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Naas Urban District Council Minute Books
Identity Statement
Repository Code: IE 2036
Archive Reference: KCA/UDCN/M
Title: Minute books of Naas Urban District Council
Creation Dates: 1902-2001
Extent Medium: 24 volumes
Context
Administrative History: Naas Urban District Council (UDC) was established by the Local Government of Ireland Act 1898. It replaced the Naas Town Commissioners elected in 1855 under the Towns Improvement Act (Ireland) 1854, to provide basic services such as lighting, cleaning, and paving, funded by the levying of a rate on property in the town valued at £4 or over. The Naas Town Commissioners who were in office on 01 April 1900 continued as urban district councillors until an election was held in 1902, while the chairman of the Town Commissioners continued to act as chairman of the UDC. The first UDC meeting was held on 03 April 1900 with Mr. William Staples, chairman, presiding. The other members present were Messrs. S. J. Brown, J.P., C.C.; N. J. Flanagan, James Conway, Richard Sargent, William Quinn, and H. J. Farrell.
Content and Structure
Scope & Content: The minute books record those present at each monthly meeting, the annual election of councillors, the appointment and payment of staff, including the town clerk, rates collector, weighmaster, sanitary officer and caretakers. The UDC dealt with public lighting, housing, water, sewerage and the enforcement of the Infectious Diseases Notifications (Ireland) Act, as well as the management of the Town Hall. The books record surveyor’s reports, proposals for works, estimates, works carried out, contracts, tenders for new works, payments, the correspondence of the councillors and their resolutions, resolutions of sympathy and resolutions made regarding matters of local and national significance. Public works in the urban district were the responsibility of the urban district council in conjunction with other local authorities such as the Naas No. 1 Rural District Council and the County Council, e.g. for the maintenance of the main roads in the urban district (UDCN/M/2). In addition to collecting the municipal rate, the UDC also collected the poor rate for the Naas Board of Guardians. Naas UDC was one of the first in Ireland to adopt the Public Library Act in 1901, later establishing a library under the aegis of the Carnegie Trust. The Town Hall was integral to the life of the town, used for social functions and local organisations. In May 1914 the Council granted the use of its Assembly Room free of charge to a committee meeting for the purpose of establishing a corps of Irish Volunteers (UDCN/M/2). A proposal that the parish priest be requested to grant permission for a collection at church doors for the assistance of those innocent person who have suffered through the recent rebellion in Dublin (1916 Rising) was approved on 01 August (UDCN/M/3). The Council took out loans to build housing schemes and the sewerage system; following a joint report from the Medical Officer of Health and the Town Surveyor in March 1919 on the condition of the houses of the poorer classes in the town, it was agreed to consider taking out a loan of £20,000 to provide more housing (UDCN/M/3). The books are handwritten volumes with an index, containing some printed pages and newspapers cuttings.
Arrangement: Manuscript bound volumes with some printed pages are arranged chronologically.
Conditions of Access and Use
Access Conditions: Minutes from 1910-1924 are available online here. Full access by appointment only and subject to the conditions of Kildare County Archives' access policy.
Conditions Governing Reproduction: Permission from archivist required.
Creation Dates: 1902-2001
Extent Medium: 24 volumes
Material Language: English
Allied Materials
Copies Information: Three Naas UDC Minute books covering the years 1910-1924 have been digitised and are searchable here. The books are handwritten and can be searched using Transkribus, (handwritten text recognition/HTR). The digitisation of these volumes was funded by the Co. Kildare Decade of Commemorations programme 2023 and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-23 initiative.
Publications
‘One hundred years of local democracy’ in Nás Na Riogh From Poorhouse Road to Fairy Flax, an Illustrated History of Naas, Naas Local History Group (2nd edition, 2001)