Records of the Bath Waterworks Act 1846

Records created or gathered by the Town Clerk during the development of the Bath Waterworks Act 1846 and execution of the scheme of works specified by it.
The Act empowered the Corporation to expand its water supply by taking up certain springs in Swainswick, Batheaston and Bathampton, and to construct the works necessary to use the same, and provided a power to purchase or take up other sources by agreement with the owners.
The Act explicitly protected several existing privately owned waterworks undertakings belonging to the Duke of Cleveland (The Bathwick Estate Waterworks) and the Circus Waterworks Co., by limiting the Corporation right to supply the areas covered by these private undertaking except where directly asked to do so.
These records include: correspondence between the Town Clerk and Parliament or Parliamentary Agents regarding the progress and development of the Bill; correspondence with local land owners who would be affected by the passing of the Act and negotiations therewith; copies of the Bill; Parliamentary Committee papers, including petitions against the Bill, legal briefings, declarations and proofs; copies of the Act as passed; mortgage bonds issued to raise funds; specifications of the works executed; papers re. a dispute with the Contractor; and papers re. a dispute over compensation for the abstraction of water at the Batheaston Silk Mill.