New Jerusalems

We are delighted to work with partners from across the UK and Ireland to make available the archives of 11 post-war New Towns in a project funded by the Wellcome Trust. 

Cwmbran was the first New Town in Wales, built as part of a UK Government scheme to rebuild following the second world war. The Corporation was established in 1949 to design the housing, social and commercial facilities.   The story of its development is told through the records of the Cwmbran Development Corporation, which includes minutes, reports, surveys, photographs and plans.  The Corporation was dissolved in 1988 and the records transferred to the then Gwent Record Office.

This funding allows long-needed work to take place on this collection. It was catalogued many years ago, but this project will re-catalogue it to modern standards and make it available for the first time on our fully-searchable online catalogue.  The funding also allows preservation work, mostly repackaging photographs and slides, safeguarding the collection for use by future generations.

Find out more about the project at www.newjerusalems.info/