Board of Trade and successors: Marine Maps and Plans

The records in this series mostly relate to works constructed in tidal waters and to the ownership of foreshore land but the collection also included a small number of plans relating to railways.

It is possible that what is now one collection of maps may originally have been three - one collection relating to Crown foreshore, one collection relating to potential obstructions to navigation and harbour limits, and a third, much smaller, collection relating to railways.

Many pieces consist of a bundle of maps or plans rolled together, and sometimes accompanied by associated correspondence. Where a specific date is given for a particular piece, this is the year in which the Board of Trade received it; where this date is not known, an estimated date range has been supplied in square brackets.

When discovered, these maps and plans had no discernible original order. The order of the reference numbers assigned to them by the National Archives has no particular significance.

Originally all the maps were numbered using a tag which protruded from the map roll. In some cases this tag has now fallen off and cannot be found (these are the maps listed as having no original reference or which have been given the reference number 0). It is not unusual for a number of maps to have been allocated the same reference number. Other numbering systems can also be seen on the maps, including:

• 'black' maps where a number is written in black. These appear to be works for which permission was granted by the Board of Trade, the authorisation being recorded on the maps and plans
• plans with red numbers or red bindings relate to schemes for which consent was given
• a green series, representing applications for which consent was not given or was not required

Some of the maps are marked with references beginning with 'H', 'M' or 'MNA'. These are file references of the Board of Trade and its successors. Some of these files may be found within the following series: BT 243 MT 9 MT 10

Maps and plans not meeting the selection criteria were deposited with local record offices, the National Archives of Scotland, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the India Office Library.

When discovered the collection also included some photographs of foreshore structures. These have been transferred into

BT 355

• Board of Admiralty, Harbour and Railway Department, 1848-1854
• Board of Admiralty, Harbour Department, 1842-1848
• Board of Admiralty, Harbour Department, 1854-1856
• Board of Admiralty, Hydrographic and Harbour Department, 1856-1862
• Board of Trade, Commissioners of Woods, 1842-1866
• Board of Trade, Fisheries and Harbour Department, 1898-1904
• Board of Trade, General Department, 1840-1842
• Board of Trade, Harbour Department, 1867-1898
• Board of Trade, Harbour Department, 1904-1918
• Board of Trade, Marine Division, 1965-1970
• Board of Trade, Public Utilities and Harbour Department, 1918-1919
• Department of Trade and Industry, Marine Division, 1970-1974
• Department of Trade, Marine Division, 1974-1983
• Department of Transport, Ports Division, 1983-1997
• Ministry of Shipping, 1939-1941
• Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Marine Divisions, 1953-1959
• Ministry of Transport, Docks and Canal Division, 1934-1941
• Ministry of Transport, Harbour Branch, 1923-1934
• Ministry of Transport, Marine Divisions, 1946-1953
• Ministry of Transport, Marine Divisions, 1959-1965
• Ministry of Transport, Ports and Transit Division, 1938-1941
• Ministry of War Transport, 1941-1946

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Topics

Railways

Trade and commerce

Maps and plans

In about 1840 the General Department of the Board of Trade was created and its responsibilities included coast protection works.

In 1842 the Harbour Department of the Admiralty was created and its responsibilities included the regulation of foreshore development. Under the Railways Consolidation Act 1845 the Admiralty was given powers to approve railway construction affecting tidal lands. The Harbour, Docks and Pier Clauses Act gave the Admiralty and the Commissioners of Woods powers to authorise works if they affected, 'any part of the shore of the sea, or of any creek, bay, arm of the sea or navigable river where and so far up as the same of the tide flows or reflows'. The Preliminary Inquiries Act 1851 extended the Admiralty's authority to include bridges, viaducts and 'any work affecting the navigation of any harbour, port or navigable river'.

The General Pier and Harbour Act 1861 required that all proposed bills relating to such works were to be deposited with the Board of Trade, although their approval remained with the Admiralty until 1862 when the Harbour Transfer Act transferred the functions previously performed by the Admiralty to the Board of Trade. The Crown Lands Act 1866 transferred responsibility for the management of the Crown foreshore from the Commissioners of Woods to the Board of Trade.

The Harbour Department of the Board of Trade discharged these responsibilities until 1919 when they passed to the Ports Division of the Ministry of Transport. In 1939 the navigational functions were transferred to the Ministry of Shipping, which was amalgamated with the Ministry of Transport in 1941 to form the Ministry of War Transport. When the latter was dissolved in 1946 the responsibilities returned to the Ministry of Transport.

The Coast Protection Act 1949 passed the management of the Crown foreshore to the successors of the Commissioners of Woods, the Commissioners of Crown Lands. It seems likely that at some date following this transfer of responsibility further accruals to the collection related solely to the approval of works in navigable waters and not to the management of the foreshore but there is no evidence as to when this occurred.

Responsibility for the approval of structures in navigable waters remained with the Ministry of Transport until 1965, when the functions passed to the Board of Trade. They remained with the Board of Trade and its successors until 1983 when the responsibility passed to the Ports Division of the Department of Transport.