The New Jerusalems: post-war New Town archives in Britain and Ireland
About the project
In 2022, Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service secured funding to catalogue and make accessible archives that tell the story of Redditch’s development into a New Town. We also catalogued records relating to Cwmbran New Town held at Archifau Gwent (Gwent Archives). Archives have also been preserved and conserved where necessary, as part of the process. Links to the project blogs are at the end of this article.
Funding for the New Jerusalems project was provided by The Wellcome Trust. The overarching project website can be found here: New Jerusalems.
Our partners
We partnered with eight organisations brought together through the Association of New Towns Archives and Museums. New Town archives included in the project were: Basildon, Bracknell, Crawley, Cwmbran, Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee, Redditch, Runcorn, Shannon, Stevenage and Warrington.
The Redditch and Cwmbran elements included cataloguing archives and retro-converting catalogues that before this project, have only been available in hardcopy format. We are in the process of adding the itemised listings to online catalogues, thus providing global access for researchers.
Cataloguing Redditch New Town Archives
Archive collections have been deposited by Redditch Development Corporation, Commission for New Towns and English Partnerships over the years. We are very keen to show off items that have captivated us. These include plans, promotional material, reports, construction trials and photos. We have also been intrigued by a selection of public enquiry files, demonstrating the impact of the development and how difficult this period of change was for some.
Commission for the New Towns. Redditch Some Facts and Figures Leaflet. c.1970. BA14226/27/4
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More information about the project can be found at New Jerusalems.
Project blogs:
Redditch New Town and New Jerusalems
Queen Elizabeth II visits Redditch, 5th July 1983
Redditch New Town Archives: Planning & Design
Redditch New Town Archives: Industry and Employment
Redditch New Town Archives: Sports, Promotion and Leisure
Redditch New Town Archives: Heritage and the ‘Old Town’
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