| AdminHistory | In 1555 the Highways Act required that a parish 'Surveyor of the Highways' be appointed. Any such accounts of their work are likely to be found amongst parish records. The role of the surveyor included the inspection of the highways three times a year and to organise statute labour for the highways' upkeep. Each parishioner was required to give a number of days 'statute' labour each year (or provide a substitute).
The system changed with the passing of the General Highway Act of 1835 (5 and 6 William IV). From that date Quarter Sessions appointed paid surveyors for a group of parishes. Parishes could now levy a highway rate to maintain roads, rather than rely on statute (unpaid) labour. Details of surveyors' appointments are likely to be recorded amongst the Quarter Session records (prior to 1880 these will be the West Riding Quarter Sessions at the West Yorkshire Archive Service).
In 1864 Highway Board powers were transferred by the General Highways Act to the Highways and Sewerage Committee of the Local Board of Health (see CA-HWY). |