Casson and Berry

A Plan of the Towns of Manchester and Salford in the County Palatine of Lancaster by R. Casson and J. Berry

Between the years 1741 and 1757 Russel Casson and John Berry, and later Berry alone, produced a series of pictorially elegant and historically important plans of the towns of Manchester and Salford.

The maps depict the significant development that had occurred since the last previous representation of the town in 1650, but precede the extraordinary growth which accompanied the industrial revolution of the late eighteenth century.

About 160 streets are shown, in comparison with the 24 or so represented on the plan of 1650. A ‘Description of the Towns’ printed on the sides of the plans gives the number of houses as 6,000 with around 30,000 inhabitants. Around the sides of the plans is a series of engraved views of notable houses and buildings, creating a lively impression of the appearance of the two towns in the mid-eighteenth century.