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The Town Council Archives
Oswestry Town Council archives date from 1324, when the Earl of Arundel granted two shops in Leg Street to the Burgesses of Oswestry. Comparatively few records survive before 1674, the year of the charter granted to the Town by King Charles II, but they include deeds and earlier charters, and accounts and memoranda of the Bailiffs, who received the tolls and other payments due to the Town. Between 1674 and 1835 records are more plentiful, consisting of minutes of the Council, accounts of the Mayor and other Town officers, proceedings of the Quarter Sessions and Court of Record, and various correspondence and papers relating to the Guildhall, the gaol, markets and fairs, and other matters of  local interest. The nineteenth century from 1835 was a period of great development in Oswestry. New markets were built in the late 1840s; reservoirs were built in the late 1860s and late 1880s; the Guildhall was rebuilt in 1892. The voluminous minutes of the Council and its Committees, and the numerous bundles of deeds and documents which complement them reflect these major developments as well as the more routine, and sometimes trivial aspects of the administration of Town affairs. Major and minor developments of the twentieth century are likewise documented - housing estates between the Wars; the modernization of Powis Hall in 1963; the new Smithfield in 1968; the changes brought about by local government re-organisation in 1974.
The majority of the Council's older archives were at one time stored in Oswestry Library. The rest, and more recent records, were in scattered storage places in the Guildhall and Powis Hall. In 1985 the older archives were brought together in the Guildhall, later to be joined by the material from Powis Hall. However, three volumes of Quarter Sessions proceedings dating from 1737 to 1836 had to be transferred to Shropshire Record Office in Shrewsbury, which was at that time the repository recognised under the Public Records Act 1958 as a place of deposit for such records. The Town Council determined to do whatever was necessary to meet the requirements of the Lord Chancellor's Department in order to gain recognition as a place of deposit, and thereby win the right to keep all the records in Oswestry.
By April 1986 a room in the Guildhall had been equipped as a strongroom, with air conditioning to ensure that the right levels of temperature and humidity, so essential for long-term preservation of archives, could be achieved and maintained. The provision of a properly equipped strongroom was not the only requirement to be met, however. Arrangements had to be made for the records to be catalogued, for conservation work to be done on damaged items, and for public access to the records. Consequently the services of a professional Archivist were engaged, and the Archivist now attends regularly to work on the records and deal with matters arising. The Council now has an ongoing conservation programme for those books and documents in need of repair. In early 1987 the Council's administrative staff moved into newly adapted office accommodation on the first floor of Powis Hall. One of the rooms there was used as a search room where records could, by appointment, be consulted by Novembers of the public. The provisions made by the Town Council were finally approved in 1989. The Guildhall was formally appointed a place of deposit under the Public Records Act 1958, allowing the return of the Quarter Sessions records to Oswestry.
The award of a Lottery bid has now enabled the Town Council to extend the archives, adding another room to the provision in the Guildhall, and allowing a better search room to be provided. A complete record of the Council's Archives has been prepared and is being distributed widely, allowing full access to a wealth of historical material.
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Piece written by Eileen Simpson