CHRISTOPHER GREENWOOD AND HIS MAP OF LONDON
Commentary by
Ralph Hyde
Making a map of London was a new departure for Christopher Greenwood. In London directories he appears as 'Greenwood, Christopher, County Surveyor.' Making large-scale maps of the counties of England and Wales, and a few of Scotland – that was his speciality.
Christopher Greenwood was born in Gisburn in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 21 May 1786. His father was a farmer, and Christopher was one of ten children. The early years of his working life were spent as a land surveyor in Dewsbury and Wakefield. In January 1815 he published proposals for a nine-sheet map of Yorkshire, and in the same year married a Miss Fowler, daughter of William Fowler, a wool-stapler in Wakefield. The next year he published proposals for a large-scale map of Lancashire, and his father-in-law's name appears as joint proprietor. By now he had formed the idea of producing a one-inch to the mile map for every county in England and Wales. This grand series he modesty referred to as an atlas.'
To get this project off the ground he would need to move to London, where the expertise for producing maps abounded and where almost all English maps were published. In 1818 he did move, setting up at 50 Leicester Square, evidently as a sub-tenant. Two years later he entered into partnership with a Thavies Inn solicitor named George Pringle. Pringle's work was normally with civil engineers. He was solicitor to the Highgate Archway Co., clerk to the Trustees of the New North Road, and clerk to the Battle Bridge & Holloway Road Co. The two men, with Pringle's son, George Junior, moved to 70 Queen Street in the City. George Junior took over the responsibility for the publishing side of the venture, leaving Christopher Greenwood to concentrate on the labour of actually making the maps. In this Greenwood was assisted in this by his younger brother, John.
Greenwood's county maps continued to appear regularly: there had been two in 1818, and two in 1819, and there would be three in 1820, one in 1821, three in 1823, two in 1824, four in 1825, seven in 1826, three in 1827, two in 1828, none in 1829, two in 1830, and one in 1831. In all 35 counties of England and Wales would be surveyed and maps published.
Greenwood was now at the peak of his career. In 1824 he and the Pringles moved to the most desirable and prestigious of quarters – Regent Street. The building of this grand thoroughway, linking George IV's London palace, Carlton House in Pall Mall, with newly laid-out Regent's Park, had only recently been completed by the King's favourite architect, John Nash. Greenwood's premises were at number 13, next door on one side to St Philip's, the chapel of ease to St James's Piccadilly which had been designed by G.S. Repton, and on the other side to Club Chambers which had been designed by Decimus Burton. On the opposite side of the street at numbers 14 and 16 was John Nash's own very opulent residence. In front of Carlton House Nash had created Waterloo Place, consisting of large private mansions. It was the swankiest address in town. Number 13 was not actually in Waterloo Place, but sufficiently nearby for Greenwood in advertisements to work both it and Pall Mall into his address. And it was in 1824 that he embarked on his map of London.
Original surveys of London were very rare. Most London maps were derived directly or indirectly from other people's surveys. In the past eighty years there had been only two – John Rocque's of 1746, and Richard Horwood's of 1792-99. The most recent edition of Horwood's map had been published by William Faden at the west end of the Strand as recently as 1819. Rocque's and Horwood's maps were drawn on the scale of 26 inches to one mile, and Horwood had attempted to show every building in London and give its street number. There was no need for another plan on such a scale and with this quantity of detail. Greenwood's aim was to produce a large and striking map to grace the walls of aristocratic homes and the most up-market businesses.
Greenwood had already surveyed Middlesex in 1819, Kent in 1821, and Surrey in 1823. His survey of Essex was under way. Until 1899 and the creation of the London County Council, these counties extended right up to the City. Greenwood, in other words, had already surveyed, albeit on a smaller scale, the major part of London. In 1824, 1825 and 1826 he carried out the larger survey. Place-names seem to have been recorded as the surveyors surveyed the streets. A street in South Lambeth is called South Island Place. If you were speaking to a Cockney you might assume it was South Highland Place, and as such it appears on Greenwood's map.
With county maps it was Greenwood's practice to place advertisements in local newspapers. From these we can now follow progress of a map from the original announcement of the mapmaker's intention right through to its publication. Curiously, I have been unable to find any advertisements for the London map, except for one published several months later. On 7 November 1827 he announced in The Times:
Greenwood's Map of London. – The Subscribers to this work are most respectfully informed, that, although its publication took place some months ago, it will be impossible for the proprietors (through the medium of their agents) to effect the whole delivery for several months; those subscribers, therefore, who have not already received their copies, and who would prefer to receive them earlier than through the regular course of the delivery, are requested to apply at the office, 13 Regent-street, Pall Mall.
Something is clearly wrong. Why were the agents not delivering? Were they refusing to do so until Greenwood settled unpaid bills.
Certainly the business was experiencing difficulties. Since 1822 Greenwood had had a competitor. This was A. Bryant of 27 Gt Ormonde Street, who was also systematically publishing large-scale county maps of England and Wales. Generally the two men avoided the same counties, but in the cases of Surrey and Gloucester they were conducting their surveys at the same time. The chances of Greenwood being able to able to achieve total coverage for his 'atlas' were now nil. Both men, moreover, must have been anxious at the progress being made the Ordnance Survey with their one inch maps. After 1840, in the face of Ordnance Survey competition no new large-scale county maps by commercial mapmakers would be published.
Greenwood also faced competition with his London map. A number of the London maps that already existed had been issued by G.F. Cruchley of 38 Ludgate Street. In 1828 Cruchley chose to publish another London map, much larger than his previous ones, and on a larger scale than any he had produced previously. 'Cruchley's New Plan of London and its Environs' measured 47 ¼ x 53 in. (1200 x 1346 mm), and was on a scale of five inches to the mile – a smaller scale than Greenwood's, to be sure, but nevertheless clear and detailed. A booklet consisting of a printed index was supplied with it. The map itself covered a larger area than Greenwood's: it went as far north as Hampstead and Highgate, and as far south as Streatham, and Forest Hill.
On 1 March 1828 a notice appeared in the London Gazette announcing that the partnership between C. Greenwood, Geo. Pringle, Geo. Pringle, jun., and J.P. Wanless (elsewhere Wandlys) had been dissolved on 20 February by mutual consent, and that all debts due, by, and to the co-partnership would be paid and received by Joshua Paul Wanless. After 1828 George Pringle Junior's name is no longer to be found in Greenwood imprints. In other words the man in charge of actually publishing the maps had gone. The plates for the Yorkshire survey were sold to Henry Teesdale. The firm of Edward Ruff, 'map-mounting and varnishing and spring-roller makers', in 2 Hind Court off of Fleet Street, took over the Warwickshire plates. Greenwood in the recent past would have been sending such a firm large orders: indeed a large proportion of Ruff's work almost certainly came from Greenwood and his wall-maps. Was the transfer of the plates a payment, or part payment, of a debt? Instead of embarking on new county surveys, Greenwood attempted to produce income by recycling work already done, and produced an atlas of attractive but much smaller county maps on a scale of one inch to three miles. He vacated 13 Regent Street in 1830.
Though no evidence has been found of a catastrophe such as a fire, Greenwood's map of London also offers up evidence of a crisis. The engraving of a large, multi-sheet map was an enormously expensive business, especially if you used such specialists as James and Josiah Neele of 352 Strand which Greenwood did. Yet the 1830 version of the map (No. 3 below) is not the map of 1827. It has been entirely re-engraved. What had happened to the original plates? Why were they not used?
By 1834 the firm had closed down. The plates for the county map of Kent and for the town plan of London were acquired by Edward Ruff. Greenwood moved eventually to 2 Sarah Place, Dalston, and it was here that he died, intestate, on 25 March 1855.
Thanks to Ruff, Greenwood's map of London was periodically updated for a sequence of later editions. Ruff does not even mention Greenwood on the edition of c.1833 of the Warwickshire map, and after 1835 Greenwood gets no mention on the London map either. The 1840 edition of the London map received a long notice in the Westminster Review, volume 36 (1841).
This is a map of London upon the largest scale adapted for the clubs and public institutions of the metropolis, and the only one we have seen deserving a place in the office of a surveyor or civil engineer… For the metropolitan improvements in progress, and for those which may be in contemplation this is the best map to be consulted; no other gives a sufficiently clear idea of the obstacles to be removed in the formation of new streets.
In March 1848 E. Ruff & Co. issued a very wordy handbill announcing a new edition of the map to be published by subscription. No mention whatsoever is made of the map's earlier history, and the impression is given that this is an entirely new map. The proprietors venture to recommend it 'as an eminently useful auxiliary to Professional and Commercial Individuals.' It would show the boundaries of every parish with minute exactness. Likewise those of the City of London, the Liberty of Westminster, and the Borough of Southwark. The division of the new boroughs introduced in accordance with the Reform Bill of 1832 would also be shown. The map would be accompanied by 'explanatory numerical references…'
Of Greenwood's role there is no mention. Instead potential subscribers are informed:
The survey is made on truly scientific principles, having been formed on the basis of the grand Trigonometrical Survey of England, commenced under the direction of General Roy, from which the secondary objects have been carefully determined, and protracted with the greatest possible care.
The map is recommended to the Private Gentleman, in Town or Country. And then:
To render it worthy of such patronage, to ensure its success generally, and to sustain its character as a scientifically topographical work, Artists of the first eminence have, in the various departments, been selected.
All this to update an existing map. Surely hype. In flat sheets the 'new' map was going to cost two guineas; when mounted on cloth and mahogany rollers it would cost three guineas; when varnished it would cost another seven shillings; and when folded in a morocco library case it would cost three pounds ten shillings.
Ruff also produced an edition in 1851 and exhibited it at the Great Exhibition. The final edition of what had started as Greenwood's map was published in 1856 by Charles Smith & Sons, map publishers at 172 Strand, who were rather better known for their pocket maps. Clearly Smith lacked the capital to overhaul it thoroughly. Suburban development in particular was neglected. Indeed his edition of the map very effectively demonstrated the crying need for a new one.
That new map would be 'Stanford's Library Map of London and its Suburbs', 1862.
Literature: For further reading on Christopher Greenwood see J.B. Harley, Christopher Greenwood, County Mapmaker and his Worcestershire Map of 1822 (Worcestershire Historical Society 1962), a work I have referred to extensively in producing these notes. For maps of London of this period the indispensable source is James Howgego, Printed Maps of London circa 1553 –1850 (Folkestone: Dawson 1978)
Editions and States
The following states and editions have been identified:
1.
MAP of LONDON FROM An Actual Survey made in the Years 1824, 1825 & 1826. By C. and J. GREENWOOD, PRINGLE and Co. Engraved by JAMES & JOSIAH NEELE, 352 Strand.
6 sheets. Total image area, including engraved border 1240 x 1832mm (48 3/4 x 72 1/8 inches) Scale 8 inches : 1 mile
Beneath the title a compass direction. At bottom left an engraving of Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Westminster viewed from the W. At bottom centre an explanation of the symbols used and boundary colouring, two scale-bars, and the dedication with Royal Arms. The dedication reads: To His Most Gracious Majesty KING GEORGE THE FOURTH This Map OF THE British Metropolis. Is humbly Dedicated by His Majesty's most dutiful Servants, GREENWOOD, PRINGLE & Co. At bottom right an engraving of St Paul's Cathedral as seen from the N.E. Decorative border.
The map shows both Old London Bridge and New London Bridge. Rennie's New London Bridge would be completed and opened in 1831, Old London Bridge would be demolished in 1832. The position of Brunel's Thames Tunnel is shown. Work on building the tunnel had started in 1825, but it would not be completed until 1843. The layout for the Bishop of London's Paddington Estate (Tyburnia) represents that proposed in 1824 by Samuel Pepys Cockerell, Surveyor to the London Bishopric Estates. It features Crescent Place, Polygon Street, and The Polygon. Following Cockerell's death in 1827, his successor, George Gutch, radically adjusted the layout.
Copies of the two engravings on this map would feature on C. & J. Greenwood's Map of the County of Middlesex, 1829, reduced and vignetted.
Copies seen: British Library; Guildhall Library; London Metropolitan Archives
2. As 1 but map revised. The Zoological Society's Gardens in Regent's Park are now shown in more detail. The plan of St Katherine's Church, Regent's Park has been altered. The layout of the roads on the W. side of Tyburnia has been slightly altered, and Westbourne Street is now named. The proposed Collier Docks on the Isle of Dogs are indicated by pecked lines; and a road on the Isle of Dogs from a point near Ferry House to Blackwall is also shown by pecked lines. This would become Manchester Road.
Copies seen: Guildhall Library; London Metropolitan Archives
3. MAP of LONDON, made FROM AN ACTUAL SURVEY IN THE YEARS 1824, 1825, & 1826, BY C. & J. GREENWOOD, Extended and Comprising the various improvements to 1830 HUMBLY DEDICATED TO his most Gracious Majesty KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH, By the Proprietors, GREENWOOD & Co. REGENT STREET, PALL MALL, 31ST 1830. ENGRAVED BY JOSIAH NEELE, 352 STRAND.
Though this map results from the 1824-1826 survey it is in fact a new publication, having been entirely re-engraved and thus printed from new plates. The map area has been extended S. to include Stockwell Park, Camberwell, Denmark Hill, and Peckham. This detail occupies the space devoted on 1 to the explanations, the scale bars, and the dedication. The explanations now feature to the right of the Westminster Abbey view, and the references to 61 parishes to the left of the view of St Paul's. On the map itself the site has been cleared for the building of Trafalgar Square and John Nash's West Strand development. The proposed road to Finchley is no longer shown, though a New Road from Finchley to Marylebone, following a different route, is shown. In Portland Town (i.e. St John's Wood) several new roads and proposed roads are to be seen. Several new streets have also been added in the Neat House Gardens area of Pimlico and to Peckham New Town. Half-penny hatches are shown on the Grand Surrey Canal. The Mill Ponds(s) at Rotherhithe are shown as a rather more complex system, the New London Dock is actually named, and a new dock has been added at the N. end of the Surrey Docks. Black Horse Pond in Deptford is no longer shown, and Deptford Lower Road now extends N.W. to connect up with the road at China Hall. The Phoenix Gasworks at Greenwich are shown. The Collier Docks are still shown on the Isle of Dogs, and rather more buildings are sown N. of the East India Dock Road. For this version of the map Greenwood has made more effort to name streets and terraces. The field-pattern is sometimes radically different.
Copies seen: London Metropolitan Archives
4. As 3 but further development shown in Neat House Gardens, Pimlico.
Copies seen: Guildhall Library
5. MAP of LONDON made FROM AN ACTUAL SURVEY IN THE YEARS 1824 1825 & 1826, BY C. & J. GREENWOOD, Extended and Comprising the various improvements to 1835. HUMBLY DEDICATED TO his most Gracious Majesty KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH. By the Proprietors E. RUFF & CO. HIND COURT, FLEET STREET. JANY 1ST. 1835.
The map now shows the extent of the Twopenny Post Delivery. New developments include the London & Birmingham Railway to Camden Town, the London & Greenwich Railway to Blue Stile, Trafalgar Square with the National Gallery, and King's College to E. of Somerset House. In Bayswater Stanhope Square has been added. New buildings are shown to the W. of St George's Burial Ground, and the proposed Circus Place has been removed. Old London Bridge, demolished in 1832, has been removed, and King William Street has been added. The proposed Collier Docks on the Isle of Dogs have been removed, and a Timber Dock has been added S. of the City Canal. A reservoir has been added N. of the Lea Union Canal. Between Islington and Kingsland the New Cattle Market has been added, and on the W. side of the New Road from Battle Bridge to Holloway are Experimental Gardens.
Copies seen: London Metropolitan Archives
6. MAP of LONDON, From Actual Survey, COMPREHENDING THE Various Improvements to 1835. HUMBLY DEDICATED TO his most Gracious Majesty KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH. By the Proprietors E. RUFF & CO. HIND COURT, FLEET STREET. 2ND. MARCH, 1835.
Note that Greenwood is no longer mentioned. Where the map is concerned, no topographical changes have been detected.
Copies seen: London Metropolitan Archives
7. Date changed to 1838, though still dedicated to William IV.
Copies seen: Sotheby sale 15 Dec. 1975, Lot 139
8. As 7 but now dedicated to Queen Victoria.
Copies seen: Sotheby sale 15 Dec. 1975, lot 140
9. MAP of LONDON From Actual Survey, COMPREHENDING THE Various Improvements to 1839. HUMBLY DEDICATED TO her most Gracious Majesty QUEEN VICTORIA, By the Proprietors E. RUFF & CO. HIND COURT, FLEET STREET.
Comparing this edition with 6 the following changes have been noted: The Great Western Railway is shown to Paddington, the London & Birmingham Railway has been extended to Euston, the Eastern Counties Railway is shown to Bishopsgate, the Blackwall Railway is shown to Fenchurch Street, and the London & Southampton Railway to Battersea. The Croydon Railway has also been added. Several roads formerly shown as proposed in the Bayswater area have been removed, and Hyde Park Square, Hyde Park Gardens, Cambridge Square, and Burwood Crescent have been added. Stanhope Square has been re-named Oxford Square.
Copies seen: London Metropolitan Archives
10. Title same as for 8, except that the date information now reads: …Various Improvements to 1840.
Copies seen: London Metropolitan Archives
11. Title same as for 8, except that the date information now reads: …Various Improvements to 1845.
Now shows the London & Westminster Cemetery and the Tower Hamlets Cemetery; the Stadium at Cremorne, and the Victoria Park with encircling roads and villas. Other additions include the Model Prison at Holloway, and the Hungerford Suspension Bridge linking the Hungerford Market on the N. side of the river with Lambeth on the S. The Fleet Prison has been removed.
Copies seen: British Library
12. Title same as for 8, except that the date information now reads: …Various Improvements to 1848.
The copy in the London Metropolitan Archives was coloured for the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers by John Robinson McClean, Civil Engineer, 17 Great George Street, Westminster, on 15 August 1849, to show the sewers and heights.
Copies seen: London Metropolitan Archives
13. Title same as for 8, except that the date information now reads: …Various Improvements to 1851.
Railways shown now include the East and West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway, and the North Kent Railway. The site for the Great Northern Railway's terminus at King's Cross has been cleared. The Great Exhibition is shown in Hyde Park. Cremorne Stadium has been re-named Cremorne Gardens, and Messrs Cubitt's premises on Millbank, and the Equitable Gas Works on Millbank are now labelled as such. New roads have been added in the Pimlico area, and Victoria Street is shown as proposed. New streets and squares are shown in Upper Islington, and many new streets have been added N. of the Regent's Canal. Victoria Park is now shown as laid out. The circle based on St Paul's indicating the extent of the Twopenny Post has been removed.
Copies seen: British Library
14. Title same as for 8, except that the date information now reads: …Various Improvements to 1854.
Shows the Thames Junction Branch Railway. The Great Exhibition building has been removed from Hyde Park. Battersea Park is now labelled such, though the layout is not that finally adopted, and proposed Chelsea Suspension Bridge. Victoria Street now shown as completed. New streets are shown in St John's Wood and in Bayswater between Gloucester Road and Porchester Terrace. Cubitt's Saw Mills & Factory are shown on the Isle of Dogs.
Copies seen: British Library; London Metropolitan Archives
15. Title same as for 8, except that the date information now reads: …Various Improvements to 1856. Imprint details now: PUBLISHED BY SMITH & SON, 172, Strand.
Now measures 1195 x 1815 mm (47 x 71 ½ in.) excluding border. Battersea Park still not shown as finally laid out. King's Cross Station shown as built. Shows Scott Russell's shipyard on the Isle of Dogs where the Great Eastern was being constructed.
Copies seen: British Library
Ralph Hyde
