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Floods and flood defences

Background

The River Severn and several other waterways run through Gloucestershire. Over the years there have been many floods in various areas of the county; the most famous being in 1947 and 2007. Several bodies including the county council, district councils and drainage boards have been involved in creating and maintaining flood defences. There are also many documents in the archives which relate to events and experiences of floods both in recent times and historically.

What records are there and what information will they contain? 

This list is by no means exhaustive. It should be used to identify the major sources of information about flood defences and flooding in the county. See How to Find the Records below for instructions on how to search the online catalogue for related records.

Drainage Boards

Internal drainage boards are independent bodies set up to maintain rivers, watercourses, pumping stations and water level management, including some flood defences. Gloucestershire Archives holds records of the following drainage boards and related collections:

  • D272 Gloucestershire Court of Sewers [later South Gloucestershire Drainage Board]
  • D392 Ladden Brook and Yate Internal Drainage Board
  • D2882 Ladden Brook Commission of Sewers [later Yate Internal Drainage Board]
  • D11164 Longdon and Eldersfield Internal Drainage Board
  • D11165 North Gloucestershire Internal Drainage Board
  • D4170 West Gloucestershire Internal Drainage Board
  • D3592 County Land Drainage Officer
  • D2826 Records of various water and drainage authorities, deposited by Severn Trent Water Authority
  • D7768 Environment Agency

The Gloucestershire portion of the river Severn is now covered by the Lower Severn Internal Drainage Board. For more information please see http://www.lowersevernidb.org.uk/

County Council (Ref: C or K)

The county council has some powers over matters such as sewerage and water supply. The following collections relate to these topics:

  • Land drainage (reference C/CLD, K837, K871, K1806, and K2017)
  • Sewerage and water supply schemes (reference K144, K181, K596)
  • Research files relating to G E Payne's Gloucestershire: a physical, social and economic survey and plan, c.1940-1945 (reference C/AP/R)
  • Flooding (reference K1851)

There are other items in the county council archive which relate to flooding, including reports and photographs of floods.

District Councils (reference DA and DC)

Urban and rural district councils had control over sewerage until 1974. In Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury these powers were held by the borough councils. The number of records that have survived for each district council varies. You may expect to find documents relating to sewerage schemes, drainage plans, correspondence, reports, etc.

For more information please see Research Mini Guide: District Councils.

British Waterways Collection (Ref: D2460)

This collection contains documents which relate to the canal companies that controlled canals in Gloucestershire. The majority of the collection consists of plans and drawings, some of which relate to flood defences. There are some engineer’s records (D2460/2/3) which include references to the Tewkesbury waterworks, or the Cheltenham waterworks at Tewkesbury, now known as Mythe waterworks. Appendix 2 in the printed catalogue (available onsite) has details of the subject of correspondence from and to both the clerk and engineer.

For details of British Waterways after the 1940s we recommend you start you search by visiting the Canal & River Trust website

Newspapers

You may find articles and reports relating to floods and new flood defences. For details of our holdings of newspapers please see our comprehensive newspaper guide (Handlist)

How to find the records

You can view a list of records in these collections via our online catalogue, which can be found at: www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives. Use the collection references given above as your search term. We also recommend that you try searching the catalogue by key word, e.g. “flood”, “drainage”, “watercourse” etc. You can refine or sort your search in various ways, for example by date.
For more guidance on using our online catalogue please see the Help page and FAQs. Or you can watch our YouTube tutorial.

Want to know more?

There are many other records which are likely to mention flooding in the local area. These include early parish registers and vestry minutes, school log books, diaries and estate records. You might be able to find these by searching the online catalogue. Look at our mini guide on parish registers if you want to find out more.