Building a Healthier City 2: slum clearance, council housing and renovation in Bath, 1890-1995

The Wellcome Trust awarded Bath Record Office £172,750 to catalogue, conserve and make available records of the history of housing in Bath.

This project has opened up valuable new opportunities for research into the relationship between housing and health. It has enabled access to significant records relating to slum clearance, provision of council housing, and renovation of unfit properties in Bath. Spanning over a century, the records are a valuable resource enabling researchers to understand the different ways in which unhealthy housing was replaced or renovated, and to assess the success and failings of different approaches.

We catalogued approximately 90 linear metres of records and published the resulting catalogue online; the records were repackaged, and remedial conservation was carried out, where necessary, for preservation and access. More than 100 years of Bath’s housing history has been preserved and made accessible.

The collections included in this project are:

Sealed Orders and Byelaws issued by the Bath City Council - BC/3/1/2

• These are Orders and Byelaws issued by Bath City Council and sealed with the Municipal Seal. They record many aspects of the life and development of the city, including its built environment, traffic and streets, childcare, welfare, and charitable support.
• The sealed orders include: compulsory purchase orders, clearance orders, stopping up orders, nursery licenses, street naming, and the setting up of welfare schemes, pension schemes and charities.
• The online catalogue for this series can be found here.

Bath City Council Contracts - BC/3/1/3

• The series is especially useful for tracing the development of council housing in the city in the twentieth century and they are a significant source of evidence for the design, quality, and methods of construction of council houses over time.
• Records of council housing include: construction and development of estates, temporary housing post 1945, demolition and clearance of bomb damaged sites, ongoing maintenance, repairs, and modernisation works particularly to pre-1939 council housing; improvements to water supply and supply of central heating, gas and electricity.
• The online catalogue for this series can be found here.

Papers relating to slum clearance and rebuilding at Lampards Buildings and Dolemeads under the Housing of the Working Classes Act (1890) - BC/8/3/1/1 and BC/8/3/1/2

• The Lampard’s Buildings area was declared an ‘Unhealthy Area’ by the Medical Officer of Health due to poor ventilation and lack of light, the old courts were purchased and demolished, and a new terrace of houses constructed. The Dolemeads area redevelopment was initiated by broader environmental and public health concerns, primarily relating to repeated flooding in the area. In both cases new working-class dwellings were constructed under the auspices of the Housing of the Working Classes Act (1890).
• Includes Medical Officer of Health reports, resident’s petitions, schedules of properties to be acquired, proofs from professional architects and surveyors, inquiry papers, financial records and plans relating to the Urban Sanitary Authority’s preparations to design, implement and undertake works to improve the living conditions of working-class dwellings at Lampard's Buildings and the Dolemeads.
• The online catalogue for this series can be found here.

Registers of Housing under the various Housing Acts of the early 20th Century - BC/8/3/2

• Includes registers of unfit housing and of new housing compiled in response to legislation.
• The online catalogue for this series can be found here.

Records relating to Public Local Inquiries into Compulsory Purchase Orders for Housing Redevelopments - BC/8/3/3

• Papers of Public Inquiries into the compulsory purchase and development of lands for housing purposes. Bath City Council sometimes utilised compulsory purchase orders to enable them to clear and redevelop areas considered unfit for human habitation and for the creation of new housing estates. Some compulsory purchase orders raised objections from landowners who would be affected, resulting in the need for public inquiries to address their concerns and resolve any disputes.
• The records shed light on some of the challenges faced by the Council as it attempted to develop the city’s housing stock; and includes compulsory purchase orders, objections, legal briefings, Medical Officer of Health reports, proofs from professional architects and surveyors, and plans.
• The online catalogue for this series can be found here.

Plans and photographs relating to clearance areas and Council housing developments (Including photos of Snow Hill Clearance) - BC/8/3/4 – BC/8/3/5

• The plans relate to council housing developments and the clearance of slum areas within the City of Bath. The collection Includes plans for some developments that did not happen and some for alternative layouts.
• A small collection of photographs from Bath City Council Estates Department showing constructed housing estates and photographs showing the Snow Hill area just prior to and during the clearance of housing and redevelopment of the area.
• The online catalogue for these series can be found here and here.

Correspondence Files of the Housing Committee of Bath City Council - BC/8/5/1-3

• This series records the Town Clerk’s work under the direction of the Housing Committee and charts the Housing Committee’s actions in response to new legislation and to local needs.
• The surviving files contain records relating to: the acquisition of lands; construction of new working class dwellings under the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890; construction of new housing estates; control of housing considered 'Unfit for Human Habitation' by means of demolition and or closing orders; acquisition of premises within 'Slum Clearance Areas'; construction of temporary housing estates during and shortly after World War 2; construction of new permanent housing estates in the post-war period, and ongoing maintenance of the Council’s housing stock.
• The online catalogue for this series can be found here.

To complement this project, the Wellcome Trust awarded Bath Record Office a Research Enrichment Grant of £17,900 to enable staff to run a community engagement project entitled ‘Imagine: a hundred years of homes in Bath’ which you can read more about here.

'Building a Healthier City 2' follows on from our previous Wellcome-funded project, ‘Building a Healthier City’ which made accessible records relating to improvements to the city’s infrastructure and public health during the 1700s to 1900s.

Funded by: