IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): MCC/CL/HY
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: CLERK'S DEPARTMENT: HIGHWAYS
Date(s): 1902-1965
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 20.13 linear metres
Name of creator(s): MCC | Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Rapid local development, the tremendous increase in motor transport and national requirements such as Heathrow Airport all greatly influenced the Middlesex County Council road programme; necessitating new and widened roads and dual carriageways. In the post-war period emphasis was laid upon relief of traffic congestion and reduction of accidents by junction improvements and the construction of pedestrian subways. A policy of landscaping and amenity treatment led to the planting of trees and shrubs and the extensive use of grass verges. Middlesex works undertaken by the Ministry of Transport completed the picture with two motorways, the M1 into Hendon and the M4 connection to London Airport.
The highways pattern for Middlesex stemmed from the radial roads originally built by the Romans - Watling Street to Saint Albans is now Edgware Road; Ermine Street to Lincoln is now Hertford Road and the western road to Silchester is now Staines Road. These radial routes remained of importance and were primarily supplemented by the Great West Road, Western Avenue, Watford and Barnet by-passes and the Great Cambridge Road which, in turn, have been linked by the North Circular Road, which traversed Middlesex from Kew Bridge to the Essex boundary. In 1889 the Council was responsible for 128 miles of road, as compared with 640 miles in 1964.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of the Middlesex County Council Clerk's Department relating to highways, 1902-1965, including papers relating to improvements to roads and footpaths; papers relating to light railways (tramways); index cards made as part of measures to restrict ribbon development, describing applicants with details of building, access, material and works; papers relating to rivers including the River Brent, River Thames and the Duke of Northumberland's River; rainfall statistics for the county and list of bridges and main roads maintained by the MCC. Also plans of highways, rivers, bridges and sewers.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
MCC/CL/HY: General; MCC/CL/HY/PL: Plans
Conditions governing access:
Available for general access
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to these records rests with the Corporation of London.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Acquired with the records of its parent authority, the Middlesex County Council, and with successor authorities.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
See also MCC/CL/DP and MCC/CL/L/HY.
Publication note:
For further information on the history of the Middlesex County Council please see Middlesex by Sir Clifford Radcliffe (2 editions, 1939 and 1953), LMA Library reference 97.09 MID; and The County Council of the Administrative County of Middlesex: 76 years of local government, 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1965, by Middlesex County Council (1965), LMA library reference S97.09 MID.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: April to June 2009