Governance records of the Trent River Authority and its predecessor bodies; 1933-1974

The bulk of the collection comprises minutes, agendas and meeting papers; some are bound with detailed indexes, but others are typescript papers. They relate to Board Meetings (RG/BM) and meetings of groups such as the Chaiman's Conference (RG/CC) and the Executive Committee (RG/CM/1/5) of the River Trent Catchment Board (which was set up at the outbreak of the Second World War to carry out the work of the Board during any period of national emergency or hostilities). Other committees include the Land Drainage, Finance and General Purposes, Water Resources, and River Pollution Prevention Committees.

There is also an incomplete series of published abstracts of accounts (RG/A) for the years 1940-1974, and a comprehensive series of published annual reports for 1931-1974, which give useful overviews of the work of the Board/Authority on various schemes relating to land drainage, water resources, fisheries and prevention of river pollution activities, along with photographs, maps, and summaries of data including rainfall (RG/R). See also the pocket sized yearbooks (RG/Y) which contain key facts and statistics.

Also present are the grants of arms (RG/G) to the River Trent Catchment Board (with artwork) made in 1936, and to the Trent River Authority, 1967.

The Land Drainage Act of 1930 created the Catchment Boards of England and Wales which were to have oversight over main rivers and which were funded by precepts from other authorities including Internal Drainage Boards and County Councils. The River Trent Catchment Board was established in May 1931. Its predecessor bodies included a number of early drainage, navigation, and warping companies which were absorbed by or amalgamated with the River Trent Catchment Board in 1941. The River Boards Act of 1948 brought together the responsibilities for drainage, fisheries and pollution under single authorities and on 1 April 1951, the Catchment Board became the Trent River Board, taking over the functions of the Trent Fishery Board. The next change of name occurred on 1 April 1965 when, following the Water Act of 1963, the Trent River Board became the Trent River Authority. The Authority was responsible for flood prevention and land drainage along the 'main rivers' in its area, conserving, monitoring and developing water resources, controlling water quality, preventing pollution, and managing fish stocks and angling licences. The 1973 Water Act created new Water Authorities with comprehensive management of the entire water cycle and so the River Authorities were dissolved.

By type and in date order

Accessible to all registered readers.

Copyright in all Finding Aids belongs to the University of Nottingham.

Online: Online catalogue available from the Manuscripts and Special Collections website.

In the Reading Room, King's Meadow Campus: Typescript Catalogue, 41pp

Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in writing from the Keeper of Manuscripts and Special Collections

Small groups of documents were transferred to the University Library in the 1960s, but in 1974-1975 (when Severn Trent Water Authority took over), it was decided to transfer the bulk of the records of the Clerks, Engineers and Treasurers Departments of the Trent River Authority (and predecessors), relating to activities in the Trent basin. Subsequent large accruals have added some further papers from the Clerks and Engineers departments, along with more governance material and the records of the Hydrology/Water Resources Section. The records of the Prevention of River Pollution and Fisheries Departments are not present.

Some of the material here was originally listed as part of the records of the Clerk's, Treasurer's or Engineer's Department, but has been removed to join material from later accruals to form a collection of records relating to the governance of the Authority as a whole. This new collection was catalogued in 2011-2012 with support from The National Archives Cataloguing Grants Programme.

Manuscripts and Special Collections also holds the records of other departments of the Trent River Board/Authority (Engineer's Department Ref: RE, Treasurer's Department Ref: RT, Clerks Department Ref: RC, Hydrology Department Ref: RH); also their predecessors (Trent Navigation Company Ref: RtN, Brigg Court of Lincolnshire Commissioners of Sewers Ref: Br, Court of Sewers for the Level of Hatfield Chase/Hatfield Chase Corporation Ref: HCC, Trent Fishery Board Ref: RTF); their successors (Severn Trent Water Authority Ref: RWA, Severn Trent Water Ref. RST, National Rivers Authority Ref: RRA, Environment Agency Ref: REA); also records relating to sewerage and water supply (City of Nottingham Water Department Ref: R/HR, Derwent Valley Water Board Ref: DVW, Stoke Bardolph and Bulcote Model Farms Ref: RSB, Papplewick Pumping Station Ref: PPS, Nottingham New Waterworks/Northern Waterworks Company Ref: MS 880); also papers of an employee of the Trent River Authority (H.R. Potter Ref: HRP).