Record

Ref NoMS 3219/3/3/6/3
Finding NumberMS 3219/3/118
TitleLetters and papers concerning the town of Greenock
LevelFile
Date1750 - 1775
DescriptionThis bundle includes: printed Act for levying duty on beer, 1750; plan and elevation of the town cellars, 1751; a list of items in Mr Marr’s school, with navigation instruments etc. 1754; letters written for the town's business, 1759-60; accounts of building the quays; application from a teacher, 1759; letter about a new quarry, 1759; list of owners of horses in Greenock, 1760; drawing and measurements of a silver cup sent to Edinburgh, 1761; plans for a new road, 1762; new streets and cellars; repairs required by the fire engine, 1769 and 1774; papers about the charter and management of the town; weights and measures; references for the teacher John MacAdam; list of tradesmen and other inhabitants who refused to pay their part of £25 to be given to David Turner as a gratuity, 1747; disputes between magistrates and townspeople, 1760.
Extent56
FormatItems
Related MaterialA single receipt from 1744 was discovered at Doldowlod in 2002 and donated to the City Archives. It is listed in the ‘Later additions to the papers of James Watt and Family’ part of the MS 3219 catalogue.
The Watt and Muirhead papers were microfilmed by Adam Matthew Publications as part of Industrial Revolution: A Documentary History. ‘Muirhead I’ was published in Series One: part 2 in 1993; ‘Muirhead II-IV’ in Series One: parts 6 and 8, in 1997; and the ‘James Watt Papers’ in Series Three, in 1999. All the microfilms are available in Birmingham City Archives.
Physical DescriptionPapers and correspondence
Access StatusOpen
ArrangementThese papers have not been listed in greater detail.
AdminHistoryThere are two original bundle wrappers, although these had been removed from the bundles at some time in the past so that it is no longer possible to be certain which papers were in which bundle. Both wrappers are titled 'Town of Greenock's papers. 1751-1775. Ex[amine]d Feb[ruar]y 1820. J[ames] W[att].' One wrapper also has the following: ' Letters & other papers relating to towns affairs — schemes of piers ..irths etc'
LanguageEnglish
PublisherThree Generations of Watts. Extracts from the Doldowlod Papers, by Julian Gibson-Watt (1995), has a section on the trading correspondence of James Watt of Greenock and on the Finlay & Cation papers. [B&W Pamphlets G/7]
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