Explore Old Maps of Ireland (16th to 21st Century)

Today, Ireland’s authoritative state mapping records are maintained by Tailte Éireann, which incorporates the former Ordnance Survey Ireland. The first Ordnance Survey of Ireland began in 1824, but Irish cartography stretches back centuries before that. The maps below trace changing representations of Ireland from a 1525 printed map based on Ptolemy through the 20th century, followed by railway, tourist, and castle maps.

Old Maps of Ireland in the 1500s

The first image is a map printed in 1525 from geographical work attributed to Claudius Ptolemy, the Greco-Roman scholar of the second century CE. Ireland appears under the Latin name Hibernia. Although the printing date falls within the early Tudor period, England’s sustained Tudor conquest of Ireland developed later across the 16th century and was not completed until 1603.

The second map was published in 1570. Like the earlier example, it reflects the long afterlife of classical Ptolemaic geography in Renaissance atlases rather than serving as a survey of Tudor military progress. Its depiction of Ireland remains comparatively schematic.

Historic Maps of Ireland in 1600

The 17th century transformed Ireland’s political and landholding landscape. The aftermath of the Nine Years’ War, the Plantation of Ulster, and later Cromwellian confiscations transferred large areas of land to English and Scottish settlers. Maps produced in and after this period therefore record not only geography, but also changing systems of political control and land ownership.

This map, The Kingdome of Great Britaine and Ireland, was created by English cartographer John Speed. It appeared in a 1676 edition of The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, an atlas first published in 1612. The 1676 volume combined later editions of two of Speed’s most important atlases and was published in London by Thomas Bassett and Richard Chiswell.

This colorful map of Great Britain and Ireland was produced for a Dutch atlas published in Amsterdam. Dutch mapmakers were among Europe’s leading cartographers in the 17th century. Its title, Anglia, Scotia et Hibernia, uses the Latin names for England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Maps of Ireland in 1700

Economic restrictions, religious discrimination, and recurring harvest failures contributed to substantial migration from Ireland during the 18th century. Many migrants from Ulster—including Presbyterians often called Scots-Irish in North America—settled in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the American colonies. The century also brought increasingly detailed maps of Ireland’s provinces, roads, towns, and administrative boundaries.

The first map clearly labels the four historic provinces: Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and Connacht. Its treatment of Ulster is especially interesting when compared with later political maps, although the historic province should not be confused with the modern boundary of Northern Ireland.

This detailed 1790 map focuses on southern Ireland and distinguishes roads, barracks, cities, boroughs, and market towns. It captures the transport and settlement geography of the kingdom shortly before the 1798 rebellion and the Act of Union of 1800.

Historic Maps of Ireland Circa 1800

Ireland’s population stood at about 6.8 million in the 1821 census and rose to more than 8 million by 1841. The Great Famine of 1845–1852 then caused mass death and emigration; by the 1901 census, the island’s population had fallen to roughly 4.46 million. These demographic shifts formed one of the defining changes in 19th-century Irish history. The Central Statistics Office’s census history provides additional context.

19th-century maps document many different aspects of Ireland, including geology, transport, settlement, and administration. The example below is Alexander Keith Johnston and Edward Forbes’s Paleontological Map of the British Islands, published in Edinburgh by William Blackwood in 1850.

This map is from Colton’s Atlas of the World, considered one of the most accurate atlases of the era. It was an American atlas published in New York in 1856, oddly appropriate considering the exodus of Irish to New York City during this time.

Maps of Ireland in the 20th Century

The partition of Ireland emerged from the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Northern Ireland remained within the United Kingdom. Maps from the following decades make this new political boundary visible, but the division cannot be reduced simply to a Protestant-versus-Catholic settlement.

This 1929 pictorial map was published within the first decade after partition and highlights agricultural products and fisheries on both sides of the new border. Northern Ireland comprises six of Ulster’s nine counties, so the political boundary resembles—but is not identical to—the historic provincial boundary.

This later map is especially interesting for its Irish-language labeling. Éire is the Irish name for Ireland, and this map from the American Geographical Society records Irish forms of place names across the island.

Old Railway Map of Ireland

Railways reshaped travel and commerce in 19th-century Ireland. This map accompanied the Second Report of the Railway Commissioners, published in 1838, and shows existing and proposed routes at the beginning of Ireland’s railway expansion.

Tourist Map of Ireland

Ireland is full of amazing sites to visit, from Dublin Castle, right in the capital city, to natural wonders like the Giant’s Causeway and the Cliffs of Moher. But no trip to Ireland is complete without your chance to gain the “gift of the gab” by kissing the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle.

Ireland Castles Map

Of course, Ireland isn’t just known for its natural appeal–don’t miss the architectural highlights from Ashford Castle to Donegal to Kilkenny. The abbeys and other religious sites are awe-inspiring as well, from the famed Rock of Cashel to the lesser-known Kylemore Castle Abbey. 

Five hundred years of maps should leave you well prepared to plan your own exploration of this beautiful country. Ireland is well worth the visit. We hope you’ve enjoyed this trip through time and look forward to hearing about your adventures in the Emerald Isle.