Records of Manchester Corporation Highways Department.
1825-1893, 1937-1980s
Archives
Total copies: 1
Ledgers
Related Material:For additional information see A. Redford: The History of Local Governnent in Manchester vols. I and 2. 1940. 342.042 M149
Place:/Manchester/Manchester/Lancashire/England
Title:
Records of Manchester Corporation Highways Department.
Date of work:
1825-1893, 1937-1980s
Reference number:
GB127.M19
Level of description:
Fonds
Includes:
Custodial history:
Surveyors of the Highways were appointed from 1555 onwards. They were nominated by the Vestry and appointed by the Justices of the Peace. The Highways Act, 1819 (59 George 3 c.xx) authorised the election annually, with powers to levy a rate, of separate bodies of Surveyors for the Township and for the Parish of Manchester, the latter to have responsibility for roads which were not under the care of the individual townships within the Parish. The Highway Rate was raised on the Poor Law Assessment but was collected and administered separately by the Surveyors and had first to be allowed by the Justices in Quarter Sessions
With the Manchester Improvement Act 1776 (16 George 3. c.63), the Improvement Commissioners came into being. The Manchester and Salford Police Act,1792 (23 George 3. c.69) made provision for the Improvement Commissioners to be affiliated to the now body of Police Commissioners and under the Manchester and Salford Police Act of 1828 (9 George 4 c.cxvii) they became a statutory committee of the latter. Prior to this date, improvements to streets were paid for out of voluntary subscriptions except where specific arrangements were made in a particular local act; e.g. The Act to Improve Market Street, 1821 (1 and 2 George, 4. c.cxxvi), specified that the Highway Rate should be increased and the Surveyors pay to the Commissioner the requisite amount annually. From 1828 the Commissioners were empowered to use profits from the gas undertaking. The Police Commissioners were authorized to order the paving and sewering of streets not as yet public highways. In 1828, this task was assigned to the lamp, Scavenging, Fire Engine and Main Sewer Committee, but three years later a separate Paving and Soughing Committee was formed. Expenses were recoverable from the owners of adjoining property but, initially work was paid for out of the Police Rate.
Once a road had been declared a public highway, its future upkeep became the responsibility of' the Surveyors of the Highways. Originally, only they could declare a road a public highway, but the power to do so was extended to the Police Commissioners in the 1792 Act. In the years prior to the incorporation of the borough, there appears to have been overlapping and confusion in the work carried out by the various bodies. In 1843, the powers of the Police Commissioners were transferred to the Corporation. The Paving and Soughing Committee became the Paving Committee, while the Improvement Committee retained its former name. Eight years later the Manchester General Improvement Act, 1851 (14 and 15 Vict. c.cxix ) made the council the highway authority. The Surveyors of the Highways were thus absorbed by the new Paving, Sewering and Highways Committee.
Source:
The records were transferred from the City's Surveyor's Department in 1960 and in 2001 (M19/11). M19/10/1-2 were purchased by us.
Access restrictions:
Unrestricted
Use restrictions:
Unrestricted
General notes:
Old Accession Number: 2001/26 2014/50
Topics:
Record types:
Manchester Archives and Local Studies
Language:
English
Record number:
7187628