Catalogue description Office of Works and successors: Government Property Registers

The registers in this series form an index of land and property owned or held by the Office of Works, the Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, and the Ministry of Works, on behalf of most government departments, from the early 18th to the mid-20th century. They were primarily a guide for estate surveyors, who referred to them as their 'Bibles'. Each entry consists of a description and map of the exact site and a list of all existing deeds relating to it.

The series also contains requisition, compensation and settlement registers relating to property taken over by the state during the Second World War.

The registers were in regular use until the mid-1950s, when they were superseded by a card index system.

Ministry of Works, 1943-1962

Ministry of Works and Buildings, 1940-1942

Ministry of Works and Planning, 1942-1943

Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings, Works Department, 1832-1851

Office of Works, 1378-1832

Office of Works, 1851-1940

From 1979 Department of the Environment