The archives of the Office of Public Works and their value as a source for local history by Rena Lohan
Introduction | Historical background | Using the archives | The archives
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4 The archives
As stated above, space constraints do not allow for a detailed examination of the material. Instead, what follows is an account of the type of records and the information contained in selected series. Each item is preceded by the legislative background to the Board's involvement. Researchers who cite OPW references in their work must prefix each one by the initials NAI (National Archives, Ireland).
4.1 Fishery Piers and Harbours
After it took over the functions of the Commissioners of Irish Fisheries in 1831, the Board's only responsibilities were the collection of outstanding debts from an existing fishery loans fund and the completion of unfinished piers along the coast. In 1834, a commission was set up to look into the state of the fisheries, culminating in 1842 in the passing of a regulatory Act, under which the Board was given considerable powers in the development and organisation of fisheries (5 & 6 Vict. c.106). Several Acts followed between 1842 and 1847 with the object of establishing a regular fishing trade (5 & 6 Vict. c.106; 7 & 8 Vict. c.108; 8 & 9 Vict. c.108; 9 & 10 Vict. c.114). The Fisheries (Ireland) Act, 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c.3) allocated £50,000 for the encouragement and promotion of deep sea fisheries as a source of employment and food to be spent, partly by way of loan and partly by grant, in the construction of piers, harbours, quays, landing slips and approach roads. No grant was to exceed £5,000 or be greater than three-quarters of the estimated cost. The following year a further £40,000 was devoted to the same purpose on the same conditions (10 & 11 Vict. c.75). The total expenditure between 1846 and 1877 was over £175,000, with just over £50,000 of this sum advanced on loan.
Under the Grand Jury (Ireland) Act, 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c.136) the Board could transfer to Grand Juries any harbour, pier, quay, landing place, or other work mentioned in the schedule to the Act, to be held and maintained as county property, the Board retaining the power to fix tolls and make bye-laws. Under the Relief of Distress (Ireland) Amendment Act, 1880 (43 & 44 Vict. c.14), £45,000 was voted by Parliament to enable the Board of Works to make loans to public companies, to the trustees of canal and river navigations and to harbour commissioners on the same terms and conditions as applied under the original Act establishing the Board in 1831 and the amending Acts. The distribution of the money was made by a special committee, on which both the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries and the Board of Works were represented.
Under the Sea Fisheries (Ireland) Act, 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c.26) the Board had power to make, with the approval of the Treasury, a free grant of all or part of the cost of the construction or improvement of fishery piers and harbours, or to advance a loan for the same purpose. Under this Act the Fishery Piers and Harbours Commission was constituted, to give the same type of assistance as the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries had given in the execution of the Fishery Piers and Harbours Acts and generally to aid in putting the Act into effect. Under section 1 of the Marine Works (Ireland) Act, 1902 (2 Edw. VII c.24) the Board of Works could make grants for the improvement of necessary marine works in Congested Districts Counties.
The initiative in making application for assistance was left to those locally interested. On receipt of an application from any interested district or party, an examination of the immediate neighbourhood was made for the purpose of selecting the site best suited. The district involved had to guarantee the expense of the preliminary survey. The Board then considered the proportions which the loan, the grant, and the contribution to be raised locally should bear to each other. A plan and estimate of the proposed work was then put together and whichever scheme was considered most suitable was adopted. The necessary sanction was then requested from the Treasury and the Admiralty. The works were carried out either by contract or on a day-work basis. When completed, they remained vested in the Board, to be maintained out of the rates and tolls collected for their use.
OPW 1
Secretarial Branch records relating to piers, harbours and fisheries have a prefix OPW 1/6 and OPW 1/8. The volumes in OPW 1/6 include minute and letter books of the Commissioners of Irish Fisheries from 1819 to 1831. The volumes in OPW 1/8 contain letter books relating to piers and harbours from 1844 to 1877.
OPW 2
Accountant's Branch records relating to fisheries have the prefix OPW 2/6. They include ledgers, journals, cash books and other general account books of the Commissioners of Irish Fisheries and the Irish Fishery Loan Fund from 1820 to 1831, and ledgers and account books of the Board of Works from 1831 to 1888.
OPW 5
Material relating to piers, harbours and fisheries in OPW 5 can be traced through the set of subject registers, OPW 5/4, entitled Piers, Harbours, Navigations and Fisheries (1855-1935).
OPW 8
As stated above, there is also within the archives a separate collection containing details of over 350 piers and harbours (OPW 8), the vast majority situated along the western seaboard. The files contain a wide variety of material, all of which is concerned with applications for loans and grants under the various Acts mentioned above. This material can be accessed by using the prefix OPW 8 followed by the name of the pier or harbour. A full list of piers and harbours in the series is available at the National Archives.
Documents in both series (OPW 5 and OPW 8) include memorials, estimates, public notices (such as those calling meetings of ratepayers to discuss financial outlay), reports of investigations by the Board's engineers and the fishery inspectors into the overall feasibility of projects, specifications, declarations (to which are often attached plans, sections and estimates), schedules of prices, schedules of tolls, bye-laws, lists of plant and machinery required, labour returns (including names, rates of pay and amounts earned by individuals), progress reports and details of expenditure. Documents relating to a project carried at Passage East, Co Waterford in the 1880s includes a harbour engineer's report, specification, public notice calling for objections, plans and section of a proposed stone and timber jetty, accounts of meetings of ratepayers, detailed estimate, schedule of tenders and applications for the appointment of a clerk-of-works (OPW 51827/80).
Engineers' reports generally involved a personal inspection of the district, a precise description of its location, an account of expenses by government to date, a plan and description of the proposed structure, and sometimes a short history of the commercial activity of the region, such as that at Slade, Co Wexford (OPW 8/Slade, Co Wexford). But possibly the most interesting and useful document for the local historian is the application for funds, known as the memorial. Usually composed by a literate member of the community, such as a clergyman, the memorial will primarily set out to illustrate the distress caused to the fishing and other local trades by the lack of facilities. It will also indicate the extent of local commerce and the efforts being made locally to foster commercial growth. A memorial, dated 3 January 1848, from the occupiers of the lands of Annagh, Achill Island, asked that the large stones be removed and a bank cut so as to allow the tideway into a small lake which would enable boats to land with fish 'and be the means of enabling our humble memorialists to subsist, without being, obliged to go to the Poorhouse. As was very often the case with memorials, the majority of the signatories signed an 'X', with the names entered alongside by another (OPW 8/Annagh Harbour, Archill, Co Mayo).
Files naturally contain a great deal of material on employment. There are applications for posts, such as that of pay-clerk and clerk-of-works at the piers in Co Mayo, including Roonagh, Lecanvy and Mulrany, giving details of previous occupations and names of referees. In 1880, those employed on the construction of the pier at Mulrany included a superintendent at 50s. a week and a ganger at 25s. (OPW 4263/80). Material on the building of a pier and boatslip at Seafield, Co Clare gives the names of labourers, their rates of pay and amounts earned during 1885 (OPW 16173/88). The rate of pay to gangers at the works at Achill Sound in 1886 was between 15s. and 30s. a week. It was stipulated that the rate of pay for labourers was not to exceed ls.4d, a day and that the working day was to be not less than ten hours exclusive of breakfast and dinner (OPW 8/Achill Island, Co. Mayo).
4.2 National Monuments
The Irish Church Act, 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c.42) disestablished the Church of Ireland by withdrawing state recognition and support. It became instead a voluntary body with its property entrusted to the Church Temporalities Commission, one of whose main functions was the management of all ecclesiastical property given over to the state. The Church Temporalities Commissioners were authorised, under section 25 of the Act, to place under the protection of the Board of Works any church or ecclesiastical ruin deemed to be of historical or antiquarian interest and in need of conservation, but no longer used for public worship. The monuments were handed over o the protection of the Board in groups under three vesting orders, the first of which became effective on 27 October 1874. With locations in every county, the monuments vested (either singly or in groups) numbered over 100, and included, as well as the Rock of Cashel, Glendalough and Monasterboice, many cathedrals, abbeys, friaries, oratories, round towers, as well as stone crosses, ogham stones and stone roofed cells. Further legislation included the Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c.73) which gave further power to the Board to accept the ownership or guardianship of 18 non-ecclesiastical Irish monuments (named and described in the schedule to the Act) or, by order-in-council any others of similar character, and the Ancient Monuments Protection (Ireland) Act, 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c.46) which extended the provisions of the 1882 Act to any ancient or medieval structure of historic or architectural interest, as it was realised that not every worthwhile monument of this kind had been vested by the Church Act.
OPW 4
OPW 4 is the first series containing material on national monuments. It is a single volume, OPW 4/17/1, entitled Ancient and National Monuments-Register of lnspections 1911/12 to 1917/18. These dates are inaccurate, as the volume covers the additional period 1927-1937. Monuments were listed by province, and within this there are details as to classification, location and description of monument. Because of the multiplicity of statutes involved in 1911, it was necessary to classify, all monuments A, B, C, D or E according to the relevant legislation under which they were vested.
This classification scheme was explained at the front of the volume: A denoted those monuments vested under section 25 of the Irish Church Act, 1869; B those scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Protection Ac, 1882; C those of which the Board had consented to become guardians under section 2 of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1882; D those of which the Board had consented to become guardians under section I of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1892; E those vested under section 14 of the Irish Land Act, 1903 or section 47 of the Land Act, 1923. The next entry was the precise location of the monument (barony, parish and townland) and finally a description of the monument. Opposite this, the various annual inspections carried out from 1911 to 1918 were recorded. Each entry was initialled and accompanied by the date of inspection. Monuments deemed not to require annual inspection were marked with a red cross. Entries for the period 1927-1937 follow the same scheme.
OPW 5
National monument material in OPW 5 can be traced through the set of registers, OPW 5/3, entitled Roads and Public Buildings, 1850-1935. Although this series starts in 1850, it only becomes applicable to national monuments after the passing of the first piece of national monument legislation in 1869. As a category with index listing, national monuments first appear in 1874. From 1870 to 1873 they appear under the index heading Church Temporalities Commissioners.
Most of the documentation is contained within printed jackets or file covers entitled Ancient and National Monuments. Included on the cover is the name of the monument with a short description, its location (townland, barony, county), date when vested and by whom, and name of caretaker if applicable. Many covers also detail amounts of expenditure with dates. Previous and subsequent file references are sometimes included. Important documents inside the file include the original surveys in the 1870s and early 1880s, the earliest of which were on the Rock of Cashel (OPW 11338/75), the buildings at Glendalough (OPW 11337/75), Ardmore Church, Co Waterford (OPW 23535/82) and Monasterboice (OPW 31421/82). There are also numerous shorter and less formal reports and recommendations usually in the form of memoranda. These include the churches at Clonmacnoise (OPW 4265/00), the abbey, church, round tower and cross at Kilcullen, Co Kildare (OPW 40762/80), the ruins of the church and round tower at Meelick, Co Mayo (OPW 13009/15), and the leaguans and stone circles at Carigalla Fort, Gallauns and Giant's Grave at Lough Gur (OPW 14041/31).
There are on file numerous plans and tracings of buildings and crosses, maps of sites, estimates for works and the results of investigations carried out prior to vesting. These often resulted in the compilation, sometimes by historians or antiquarians, of potted histories of monuments, along with precise details of location and architectural features, such as the report on Creevelea Abbey, Co Leitrim (OPW 33446/80) and French Church, Co Waterford (OPW 10634/07). Otherwise the documentation is concerned chiefly with lobbying to have monuments vested, such as at the church of Rathmore and Moymet, near Trim, Co Meath (OPW 12098/88), reluctance or refusal of owners to vest, such as was the case with respect to Kilmallock Abbey, Co Limerick (OPW 30791/80), the abbey of Ballindoon, Co Sligo (OPW 51820/80) and Newgrange and Knowth (OPW 8643/85).
When refusing to vest Trim Castle in the Board in 1893, Lord Dunsany said he was 'no more disposed than my father to let Trim Castle pass into the hands of any Board' (OPW 5303/94). Other matters discussed on file include disputes with tenants over access and rights of way, and the payment of compensation to tenants for damage to land during the progress of the works (OPW 16730/96), burial rights at the sites of monuments (OPW 7705/97), and the difficulties of defining the extent and boundaries of monuments vested by the Land Commission after the passing of the 1903 Land Act. Other problems concerned interference with monuments such as the illegal excavations at Tara (OPW 16792/96; OPW 10124/06; OPW 11713/12), and complaints about caretakers, such as at Glendalough (OPW 13307/08). Many of the files contain material on the recruitment, pay and working conditions of caretakers, especially at the more prominent locations.
4.3 Schools
Until 1856, the design of schools was undertaken by the architectural department of the National Education Board. It was at that stage decided to transfer responsibility for national education buildings to the Board of Works. The model schools, the first of which were constructed in the 1840s, enabled junior teachers to carry out the first part of their training before continuing their studies at the Central Model School in Dublin. After the transfer of responsibility to the Board of Works in 1856, the Board's architects designed the remaining district model schools.
OPW 1
Records in OPW 1 relating to national schools have a prefix OPW 1/15 and consist of a series of 27 letter books from July 1856 to 30 July 1881 (OPW 1/15/1/1-27).
OPW 5
The series reference for national school registers in OPW 5 is OPW 5/7. Material on the district model schools includes a set of eight working drawings for Enniscorthy District Model School showing the layout of buildings, floor plans, elevations and sections. The sections include structural details of masonry and timberwork and give sizes for all roof and floor timbers. The site drawings are signed by Frederick Franklin and are dated January 1859 (OPW 4973/61). There are similar details for Monaghan Model School, Carrickfergus Minor Model School (OPW 3912/60), Galway District Model School (OPW 20753/60), Limerick Model Agricultural School (OPW 19889/60) and Kyle Park Agricultural School, Co Tipperary (OPW 2088/61).
The vast majority of files, however, deal with specific national school buildings. As well as the name and location of the school, file covers, where they survive, provide useful information difficult to assemble from a bulky file. This includes amount of estimate, amount and object of grant, date of grant, name and address of school manager and number of pupils. Subjects covered in files generally concern the construction of buildings, repairs and additions. Documentation can also include correspondence on the availability and suitability of proposed sites, site reports, specifications, estimates, correspondence with contractors, progress reports and certificates of completion. Drawings on file include elevations, sections, details of features such as entrance doors, window details, finishing to gables and eaves, ventilation, chimney caps, fireplaces, furniture and fittings.
4.4 Housing
Loan facilities provided by land improvement legislation between 1847 and 1867, enabling landowners to improve their properties through drainage, irrigation, fencing and the extension of farm buildings, were extended in 1860 to the erection of dwellings for agricultural labourers (23 Vict. c.19). Loans were not granted for sums less than £100 and had to be repaid by a rent-charge of six and a half per cent which paid off both principal and interest in 22 years. Following the passing of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c.46), there had been a marked increase in the number of landowners availing of the provision for the erection of farm buildings and labourers' cottages, the cost of which ranged from £60 to £100 each. A further Act was passed in 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c.44) along with an amending Act in the next session (30 Vict. c.28), collectively entitled the Labouring Classes Lodging Houses and Dwellings Act, (Ireland). Under this legislation the Board could make loans for purchasing sites and for erecting or adapting dwellings for the labouring classes to a variety of bodies including town councils, railway companies and harbour commissioners. Repayment of the sum advanced was to be made within 40 years in annual instalments, with interest charged at not less than four per cent. The loan was not to exceed one half the cost of the property, including that of the site. The Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 (53 & 54 c.70) allowed housing loans to be given to individuals or local authorities if it could be proved that the houses were required in the district for accommodation of the working classes. The Board was not permitted to lend more than half the value of the security offered. It also had to regulate the rent to be charged and to ensure that the balance between the amount given on loan and the amount necessary to complete the buildings was spent correctly.
Under the National School Teachers' Residences (Ireland) Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c.82) the Board, with the recommendation of the National Education Board, could make loans not exceeding £250 towards assisting in the erection, enlargement, improvement or purchase of dwelling-houses for the principal teachers of national schools not vested in the National Education Board or in trustees. The site could not be more than one statute mile from the school. Loans were repayable at five per cent over a period of 35 years and the repayments were to be charged on the site and building, towards which the National Education Board could contribute half.
OPW 1
Secretarial Branch records relating to labourers and working class housing concerns proceedings with regard to dwellings under the 1866 and 1867 Act mentioned above. The prefix is OPW 1/16 and comprises a single letter book from October 1866 to September 1869 (OPW 1/16/1).
OPW 5
Material on dwellings in this series appears in the Miscellaneous and Loans series (OPW 5/5). Surviving documentation under the 1860 Act mentioned above includes a schedule of loans made by the Board for labourers' dwellings, arranged according to county, showing the amount sanctioned in each case and the amount of the instalments issued for the years 1861, 1862 and 1863. Applicants included Arthur Kavanagh in Carlow, the Marquess of Londonderry in Down, the Earl of Howth in Dublin and the Earl of Longford in Westmeath (OPW 6033/63). A much more substantial amount of material survives for proposed housing under the 1866 Act, the application procedure being similar to the previous Acts. Details required included the area and extent of the proposals and the nature of the applicant's ownership. Applicants also had to state their reasons for applying. The memorial of Thomas James of Gore Co Wexford, dated March 1878, stated that the fifty houses he proposed to build 'as an investment' were required to accommodate the families of those engaged in coach building and other trades (OPW 16065/78). William McIlrath of Banbridge, Co Down, wanted to build two houses for those engaged in linen weaving. As well as the growing need for such housing in the area, he also applied in his capacity as an employer of labour (OPW 42765/80).
Several sets of plans had to be submitted to the Board before a loan application could be considered, as well as estimates, specifications and Bills of Quantities. Where applications were proceeded with there are on file surveyors' site reports, architects' reports, Ordnance maps marking the site of proposed dwellings, and site and boundary maps. Naturally, larger cities and industrial centres are well represented in the surviving material, indicating a growing urbanisation caused by industrialisation. A typical example is an application in March 1873 from Hugh Fitzgerald of Fairview, Dublin, to build 23 houses on his property at the North Strand. His stated reason was the growing need for housing for the increasing numbers employed on railway works, docks and in factories in the locality. He promised that the houses would have every comfort 'as will conduce to the comfort of the very respectable class of artisans employed in the immediate neighbourhood, at present the greater number of this class are obliged to occupy rooms which are situate in the back lanes and courts of the city' (OPW 669277).
Material in OPW 5 relating to teachers' residences can be located through the series Miscellaneous and Loans (OPW 5/5). Files generally contain memorials, giving details of title, names of sureties, their addresses and particulars of their estate and property. They were often accompanied by a further questionnaire which included the name of the teacher for whom the residence was required, the extent of the site, amount of rent and by whom it should be paid and the estimated cost of the building. Many files contain plans of proposed dwellings, specifications and estimates. Plans, specifications and estimates for proposed residences had to be forwarded with the application for a grant to the National Education Board, which, if it approved of the plans, forwarded them with its approval to the Board of Works. The Board was required to use its professional expertise to point out any bad construction, unnecessary cost, or insufficient light, drainage or ventilation. Applicants could adopt suitable existing plans which had already been prepared by the Board of Works and approved by the National Education Board, or they could submit their own designs.
Where difficulties arose, they generally related to title. In the application for a loan of £250 in 1880 to purchase a dwelling house for Ballymacricket National School, Glenavy, Co Antrim, situated on part of the grounds occupied by the Roman Catholic Church, the applicant described the title as prescription, claiming that no rent had ever been requested or paid by him or anyone else and that he had been in occupation there for 30 years (OPW 58083180).
4.5 Railways
The Board had responsibilities under the Drainage (Ireland) Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c.89) where it was required to investigate the adequacy of bridges, tunnels, culverts etc. required for the passage of water under or across railway lines. Under the Railway Clauses and Land Clauses Consolidation Acts of 1845, 1851, 1860 and 1864 (8 Vict. c.18 & 20; 14 & 15 Vict. c.70; 23 & 24 Vict. c.97; 27 & 28 Vict. c.71) the Board had to examine the plans, section and schedules of the waterways, bridges and culverts of every proposed railway line with a view to deciding whether the line interfered with the adequate drainage and improvement of the surrounding area. It also had to appoint an arbitrator on the application of any corporation or company (railway or otherwise) requiring to purchase land. With the aid of maps, plans and estimates of the proposed works, and after personal inspection of the lands, the arbitrator had to adjudicate on the amount of purchase money and compensation to be paid to owners and occupiers. Under the provisions of the 1850 Midland Great Western Railway Act (12 & 13 Vict. c.62) the Board had to examine, determine, and approve of the valuations for the purchase of property for this railway from Mullingar to Galway. The Board's role was to guard the expenditure of the large amount of public funds advanced for the project which had been financed partly on the security of county rates.
The Tramways (Ireland) Acts, 1860 and 1861 (23 & 24 Vict. c.152 and 24 & 25 Vict. c.102) allowed individuals or corporate bodies to borrow from the Government for the purpose of building and maintaining tramways in Ireland. Section 9 of the Act directed that the Board of Works appoint an individual to carry out a public inquiry on the merits of the project. The Board was to pay special attention to the financial arrangements made by the promoters where a company was formed specially for the purposes of the undertaking, the number of shares subscribed, the amount of share capital and loans proposed, the accuracy of the estimate, the merits of the undertaking from an engineering point of view and the degree of local support for the project. The Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883 (47 & 47 Vict. c.43) provided for local guarantees which could be recouped from the Government. Surplus receipts were to be apportioned between the Treasury and the guaranteeing baronies and paid over to the Board of Works for the use of the Exchequer. The Board was required to inform the Lord Lieutenant of the amount of paid up capital necessary for the undertaking and the Treasury could authorise the commissioners to pay to the local authority the Government contribution to the guaranteed dividend, only so long as the line was maintained in working order and carried traffic.
The Tramways (Ireland) Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c.66) provided for Government assistance by grant, loan or annual payment where the promoters were an existing railway company with a line open for traffic or where they had an agreement approved by the Treasury for the maintenance, management and working of a light railway or tramway by such a company. The Board was to make advances out of money at its disposal for local loans. it was also given the extra responsibility at the enquiry stage of evaluating the amount of the proposed nominal capital. The Treasury could enter into agreements for the maintenance, management and working of the lines. The Board was made party to all such agreements, and in practice was charged with the duty of seeing that they were carried out.
Further Acts were passed in 1895 (58 & 59 Vict. c.20) and 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c.34), the latter allowing that where the making of a railway, was necessary for the development of a district, and could not be constructed without special assistance from the Government, the Treasury could enter into agreement with a railway company and agree to aid the undertaking out of public money. If the railway was wholly or partly in a Congested District County (i.e. Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway, or Kerry, or certain parts of Clare and Cork) the Board of Works could, with the sanction of the Treasury, construct or contract for the construction of a railway.
OPW 1
Secretarial Branch records relating to railways have a prefix OPW 1/10, consisting mainly of letter books, minute books and reports of the Irish Railway Commission from 1836 to 1839.
OPW 2
Accountant's Branch records have a prefix OPW 2/10 and consist of a Railway Commission ledger from 1836-1839 and other account books from the 1870s and 1880s.
OPW 5
In the series entitled Roads and Public Buildings (OPW 5/3), railways first appear in 1854 and continue until 1875. In the set of registers entitled Miscellaneous and Loans (OPW 5/5), railways first appear in 1873. Between 1873 and 1876, however, these registers only cover the Railway Clauses Consolidation Acts, all other aspects being covered by the Roads and Public Buildings registers. After that date all correspondence with respect to railways was entered in the Miscellaneous and Loans series.
Railway files reflect the very detailed preliminary
inquiries carried out by the Board before loans
were approved or granted. Matters investigated
included the amount of subscribed capital held
by the company, the title to the acquired lands
and the estimated cost of construction. If all
proved satisfactory the Board, on receiving sanction
from the Treasury, made the loan and charged interest
at five per cent per annum. The time allowed for
repayment was 25 years, although instalments of
principal were generally not required until after
the works were completed. Files are mostly concerned
with land acquisition for railway construction
and with the establishment and management of the
lines (OPW 229705/82; 32262/90). Details include
the appointment of arbitrators, arbitrators' expenses,
notices to landowners of compulsory purchase intentions,
estate papers, County Surveyors' reports, copies
of Railway Bills allowing railway construction,
extensions, deviations, alterations, letters objecting
to provisions in Bills and copies of Acts enabling
purchases to be made.
On the railway companies themselves, there are
memoranda and articles of association, working
agreements, details of negotiations and agreements
between companies, audits of company accounts,
appointment of receivers, appointment of directors,
complaints concerning the working and maintenance
of lines, timetables, Parliamentary Questions
about the mismanagement of lines and numerous
complaints from the public as regards the working
of the lines. Material relating directly to arbitration
awards includes valuation schedules and estimates,
lists of landowners and tenants, as well as awards
of compensation to landowners and occupiers. Plans
and drawings on file include engineers' drawings,
plans for bridges and culverts where required
in the construction of the lines and full longitudinal
sections, together with transverse sections through
embankments and culverts.
As regards the actual construction of the lines, there are numerous files on the hiring of equipment, details of the materials used in railway construction, supply of ballast, purchase of land for quarrying and comments on the quality of the stone fill used in embankment construction. On the management of the lines, there are proposals and tenders for the purchase of rolling stock, railway sleepers, fencing posts and signalling equipment, as well as information on the recruitment of staff. Most files relate to specific projects, and because of the nature of the Board's involvement, and the size and range of the documentation, files are bulky. As well as correspondence, a typical file could include ground plans, schedules of lands and valuation, estimates, details of arbitration awards, details of any drainage works as required under the Railway Clauses Consolidation Acts mentioned above, detailed drawings, often coloured, and Ordnance sheets marking the routes of the lines. Early railway material held in the archives includes papers relating to the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway- Drogheda to Portadown (OPW 17792/50), the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway - Knockwilliam to Waterford (OPW 35690/51) and the Dublin and Wicklow Railway - Wicklow to Bray Head (OPW 27978/52).
Unusual items include reports of labour unrest on the construction of the West Donegal Railway, in particular the Donegal to Killybegs extension (OPW 16904/94), similar problems at the Arigna Extension Railway (OPW 1205/19) and a strike of platelayers at the Burtonport and Carndonagh Railway (OPW 12877/15). Reports of excessive speed of trains include that on the Owencarrow Viaduct and other portions of the line of the Burtonport Railway (OPW 1946/15). Parliamentary Questions and newspaper cuttings about a proposal to construct an All-Red Route, refer to a proposal for a rail-steamer linkage between Canada, the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand (OPW 1191/26).
Sometimes the Board's property interests coincided or conflicted with those of the railway companies, such as the leasing of an old mill at Lanesborough to the Midland and Great Western Railway Co. (OPW 3874/58) and the proposed purchase by the Clara and Banagher Railway Co. of some of the Board's land (OPW 28812/84).
Typical material under the Railway Clauses Consolidation Acts, mentioned above, includes a Drainage Sheet, compiled by Thomas J. Mulvany, Civil Engineer, for Waterford and Kilkenny Railway, with accompanying letter from Mulvany, dated 27 February 1846 (OPW 1421/46). Other documents include a report, dated 13 May 1846; on the proposed Newry, Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Railway (OPW 5621/46). Similar material on the Belfast and Ballymena Railway includes the list of bridges, culverts and other works required for the passage of water under or across the railway line. Information given includes names of the various townlands, area of proposed waterway and proposed levels and description of local bench marks. There are also three Field Books, each covering a different stretch of the line, and indicating that the investigation had been carried out by Charles S. Ottley, Engineer (OPW 1182/46).
Material on the Waterford and Limerick Railway includes a Prospectus, dated 1844, a report on the first division of the railway, dated 12 February 1846, and a Deed of Grant to protect the baronies, dated 5 February 1847. Other material on the railway includes the Drainage Sheet and Field Book compiled by Thomas J. Mulvany, some tracings and details of financial arrangements including the amount granted. There is a letter, dated 16 October 1847, from Board Commissioner, Richard Griffith, to George Trevelyan, secretary of the Treasury, stating that he had met a deputation from the company who were anxious to make an arrangement by which they would receive about £15,000 to enable them at once to complete the railway from Limerick to Tipperary: ' in the present state of the country it would be most desirable to complete the railway as far as Tipperary and open a safe mode of internal traffic for corn and flour from the mills and district to Tipperary and Cahir for Limerick, Clare and Kerry. Hitherto the transport of provisions through the counties of Tipperary and Limerick has been guarded by the Military, a considerable force of horse and foot on each occasion. This would be saved if the railway were in operation' (OPW 24329/47).
On the section of the Great Southern and Western Railway passing through King's and Queen's Counties there is an arbitrator's award, giving name of townland, description of land or buildings, measurements, county and barony names, union, electoral division and parish where situated, name of owners, lessees and occupiers, quantity and kind of interest, prices to be paid for the purchase of interest, amount of compensation for severance or other injury and total to be paid by the company (OPW 13963/53). There is similar material for the Bagnelstown and Wexford Railway (OPW 5628/56), the Longford Extension and Cavan Branch of the Midland and Great Western Railway (OPW 8673/56), the Castleconnell Railway Co. (OPW 12002/56) and the Roscrea and Parsonstown Junction Railway Co. (OPW 13142/56).
Files on the subject of tramways and light railways include proposals to construct such railways, reports of the Board on the proposals, engineers' and surveyors' reports and requests for financial contributions from the Treasury following arbitrators' awards. The vast majority of files relate to specific schemes. For instance, on the subject of Crettyard Bridge and Athy Light Railway, in Queen's Co. and Co. Kildare there are two estimates of expenses signed by the engineers for the promoters, giving the length of the proposed railway, width of gauge, estimated cost of construction and cost of equipment to include engines and carriages (OPW 13651/86).
* The exact original title of the office of Public
Works is obscure. It has been known as the Office
of Public Works, the Board of Works and the Board
of Public Works. All of these titles have appeared
on letter-heads and registration stamps from 1830.
Additional online sources