It’s the 4th day of the new year and at last MadAboutGenealogy has moved out of the cemetery !!! For those who haven’t caught up on my posts since the 1st January they have been about cemeteries and graveyards. Oh well it’s amazing what makes genealogists happy

Today I am posting about the new release of Manchester maps, great news for my friend Jill who has all her ancestors within 50 miles of Manchester, she is a neat and tidy person and likes to corral her family in a distinct area!

The maps are part of the John Rylands University Digital Library and date from 1794 through to 1956. They comprise private surveys, the familiar Ordnance Survey maps and maps showing the Manchester shipping canal and docks.

Maps can be zoomed into allowing details such as house outlines, building names and internal layout of public building to become clear. The maps can be searched by place-names.

This collection will be of great value to family and local historians and will work well alongside the census. Lucky genealogists with Manchester ancestors.

Also available online are Commercial Street Directory maps dating from the 1750’s and the Manchester Blitz maps.

The maps are

http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/searchresources