Quarter Sessions Deposited Plans are records concerned with the application to Parliament for a local Act of Parliament (or, from the 1870s, a Provisional Order) to permit the construction of public schemes – bridges, canals, docks, harbours, railways, tramways, gas, water and electricity undertakings, new roads etc. From 1793 Parliamentary Standing Orders required that such applications had to be accompanied by a detailed plan of the new works, a copy of which had to be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace (after 1888, the Clerk of the County Council) of any county affected. Initially this requirement only covered canals and waterworks, but in 1803 it was extended to railways. The object of local deposit was to give people affected by a scheme an initial warning of the proposal, and the records were deposited before the parliamentary session in which the Bill was introduced (usually in October/November) The plans are often drawn at a large scale and many pre-date the 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey plans, although they usually only show a strip of land along the route of the scheme. The plan had to be accompanied by a book of reference, which listed the owners and occupiers of any piece of land affected by the proposal. The requirements were amended at various times and the range of documents which were deposited was extended, but as a minimum there should always be a plan of the route and a book of reference. Some schemes never obtained their authorising Act of Parliament, and some were never implemented even if an Act was obtained. The Record Office also holds a comprehensive set of local Acts of Parliament from 1799. A duplicate set of deposited plans and associated documents is held in the House of Lords Record Office. – From: DEPOSIT AND REGISTRATION