Bath Record Office holds the archives for the City of Bath, England. The archives are held at the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

, High Street, Bath and run by the

Bath & North East Somerset Council Bath and North East Somerset Council is the local council for the district of Bath and North East Somerset in Somerset, England. It is a unitary authority, with the powers and functions of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined ...

. Their mission statement reads "Bath Record Office collects and keeps safe historical records relating to Bath & North East Somerset and its people". The significance of the collections held by Bath Record Office is demonstrated by their designation as a Collection of Outstanding Importance. At the core of the collections are the records of Bath City Council, for which the Record Office holds the original charters, minutes, leases, rate books and a wide range of other records of the Corporation and the council from 1189 to the present day. The city records are complemented by the records of official bodies such as the law courts, the police, and the Board of Guardians, together with the records for

petty session Courts of petty session, established from around the 1730s, were local courts consisting of magistrates, held for each petty sessional division (usually based on the county divisions known as hundreds) in England, Wales, and Ireland. The sessio ...

s, which dealt with minor cases of law-breaking, and for

quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

, which dealt with more serious criminal cases. The Bath Board of Guardians was responsible for the administration of

poor relief In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

, either in the

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

or for poor people in their own homes. The Record Office also holds "deposited records" for a wide range of societies and organisations, businesses, and individuals in Bath. In 2017, the Local Studies Reference Collection, formerly held in Bath Central Library, was transferred to Bath Record Office.

References

External links

*
Catalogue of collections held at Somerset Heritage Centre and Bath Record Office

Bath Record Office
at the ARCHON Directory, National Archives County record offices in England History of Bath, Somerset {{library-struct-stub

See also

References

External links