Old Map of London in 1746 by John Rocque, Sheet C1 - Holborn, Russell & Bloomsbury Square, Lincoln's and Gray's Inn, Camden

This sheet is part of what is widely regarded as the greatest large-scale map of London ever produced: the twenty-four sheet survey put together by surveyor and cartographer John Rocque and engraved by John Pine, published in 1746. Rocque spent years surveying London street by street to achieve a level of accuracy and detail that had never been attempted before, covering the city from the fields of the outer parishes right into the heart of Westminster and the City of London. This particular plate is sheet C1 of that survey, focusing on the area north and south of High Holborn and the most central parts of what is now the borough of Camden. Because the full survey was published as a continuous grid of sheets rather than as separate district maps, C1 sits alongside its neighbouring plates to build up a complete and remarkably detailed picture of mid-eighteenth-century London, of which this is one particularly rich section.

On this sheet, London and Westminster are already well developed, with recognisable streets, squares and landmarks throughout the built-up areas. Lincoln's Inn Fields is shown in detail, along with Bloomsbury Square and the open ground that would later become Russell Square. Great Ormond Street appears too, though the hospital that would later make it famous had not yet been built, and Red Lyon Square is shown nearby. The land that would eventually become home to the British Museum is recorded here simply as fields and gardens, not yet developed for its future purpose, while Gray's Inn Road and Gray's Inn Square are both clearly marked. Further north, the whole area now generally known as St Pancras, running up toward what is today Euston Road, appears as open farmland referred to on the map as Lambs Conduit Fields. This mix of dense, mapped streets in the south of the sheet and open fields further north captures London at a genuine turning point, with the built city pressing right up against the countryside that would, within a century, be absorbed into it entirely.

This sheet has particular appeal for anyone connected to the legal profession, given its detailed record of Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn as they stood in the mid-eighteenth century, making it a fitting gift to mark a call to the Bar, a retirement, or simply years spent working in this part of London. It also suits anyone with a personal connection to Holborn, Bloomsbury or Camden, whether through work, study or family history in the area. Paired with its neighbouring sheet A2, which covers Mayfair and the West End, it forms part of a wider set for anyone building a room-by-room map of Georgian London. Every print is supplied unframed and available across our full range of sizes, so it can be chosen to suit anywhere from a compact study to a large office wall.