Historical Maps
- 1741 Plan of The Portman Estate
- 1745 John Rocque's Map of London
- 1769 John Rocque's Map of London
- 1771 Estate Plan of Portman Square
- 1780 Plan of The Portman Estate
- 1793 Richard Horwood's Map of London
- 1813 Richard Horwood's Map of London
- 1888 Ordnance Survey Map of The Portman Estate
This sequence of maps shows perhaps more effectively than any description the rapid development of the Portman Estate in Marylebone over a period of less than 150 years. In the early 18th century this area was probably best known as the site of Tyburn gallows. They are still shown on the earliest of these maps but by the time of the last map the wheel had turned full circle with the northern part of the Estate on the point of being broken up by the building of Marylebone station.
However, more than a century later, much of the rich legacy of Georgian and Regency development that the Estate represents lives on.
1741 Plan of The Portman Estate
This is the earliest surviving plan of the Estate, when it was still farmland. The two farms measured together just over 258 acres and they were both leased to William Baker, from whom Baker Street takes its name. Through him Henry William Portman began to issue the Estate's first building leases in 1755. Tyburn gallows are clearly marked on this plan but other than that there are only a few farm buildings.
1745 John Rocque's Map of London
A section of a famous map of London and its environs by John Rocque showing the western half of Marylebone. The isolated building on the north side of Oxford Street almost opposite North Audley Street was William Baker's farmhouse. Ten years later this was where building began on the Portman Estate with Orchard Street and Portman Street. The 'Marylebone Turnpike' was an early form of toll road, introduced along Oxford Street in 1721.
1769 John Rocque's Map of London
A later edition of John Rocque's 1745 map, drawn to the same scale. Comparing the two maps one can see just how quickly the Estate was taking shape. Work began on Portman Square itself, the centrepiece of the new Estate, in 1764. The 'New Road from Paddington to Islington' has also appeared since the earlier edition. Dating from 1756 and now the Marylebone Road, this was built as a bypass to Oxford Street.
1771 Estate Plan of Portman Square
An original plan of Portman Square and the area immediately around it drawn soon after development had begun. Each block of houses is identified with a lettering system and exact measurements are shown in feet. The toll-house of the Marylebone Turnpike road is shown at the junction of Oxford Street and the Edgware Road - by this time a mobile structure was being used for Tyburn gallows, though the gallows remained here until 1783.
1780 Plan of The Portman Estate
A plan of the whole of the Portman Estate drawn by James Buck. On the left is a list of tenants with the acreages of land they were renting from the Estate. Other details shown include the Life Guards stables west of the line of Baker Street, the Lead Works in Lisson Grove, still surrounded by open fields, and the river Tyburn, named as the 'Rivulet Spry'.
1793 Richard Horwood's Map of London
Part of Richard Horwood's fine map of the whole of London of 1792-99, drawn to a scale of 26 inches to the mile and the first to give individual house numbers. The southern half of Marylebone was still not quite completely built up but Marylebone Road, the New Road, was lined with large terraced houses with long front gardens.
1813 Richard Horwood's Map of London - Third Edition
This is the third edition of Richard Horwood's map, revised by William Faden and published by him 20 years after the first edition. The most significant change from the earlier edition is that Montagu Square has been completed - its houses are all numbered - and Bryanston Square and the streets to the north of the two squares have been planned and laid out.
1888 Ordnance Survey Map of The Portman Estate
A 25 inch Ordnance Survey map marked to show the extent of the Portman Estate at the time of the death of the 1st Viscount Portman. The Estate was then at the peak of its development. Dorset Square, north of Marylebone Road, had been completed by around 1820, followed by Harewood and Blandford Squares, but within ten years of the date of this map both these squares virtually disappeared, forced out by Marylebone station.