Researching the history of public buildings
These
are among the easiest buildings to research, since the documentation
should be held in one archive - that of the relevant local or national
body - though administrative changes may have produced division between
archives in some cases. Also see general sources of maps and images.
National
Records of buildings owned
by the Crown and national government are in The National
Archives: the catalogue and useful leaflets are online. The
National Archives divides its vast collection into classes, each with a
prefix indicating the source e.g. ADM = Admiralty, DEFE = Ministry of
Defence, ED = Education. Finding aids for each class are in the search
rooms and some are published. The records of the Ministry of Public
Buildings and Works 1609-1956 (WORK) are listed in List and Index
Society volumes 59, 65 and 79. From 1831 the Office of Public Works
(Ireland) was responsible for public buildings in Ireland and its
papers are in the National
Archives of Ireland.
There are also some references to public works, including fortifications, in Parliamentary Papers, now partly catalogued online. The Defence of Britain Project aims to record all 20th-century military structures. For medieval fortifications by the Crown see castles.
Some grand post offices were erected in major cities by the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. The records for post offices are divided between the National Archives (WORK) and the post office archive. For hospitals see charity buildings. For schools see educational buildings.
County
County JPs were responsible for the upkeep of shire halls, gaols, asylums, and houses of correction for the county and any bridges not maintained by another body. See quarter sessions and other records in the relevant county record office. County councils were established by the Local Government Act of 1888. Their records are also in the relevant county record office and include those for county-run schools.
City and town
Corporation archives have records of guildhalls, town halls, market halls, bridges, baths, fountains, libraries, schools, town walls and other buildings owned now or originally by the corporation. Accounts become increasingly common after the time of Elizabeth and can give details of spending on buildings. West gives the location of many such archives in England and Wales and see local archives. Some material from borough archives has been calendared in print - see Bibliographies: Texts and Calendars.
Studies and gazetteers
- Brodie, A., Croom, J. and O Davies, J., English Prisons (English Heritage 2002): survey of existing and former prisons.
- Chalkin, C., English Counties and Public Building 1650-1830 (1998).
- Coad, J., The Royal Dockyards, 1690-1850: Architecture and Engineering Works of the Sailing Navy (1989).
- Cunningham, C., Victorian and Edwardian Town Halls (1981). Includes a gazetteer for the British Isles.
- Graham, Clare, Ordering Law: The archirectural and social history of the English law court to 1914 (2003). Includes a gazetteer for England.
- Herefordshire County Council, Prisons in Herefordshire. Includes a history of the prison system nationally and a county gazetteer.
- Howard, John, The State of the Prison in England and Wales (1777).
- McParland, E., Public Architecture in Ireland 1680-1760 (2001).
- Morris, N. and Rothman, D.J., The Oxford History of the Prison (1995).
- Pevsner, N., A History of Building Types (1976). Concentrates on public buildings.
- Rossbret UK Institutions: online gazetteer of UK workhouses and voluntary or subscription hospitals, with some asylums, orphanages, almshouses and prisons. Background information on the poor law and history of medicine.
- Royal Commission
on the
Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Tolbooths
and Townhouses: A Record of Tolbooths and Townhouses in Scotland
(1997).
- Tittler, R., Architecture and Power: The town hall and the English urban community c.1500-1640 (1991).
- And see bridges, market halls, schools and townwalls.