MARSH ESTATE

Marsh Improvement

After the reform of the corporation in 1835 there was considerable agitation about the common lands which surrounded the borough and their future. There were encroachments made by building roads and several portions were sold to the railway company. The Marsh Improvement Act of 1844 (7 & 8 Vict., c. liv) represented a compromise between those who wished to develop the lands and those who wished to preserve them as places for recreation. The corporation received powers to grant building leases for the Marsh which was just over sixteen acres of undrained land between Terminus Station and the Floating Bridge. With the aid of the money raised by mortgages on the Marsh Estate the corporation bought out the private interests in the other common lands of the borough and dedicated them as open spaces. The provisions of this Act were confirmed by another (28 & 29 Vict., c. clxii) in 1865.

Following the Act of 1844 the corporation set up a separate committee and administration for the Marsh Estate and the common lands. The committee was only finally absorbed in the ordinary council system at the end of the nineteenth century. After the Act of 1865 (which gave the corporation power to regulate the markets) it was known as the Marsh and Markets committee, and from 1889 as the Public Lands and Markets committee. There are no signed minutes for the period from 1897-1934.