How to Start Researching the History of your House
- Clare Humphreys Vicentini
- Feb 2, 2023
- 4 min read
Have you ever found a piece of old wallpaper at the back of an airing cupboard, some old hooks hanging in a pantry or a box of dusty items in the dark recess of your loft space and thought…who put that there? Who lived here before me and what were their lives like?
Each house has its own stories to tell and with a bit of patience, time and detective work, you can unlock those stories.
Before you start, remember there are some challenges associated with tracing your house history:
not everything is online, and you may need to take a trip to your local county archive to continue your search
the names and numbers of houses can change over time and some houses, especially in smaller villages, often didn’t have numbers or names until the 20th century
property ownership is a relatively recent invention for most people and, as homes were usually rented, the owner and occupier were likely to be different people
Where to start
As with family history, when researching the history of your house, start with what you know and work backwards in time. This will ensure you are building your knowledge based on facts and evidence.
Title Deeds
If you have the deeds to your property going back several years, or centuries, you have a wonderful resource. The title deeds and associated paperwork should tell you the names of the vendors and purchasers, a description of the property with its boundaries, the dates of the exchanges and how much was paid. It may even describe the purchase of the land prior to the property being built.
Using the information in the deeds, the lives of those mentioned can be researched using genealogy websites such as Ancestry. While these commercial sites require a subscription, Ancestry can be accessed at your local archive or library for free.
Even if you don’t have the deeds, there are still plenty of other resources available to you.
Electoral Rolls, Directories and National Surveys
Starting with recent records, look at the electoral registers and street directories along with contemporary maps. See if you can identify your house and follow the electoral registers and directories down the streets to identify the names of the occupants.
The 1939 England and Wales Register is one of the most important national surveys available for the 20th century as it was taken on the eve of the outbreak of WW2, recording the names and addresses of household members as well as their occupations and dates of birth.
Ancestry and Find My Past have many collections of electoral rolls, street, commercial and post office directories, as well as the 1939 England and Wales Register.
The 1910 Valuation Office Survey produced three types of records; plans, valuation books and field books. The field book provides information specific to the property such as the owners and occupiers, whether freehold or leasehold, insurance details, the general state of repair and even fixtures and fittings, as well as the overall value for tax calculation purposes. For further information go to The National Archives Research Guide on the Valuation Survey.
Census records
Census records from the recently released 1921 census to the 1851 census will, more often than not, include an address, especially in the more urban areas.
A census enumerator, who travelled the route distributing and collecting the census returns will sometimes record the route taken and this can be useful for identifying who lived in which properties. Look for landmarks such as the church, post office or public house to help you follow the route.
Once you have the names of the occupants, this can be used to search wills and probate records which will provide you with an address, date of death, the executor, and the value of the estate. Many older wills can go into detail of not only property bequests but also furniture and household items which make for fascinating reading.
Newspapers
To add further flavour, look for your house in old newspapers. They are a rich source of information, and the classifieds are particularly helpful with adverts for the sale of property and items as well as those looking for staff or work, where an address was often provided.
It was also common for house auctions to list items in the newspaper advertisement giving a fantastic insight into the furniture and fittings of a home of the time. The example below was certainly from the estate of a very wealthy woman, although I'm not too keen on the idea of a 'hair mattress'.
Newspapers online can be accessed via a subscription with Find My Past or the British Newspaper Archive. Again, local newspapers can be accessed for free at your local library or archive.
Maps
Maps are a wonderful resource for the local historian. There are many collections online with amazing tools which allow you to overlay modern maps with the old to see how the area has changed. Go to the National Library of Scotland Maps website and Know Your Place for hours of map related enjoyment!
Tithe records
One of the most significant records for the house historian is the Tithe Records and Maps collection. In response to the 1836 Act, commuting the payment of tithes into cash rather than goods, surveys were undertaken throughout the 1840s of all parishes, most of which survive. This produced a schedule of all the owners and occupiers as well as the accompanying parish map. Access tithe maps at your local archive or online at The Genealogist.
Manorial Records
If you live in a very old house, you may find mention of the previous owners and occupiers in Manorial Records. The Manorial Court dealt with any number of issues concerned with the running of the manor including tenancies and illegal activities such as poaching. Later manorial records may include rentals, surveys and accounts. The Manorial Document Register is one of many invaluable collections at The National Archives.
Other sources of information
Your local library, archive and history society will all be delighted to help you find out more about your local area, and point you in the right direction for further research.
Spire Genealogy – Family and House Histories
If you are interested in finding out more about the history of your house but don’t have the time to undertake the work yourself, please feel free to contact me to see what we can discover.
[All sources for documents and images are available on request]
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