Acts
Although isolated local Acts of Parliament
date from an earlier period (e.g. the 1555 'Halifax' Act), their
starting point as a local history source is commonly associated
with the 18th century. They were usually initiated by groups
of individuals petitioning Parliament to consider a particular
undertaking which was too public to be carried out without Parliamentary
authority. As the 18th century advanced, an increasing number
of Acts authorised new roads, waterways, urban improvements and
enclosures, and these documents represent a vital resource for
the historian attempting to plot the topographical transformation
of a particular locality or whole region.
Availability and format
The Local Studies Collection held at the Central
Library, Halifax, West Yorkshire has preserved a fairly comprehensive
set of Acts. They are bound together in the main in groups that
relate to the type of undertaking, and run from the 1730's into
the 20th century. Each Act is made up of three elements:
- A full title - summarising the Act's
intentions.
- A preamble - setting out the background
to the undertaking.
- The text - detailing the measures required
to ensure the execution of the undertaking.
Local context
As far as Calderdale is concerned, the earliest
local Acts are associated with the road transport revolution,
which was effected by a series of turnpike trusts: The first
one is dated 1735 and was 'an Act for repairing and widening
the road from the Town of Rochdale in the County Palatine of
Lancaster, leading over a certain craggy mountain called Blackstone
Edge, in the same county, and from thence to the Towns of Halifax
and Ealand in the County of York'. Following in the wake of this
legislation came a whole series of Acts, ensuring the provision
of a regional network of turnpike roads which progressively replaced
the old hillside packhorse causeys around Calderdale.
Next came the navigation Acts, commencing
with the 1757 Calder and Hebble Act, which extended the navigation
of the river Calder as far as Sowerby Bridge. The waterways that
resulted from this legislation can be regarded as the second
phase of a transport revolution which was completed during the
1840s with the opening of the first railway line through Calderdale.
With the setting up of the Halifax Town Trustees
in 1762 to supply the town with water came the first local legislation
in the field of urban improvement to point forward to the great
municipal undertakings of the Victorian era. Parliamentary enclosure
represented a final phase of moorland reclamation which had been
in progress on an ad hoc basis since medieval time, the first
local Act being passed in 1778 to divide and enclose the commons
and waste grounds within the township of Northowram.
Value
When using local Acts it is important to remember
that these sources are proof of intention but not of execution:
some projects lapsed or were later amended. Nevertheless, they
offer a wealth of detail concerning vital undertakings which
made a dramatic impact on the local landscape.
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