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RefNoKBLC
AltRefNoBLC
TitleThe Bedford Level Corporation
DescriptionThis collection contains the administrative records of the Bedford Level Corporation, including records of the first and second undertakings; minutes of meetings in London and Ely; correspondence; inventories; volumes of engrossed accounts, bundles of bills and receipts; tax receipt books, arrears rolls; registers of conveyances, mortgages and leases; lot books; counterpart deeds; copies of acts of parliament; legal papers; journals; reports; maps and the Corporation library.

These records were created, used and stored by the Bedford Level Corporation in the course of their day-to-day business. The Fen Office was established in 1660, and was originally located in Mr Hampson's chambers in Inner Temple. They were destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666, and many of the records from the "First Undertaking" (see BLC1/1) and "Second Undertaking" (see BLC1/2) are believed to have been destroyed. The Fen Office then moved to No. 3 Tanfield Court (built on the site of Mr Hampson's former chambers) in 1667, and to No. 6 Serjeant's Inn in c. 1827. Following the sale of No. 6 Serjeant's Inn in 1837 and much discussion about the propriety and necessity of having an office in the country, the Bedford Level Corporation moved the Fen Office to Bedford House, Ely, in 1846. In 1864, they sold the mansion house, but retained the adjacent single storey building as the Fen Office. The Bedford Level Corporation was wound up in 1920, but the records of the Bedford Level Corporation remained at the Fen Office until at least 1947. They were then moved to the Great Ouse River Board's offices in Cambridge, and later transferred to Cambridgeshire Record Office (now Cambridgeshire Archives) in 1959.
Date1630 - 1920
CreatorNameThe Bedford Level Corporation
RepositoryCambridgeshire Archives
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