The first detailed and accurate bird’s-eye view of the capital ever seen shows London in a whole new light

A new book lets readers travel back in time to a period when myriad timber yards were on the south side of the Thames opposite the Strand and Bermondsey was open countryside.

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London in the 18th century
St James's Park in the early 18th century during Queen Anne's reign, much different to how it is today.
(Image credit: London in the 18th century)

In 1746, tall ships sailed up the Thames, only two bridges crossed the river, London was a global centre for trade in the likes of coal, wood, wool, cloth and meat and its population numbered about 650,000.

During this year, too, French-born Huguenot surveyor, engraver and cartographer John Rocque (1704–62) created a pioneering mapping masterpiece, An Exact Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, and borough of Southwark — the first detailed and accurate bird’s-eye view of the capital ever seen.

London in the 18th century

'A View of the Rotunda and Gardens at Ranelagh', 1959, by Nathaniel Parr.

(Image credit: London in the 18th century)

London in the 18th century

The South prospect of the Tower of London, 1952 .

(Image credit: London in the 18th century)

Two centuries later, the Daily Mail reproduced Rocque’s map, alongside words by Wallace Crawford Snowden, in a book entitled London 200 years ago. The recently published London in the 18th Century is a revised and updated version of that work, with Rocque’s map once again reproduced in glorious detail over numerous pages with historical explanations.

Travel back in time to a period when myriad timber yards were on the south side of the Thames opposite the Strand, when Buckingham House, built in 1703 for John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, wasn’t the U-shaped building that would become Buckingham Palace and Bermondsey was open countryside.

London in the 18th century

 London city panorama, 1751.

(Image credit: London in the 18th century)

London in the 18th century

A view of London from about the year 1560.

(Image credit: London in the 18th century)

'London in the 18th Century' is available from Atlantic Publishing (£25)

This article first appeared in the April 22, 2026, issue of Country Life. For more information on how to subscribe, click here.

Julie Harding
Julie Harding
News and Property Editor

Julie Harding is Country Life’s News and Property Editor. She is a former editor of Your Horse, Country Smallholding and Eventing, a sister title to Horse & Hound, which she ran for 11 years. Julie has a master’s degree in English and she grew up on a working Somerset dairy farm and in a Grade II*-listed farmhouse, both of which imbued her with a love of farming, the countryside and historic buildings. She returned to her Somerset roots 18 years ago after a stint in the ‘big smoke’ (ie, the south east) and she now keeps a raft of animals, which her long-suffering (and heroic) husband, Andrew, and four children, help to look after to varying degrees.