholson.
• Jones' Views of the Seats, Manors, Castles, etc. of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland (1829): scanned images of all engravings.
• Knight, C., Old England: A Pictorial Musem of Regal, Ecclesiastical, Baronial, Municipal and Popular Antiquities (1844).
• Neale, J.P., Views of the seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, 6 vols (1818-23), 2nd series: 5 vols (1824-29). Index of engravings by Richard Nicholson.
• The Penny Illustrated Paper (1861-1913). Part of Collect Britain, from the British Library.
• Turner, J.M.W., Picturesque Views in England and Wales (1838): scanned images of all engravings at Motco.
• The Turner Gallery: A Series of One Hundred and Twenty Engravings From the works of J.M.W. Turner, R.A.
• Turner Worldwide: Comprehensive online catalogue of J.M.W. Turner's works, compiled by the Tate Gallery.
• Westall, William, Great Britain Illustrated (1829): scanned images of all engravings at Postaprint reference. Another complete set at Motco.

Twentieth-century images:

• Baedeker's Old Guide Books: Great Britain 1910: the maps.
• Ditchfield, P. H., English Villages (1901).
• Ditchfield, P. H., Vanishing England, illustrated by Fred Roe (1910).
• Gotch, J.A., The Growth of the English House, A Short History of its Architectural Development from 100 to 1800 (1909). Scanned images of all illustrations: plans and photographs.
• Green, William (1907-83) Online collection of ink drawings of historic buildings mainly in the West Midlands, including many timber-framed houses.
• Holme, C. (ed.), Old English Country Cottages (1906). Scans of water-colours by Herbert Alexander and Helen Allingham and line drawings by Sydney R Jones.