Artist creates Lord of the Rings style map of modern day Merseyside

Merseyside has been depicted as a fantasy realm from something like JRR Tolkien’s world famous Lord of the Rings trilogy or hit TV show Game of Thrones in a stunning map.

Creator Chris Birse asked Liverpudlians which landmarks and quirks they would like to be included on the map before transforming each request into a suitable motif.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is represented by dragons, Fiddlers Ferry power station is a mine full of gleaming gems and Liverpool Bay is resplendent with shipwrecks.

How the artist created Merseyside

Chris, who left his job in retail to pursue cartography on a full-time basis, said there were some unique challenges in creating the fantasy map of the Liverpool City Region.

“People ask for modern things to be included and I have to find away to tweak them to fit in,” he told LiverpoolWorld.

“The dragons are unique to Merseyside. An airport is obviously a bit modern, but a dragon is perfect.”

Chris says he completed about 50% of the map and then uploaded it to local Facebook groups to ask what landmarks they would like to have included.

“I got about 1000 requests from Merseyside and I got about 95% of them into the map,” he says.

How it all started

About three years ago, Chris was writing a fantasy novel, he needed a map to go at the beginning of the book and decided to have a go at it himself.

After some positive feedback, he attempted to do a version of his local area, Teesside, and that too went down really well. From there he branched out to regions all over the UK.

While his personal brand of cartography has gone to strength to strength, the novel was never published and still sits on a shelf.

How can I get one?

Chris has an online shop here at Etsy, where you can buy all of his prints.