
Explore Bath's world heritage
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One of the best preserved Roman remains in the world.
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A world-class collection of contemporary and historical dress.
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Bath's public art museum housing paintings, sculpture and decorative arts.
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Stunning and historic venues for hire in the heart of a World Heritage city.
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Collecting and keeping safe historical records relating to Bath.
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The City of Bath is designated with UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
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Promoting and assisting film-making in Bath & North East Somerset.
The Council records are complemented by the records of official bodies such as the law courts, the police, hospitals, schools and the Board of Guardians.
We have created a summary of the records listed below in the accompanying leaflet.
Courts
We hold records for:
Assize Court records are held by The National Archives.
Poor Law
Until 1836 the Poor Law was administered by parishes, overseen by the Quarter Sessions. Poor rates were collected by the Parish Overseers, who also gave out poor relief. After 1836 parishes were grouped into poor law unions, managed by Boards of Guardians who were responsible for the collection of rates and administration of poor relief - either in the workhouse or for people who stayed in their own homes. A complete set of the minutes of the Board of Guardians is held by the Record Office, but unfortunately the survival of other records is very patchy. No workhouse admission and discharge registers have survived, apart from Registers of Casuals (vagrants who were allowed to stay only for one night), 1915-1934.
A full catalogue of the records can be found on our online catalogue under reference BGB/.
Hospitals
We hold records for a number of hospitals in the Bath area and for those which were within the Bath District Health Authority. These include the Royal United Hospital, Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (Mineral Water Hospital), St Martin's Hospital, Bath Eye Infirmary, Claverton Down Isolation Hospital and other smaller hospitals.
Most of the hospital records we hold have only a basic catalogue and are in process of being re-organised.
Police
Bath City Police Force was set up in 1836 following the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, which required boroughs to organise and maintain a police force. We hold police records and the administration of criminal justice in the City of Bath until the 1960s at ref 0661/.
Schools
School admission registers can be a useful source of information for family historians. However, only a small number of registers have been deposited in the Record Office.
Please see this leaflet for more information about these records
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