Nottingham City Council Records

Nottinghamshire Archives holds the records of the borough of Nottingham from the mid-twelfth century.

In 1835 the Municipal Corporations Act changed the constitution of the borough, and Nottingham became known as a corporation. After that date different series of records were created.

Main groups of documents

Main groups of documents include:

Corporation and Council minutes

Coverage: 1863 - 1997
Minutes of council meetings; many also include annual reports. They provide detail on the administration of the council, implementation on Parliamentary Acts and information on a variety of subjects including housing, sanitation and public parks.

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Committee meetings minutes

Coverage: 19th century - 20th century
Minutes of the meetings of various committees. Such committees include Allotments, Coal, Health, Planning and Transport.

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Charters

Coverage: c 1155 - 1974
Grants or confirmations of rights and privileges given by the monarch to the city of Nottingham. These include a charter of Henry II granting the right to exact tolls (c 1155 - 65); a charter granting the right to hold Quarter Sessions (1836); a charter granting City Status (1897) and confirming City Status (1974); charters granting a coat of arms (1898, 1908, 1911) and a charter granting the title of Lord Mayor (1928).

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City Court

Coverage: 1452 - 1971
Nottingham was entitled to hold its own Quarter Sessions from 1449, and the surviving records of the court include sessions rolls (1452 - 1883); record books (1723 - 1899); minute books (1732 - 1966); registers of cases (1959 - 1971); calendars of prisoners (1938 - 1971); and registers of committals (1885 - 1917).

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City title deeds

Coverage: 18th century - 20th century
Title deeds are the records of the buying and selling of property, and can provide useful information on the owners of properties and the nature of the house and land.

The city title deeds are records of privately-owned properties within Nottingham which were acquired by the Corporation of Nottingham from the late nineteenth century. Properties were usually acquired by compulsory purchase for slum clearance or redevelopment schemes.

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Building control plans

Coverage: 1874 - 1948
Scale plans of individual buildings, often detailed, and often with elevations, sections and a site plan, though the amount of detail and additional material varies. Alterations and additions to buildings may only convey the relevant part. Plans were accompanied by a copy of the application form. This series is contained within the records of the City Planning Department.

Plans are usually filed in date order of receipt. If a property was refused planning permission on several occasions but was ultimately successful, all relevant plans may be filed together under the date of the last entry.

Accessing individual plans must be done through a Building Plan Register.

For plans of buildings elsewhere in the county, see the District and Borough Council records.

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Building plan registers

Coverage: 1874 - 1948
Registers of plans filed by the councils. Each register records the street name, the date of approval, a description (sometimes labelled as 'structure'), the name of the person for whom the property was being built or amended, a volume number, a page number and, for plans after 1900, a plan number. House numbers are not included in registers.

Each register is arranged by street and, within each street, by date. This series is found within the records of the City Planning Department.

To access a plan, it is necessary to consult the register first to locate the plan number and/or details. Although plans should exist for every building in the register, many have been lost or destroyed since it was compiled. Because the building is described according to the use it was given at the time, it can be difficult to identify current buildings today - a building may not be used for the same purpose today as that for which it was originally built!

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Electoral registers

Coverage: 1832 - 2001
Annual lists of individuals entitled to vote

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Police officers registers

Coverage: 1828 - 1968
Registers of police officers serving within the Nottingham Borough police force. The early registers simply give dates of appointment, while later ones detail transfers, career histories, marital status, number of children, physical descriptions and photographs. These records are kept among the City Police Department records.

Some registers are on restricted access. Contact us for more information.

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Criminal photograph books

Coverage: 1884 - 1908
Series of books giving the name of the convict, their physical description, place of birth, marital status, trade or occupation, details of their conviction, and their photograph.

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How to find the document you want

There are catalogues for the records of the City Council available in the Archives Search room. Records dating before 1835 are contained in one series, in which the documents are listed in a single sequence, and an index is provided at the front. Records dating after 1835 are divided into departments, and a list of each department is given at the beginning of each catalogue.

Because building plans are arranged by date, it is necessary to have an idea of the date the building you are looking for was erected. Trade directories and Ordnance Survey Maps can help in identifying when a building was put up. It will be necessary first to consult the plan register, to obtain the plan number or the register volume and page numbers, the plan's date of submission, the building's description and address and the applicant's name. With this information, the original plan can be ordered. The registers are available in the Archives search room.

Download our leaflet on Building Control Plans [PDF 120KB]

Electoral Registers are available on microfiche in the archives search room. They are arranged by date and by street name, so you will need an idea of where the person whom you are looking for lived. Indexes are available to help find the relevant fiche.

Criminal Photograph Books between 1884 and 1908 are available on microfiche, and are on open access in the search room. Some, but not all volumes, contain a name index. An full index is available separately.

There are also personal and place name indexes available in the search room There are a number of specialist indexes also available, such as maps and plans, and city burgesses and freeman.

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