{"product_id":"old-topo-map-of-manchester-by-laurent-1793-deansgate-market-st-oxford-rd-ancoats-london-rd","title":"Old Map of Manchester by Laurent, 1793: Deansgate, Market St, Oxford Rd, Ancoats, London Rd","description":"\u003cp\u003eTitled \"A Topographical Plan of Manchester and Salford with the Adjacent Parts; shewing also the Different Allotments of Land proposed to be built on, As communicated to the Surveyor by the respective Proprietors,\" Charles Laurent’s 1793 plan captures the twin towns at the threshold of industrial ascendancy. Precise block-by-block delineation reveals a city already pressing beyond its traditional cores, while the planned allotments—especially across the northeastern reaches—announce the speculative energies that would soon transform Manchester’s landscape. The charting of the historic route from London to Manchester threads long-distance commerce directly into the urban fabric, situating local streets within a national network. With its measured geometry, decorative compass rose, and lucid explanation of symbols, the plan balances elegance and utility, making it one of the period’s most insightful city portraits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLaurent’s streetwork reads like a catalogue of emerging power corridors: Deansgate and Market Street articulate the mercantile spine; King Street, Peter Street, and Oxford Road extend movement toward new suburbs; London Road ties coaching traffic to the town’s heart. Around them, Great Ancoats Street frames the northeast where development parcels stand clearly delineated, while Portland Street, Great Marlborough Street, High Street, and Upper Brook Street knit together compact districts. Lesser thoroughfares—Green Street, Little Peter Street, Worsley Street, Wright Street, Thornton Street, Union Street, and Manchester Road—trace the fine grain of daily life. Trails and waterways braid through these streets, defining crossings and boundaries, and the legend deciphers proposed building plots, established streets, and routes so the viewer can read growth as it was being planned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn inset plan of Manchester circa 1650 offers a rare diachronic lens. Set beside the expansive 1793 fabric, the compact seventeenth‑century town—clustered around its market core—underscores how thoroughly the city had outrun its medieval footprint. Where the inset shows a tight nucleus of lanes and fields, the main plan records corridors now pushing along Oxford Road and out toward Ancoats, with new alignments like Great Marlborough Street and Upper Brook Street anchoring districts undreamt of a century earlier. This dialogue between inset and main plan elevates the piece from mere survey to urban narrative, letting the viewer measure not just distance but time—how streets such as Deansgate and High Street evolve from local paths into arterial conduits of a burgeoning industrial city.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLaurent’s achievement rests on a foundation of rigorous surveying. Adapting and refining William Greene’s large‑scale work undertaken between 1787 and 1794, he distilled a mass of measurement into a coherent topographical statement whose accuracy made it an indispensable reference. Its value was recognized immediately: in 1793 the plates were acquired in London by the publisher John Stockdale to illustrate John Aikin’s influential Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty Miles Round Manchester. In that context the plan linked scholarship, geography, and civic ambition, setting the local street grid—Peter Street to Portland Street, King Street to Market Street—within a broader regional story. The clearly plotted London–Manchester route further signals the map’s intent to connect Manchester’s pulse to national arteries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost compelling are the \"Different Allotments of Land\" that punctuate the northeastern sector around Great Ancoats Street, a cartographic snapshot of urbanization before it happened. By marking parcels \"proposed to be built on\" as communicated by proprietors, Laurent captured the mechanics of growth—where capital intended to flow, how streets would radiate, and where Manchester would absorb its surging population. Read alongside Salford’s contiguous grid across the water and the braided trails and waterways at the edge of town, the plan reveals a polycentric city taking shape. For anyone tracing the ascent of Deansgate, Market Street, or Oxford Road from local thoroughfares to civic stages, this map is a rare, candid blueprint of intention becoming terrain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStreets and roads on this map\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDeansgate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGreat Ancoats Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGreat Marlborough Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGreen Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHigh Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKing Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLittle Peter Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLondon Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eManchester Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMarket Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOxford Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePeter Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePortland Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThornton Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUnion Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUpper Brook Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWorsley Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWright Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNotable Features \u0026amp; Landmarks\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInset plan of the city, circa 1650.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe route from London to Manchester.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVarious allotments of land for proposed developments.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTrails and waterways surrounding the urban development.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDecorative compass rose.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn explanation or legend section detailing symbols used on the map.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHistorical and design context\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMapmaker\/Publisher: Created by Charles Laurent in 1793; later acquired by John Stockdale in London.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBackground Info: This is a rare early plan of Manchester marking planned developments in the northeastern part of the city. Laurent's map is a modified version of earlier large-scale mapping done by William Greene between 1787 and 1794.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistorical Context: The plates were bought by Stockdale in 1793 to illustrate Aikin's Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty Miles Round Manchester.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTopics and Themes: The map depicts urban development, land allotments for building, and historic routes, specifically the route from London to Manchester alongside the development areas.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRegions Displayed: Primarily focused on the city of Manchester and its neighboring area, Salford.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesign\/Style: Characterized by a detailed layout of streets and land parcels, with an inset plan of the city, circa 1650.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistorical Significance: It provides insight into the urban planning and development of Manchester during a transformative period in the late 18th century.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlease double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a very large map that must be ordered at a large size, so that you can easily make out all of the details. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 90in (230cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eget in touch\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe model in the listing images is holding the 16x16in (40x40cm) version of this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/all-old-vintage-antique-maps\"\u003ebest old maps\u003c\/a\u003e to see if something else catches your eye.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlease \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003econtact me\u003c\/a\u003e to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex\/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Unique Maps Co.","offers":[{"title":"10x10 inches (25x25cm) \/ Map","offer_id":57828620927360,"sku":"UM00271844A","price":75.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"10x10 inches (25x25cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":57828620960128,"sku":"UM00271845A","price":202.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"10x10 inches (25x25cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":57828620992896,"sku":"UM00271846A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x12 inches (30x30cm) \/ Map","offer_id":57828621025664,"sku":"UM00271847A","price":75.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x12 inches (30x30cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":57828621058432,"sku":"UM00271848A","price":202.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x12 inches (30x30cm) \/ 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