Building Communities: The New Town Archive

In the post-World War II era, the New Towns Act of 1946 aimed to create self-sufficient communities. Warrington (1968) and Runcorn (1964) were designated New Towns to address housing and employment needs for surrounding urban areas. The ambitious development process generated a massive archive, now held by Cheshire Archives, documenting every stage of their transformation. Items in the archive include meeting minutes, publicity brochures, maps, plans, reports, architectural drawings, and a rich collection of photographs.

Thanks to Wellcome Trust funding as part of the New Jerusalems project, this invaluable collection of over 3500 images has now been digitized and will soon be freely available online on the Cheshire Archive website.

In the meantime, this exhibition features highlights from the archive collected together for the first time.