The development of Towns and Cities from old maps and aerial photos

JupiterKid · 13-06-2012 8:08am #1

I'm fascinated with the way that towns and cities develop over time and I've built up a small collection of old aerial photos and many old street maps to chart the evolution of the built environment and the patterns of growth that our cities and towns have experienced.

Here's one interesting image. It was taken in September 1972 and shows the Templeogue, Knocklyon and Ballyboden areas with |Tallaght in the distance. You can clearly see that already the first parts of Tallaght have been developed and housing development just starting in Knocklyon by developers such as McInerney.

Note that the image is reversed - to get a proper perspective you need to flip it horizontally. *Mods - feel free to reduce the size of the image and flip it if you can.

Victor · 13-06-2012 10:31am

Reversed. Re-sized. Annotated.

GetWithIt · 13-06-2012 10:41am

The OSI site, whether by accident or design, actually does a really good job of allowing you to track the development of areas over time.

Here is the same area as the photo. In the dialog on the bottom right you can switch between images from 95, 00, 05 and present day. There is even historical data from the 1800's.

dubhthach · 13-06-2012 11:43am

It's a pity that OSi doesn't have older aerial photos I've seen snippets of aerial photos taken from Air Corps during the 1960's (or earlier) of urban areas. A publicly accesible archive on the Internet would be great, awh well.

Aard · 13-06-2012 11:57am

The OSi is great. On their map viewer, there's a function where you can overlay different maps/photos with vaying degrees of transparency. It also has all the old townland(?) boundaries, which is especially interesting for Dublin as a lot of the names have gone out of use.

dubhthach · 13-06-2012 12:05pm

Aard wrote: »

The OSi is great. On their map viewer, there's a function where you can overlay different maps/photos with vaying degrees of transparency. It also has all the old townland(?) boundaries, which is especially interesting for Dublin as a lot of the names have gone out of use.

Those townland boundaries are still valid. The one I find most fun with is the boundary between Sandymount and Irishtown. Technically Sandymount Catholic church is actually in Irishtown (townland). You often see houses around it advertising themselves as Sandymount let they all technically in Irishtown!

Winters · 13-06-2012 4:20pm

The development of Towns and Cities from old maps and aerial photos

Development? More like destruction!

Yeah the OSI map is brilliant, you can really notice the sprawl and lost opportunities at creating proper towns.

Sadly there is still nothing to stop developers and marketing people from naming their developments whatever they want.

The appallingly located and designed Waterside and Holywell developments beside the M1 in Swords have often been called Malahide. Ridiculous.

JupiterKid · 13-06-2012 5:57pm

Blanchardstown in June 1973.

Work is just starting on Corduff with the main roads for this area being excavated. Most of the area between Blanchardstown village and Coolmine has already been developed for housing - Coolmine, Glenville and Roselawn. Delwood is just outside of the image coverage.

Coolmine Community school, to the LHS of the image, has just been built.

alentejo · 28-06-2012 9:42pm

Great Photo of Rathfarnham.

DomhnallOg · 30-06-2012 12:07pm

Well done Jupiterkid - fascinating

JupiterKid · 04-05-2013 2:13am

The new Dublin suburb of Drimnagh in the 1940s

attachment.php?attachmentid=1068&stc=1&d=1214748376

JupiterKid · 04-05-2013 2:15am

Aerial View of Rathfarnham, Templeogue, Knocklyon and Tallaght (in the distance), September 1972 - re-sized, and annotated. With thanks to Victor.

JupiterKid · 04-05-2013 2:56am

These aerial photos show how the suburbs of South Dublin - from Dundrum on the far LHS to Blackrock including Mount Merrion and Stillorgan, developed between 1949 and 1966.
Mount Merrion estate, begun as a "garden suburb" in the 1930s, seems to form the main nucleus around which subsequent suburban housing development takes place.

1949

1958 (image is sideways)

and 1966 - this last image shows the new Stillorgan Shopping Centre under construction. There has been substantial suburban development since the first image taken in 1949. Within a decade the Stillorgan dual carrigeway would be built and you can see the reservation for the road clearly. The new Science block at UCD Belfield is also just completed.

Deedsie · 04-05-2013 2:04pm

This is an aerial shot of Nenagh, Co Tipperary. It shows the Castle Keep, Town hall & Courthouse all of which have been recently redeveloped. Also in the shot, Catholic and protestant churches, old rialto cinema & the heritage centre.

I think its a pretty shot of my home town if I do say so myself.

oppenheimer1 · 05-05-2013 1:17am

The historic towns atlas series produced by the RIA would be the perfect material for the OP to look at.

To date they've done 24 towns and cities in the country. They are very good and well worth a look.

http://www.ria.ie/publications/books/research-series/irish-historic-towns-atlas.aspx

JupiterKid · 21-10-2013 7:05pm

Kilnamanagh, Tallaght under development circa 1975/76.

Kilnamanagh comprised over 1,500 dwellings and was one of the largest purpose built housing estates in Europe at the time. The estate took several years to build and there were issues with unfinished public open spaces, amenities and roads.

Aard · 21-10-2013 9:54pm

Loving the aerial imagery, JupiterKid. A fascinating way of documenting the growth of cities.

JupiterKid · 21-10-2013 10:55pm

Tallaght village looking south west, 1977. The then under construction Tallaght Bypass can be seen across the image as earthworks.

JupiterKid · 21-10-2013 11:07pm

The newly developing Cork suburb of Douglas, 1973

Douglas in 2005

dogmatix · 22-10-2013 1:44pm

and 1966 - this last image shows the new Stillorgan Shopping Centre under construction. There has been substantial suburban development since the first image taken in 1949. Within a decade the Stillorgan dual carrigeway would be built and you can see the reservation for the road clearly. The new Science block at UCD Belfield is also just completed.

[/QUOTE]

Great photo! Surprised I have not come across this thread before. I can still the resevoirs, the old railway line (now the luas), my old school (Benildus) under construction, and Ballaly housing estate being built.

chewed · 28-10-2013 10:18am

Clontarf and Dublin Harbour, 1963

The development of Towns and Cities from old maps and aerial photos

Comments