how do you trace the history of a house
Discussion
See if the Local Authority has a Conservation Appraisal Study or something similarly titled. That document may well give you a lot of info on the history of the CA in general and often can be quite specific regarding the individual street history. The London borough ones are often pretty good (RBK&C and Westminster in my experience).
Do some googling. I've found quite a bit of local history stuff on Flickr and other seemingly random websites through the years. Local interest Facebook groups can be good for that sort of thing too.
Is the house listed at all? If so, have a look at the listing on the Historic England website. if you're in luck, there'll be a bit of info extra to the usual stuff about the appearance/style of the building.
Is the house listed at all? If so, have a look at the listing on the Historic England website. if you're in luck, there'll be a bit of info extra to the usual stuff about the appearance/style of the building.
I did this to put together a history file when selling my late Mum's place.
My best resource was the local village Library. I found a couple of books and a few pamphlets on the local area written and self published by local historians. Contained lots of maps and photos that allowed me to produce a time lapsed history of the house and it's local area from 1857 to 2016. Local council meeting notes are also worth searching through too - street names are often highlighted in indexes. I found paper copies of these in the village library and spend an afternoon flicking through them and found a couple of gems.
HTH!
My best resource was the local village Library. I found a couple of books and a few pamphlets on the local area written and self published by local historians. Contained lots of maps and photos that allowed me to produce a time lapsed history of the house and it's local area from 1857 to 2016. Local council meeting notes are also worth searching through too - street names are often highlighted in indexes. I found paper copies of these in the village library and spend an afternoon flicking through them and found a couple of gems.
HTH!
I'm just going through this, as far as pics are concerned:
Aerial pic sites may have some shots, some are free, some are obscenely expensive.
Just been quoted circa £300 for 4 or 5 of their cheapest prints of ours.
Britainfromabove.org is very good and free, but limited to villages, towns etc.
I'm just on my way to the local library to see what they have.
Aerial pic sites may have some shots, some are free, some are obscenely expensive.
Just been quoted circa £300 for 4 or 5 of their cheapest prints of ours.
Britainfromabove.org is very good and free, but limited to villages, towns etc.
I'm just on my way to the local library to see what they have.
Jeremy-75qq8 said:
planning applications will tell you something and if not on line then ask and they upload them.
Ancestry Uk has census details
The 1939 Register can give a good snapshot: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/1939registerAncestry Uk has census details
Census records don't cover anything after 1911, unfortunately.
Simpo Two said:
The 1939 Register can give a good snapshot: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/1939register
Census records don't cover anything after 1911, unfortunately.
1860s house, that site was about as far as I got. I managed to find out who lived in our house in 1939 and I managed to find their grave as they never moved out of the area.Census records don't cover anything after 1911, unfortunately.
I also managed to find out that the son at the house next door was killed in the 1st world war by literally googling the street name and "died"
Your only real option is to join ancestry.com and pay. Once you start searching you will find very little information for free unless you are lucky and you will quickly realise you have to pay to join sites such as ancestry.
Good luck, it is fascinating once you get your first bit of information and start piecing it together.
I live in a converted coach house that once served a rather splendid Georgian mansion in a suburban village setting. It was built about 1840, the house itself probably late 1700s, but now sadly demolished. When I moved in I decided to research the history of the house and it’s occupants.
By far the best source of information was the local newspaper archive that can be accessed through the usual genealogy websites. But then, it was a big house and a lot of toffs lived in it, so their comings and going’s were always recorded.
The local public record office was also valuable, as they sometimes are depositories of old deeds, etc.
Just googling stuff on the internet turned up interesting stuff. Local history Facebook sites were good, and provided no end of street photographs that included the house and its local area. Google ‘history of a house’ for loads of good links.
I ended up with an account of all the people who lived here from the early 1800s to the present day, and wrote a book which I lodged with the local record office and record office, which were both more than happy to put it on their shelves.
By far the best source of information was the local newspaper archive that can be accessed through the usual genealogy websites. But then, it was a big house and a lot of toffs lived in it, so their comings and going’s were always recorded.
The local public record office was also valuable, as they sometimes are depositories of old deeds, etc.
Just googling stuff on the internet turned up interesting stuff. Local history Facebook sites were good, and provided no end of street photographs that included the house and its local area. Google ‘history of a house’ for loads of good links.
I ended up with an account of all the people who lived here from the early 1800s to the present day, and wrote a book which I lodged with the local record office and record office, which were both more than happy to put it on their shelves.
Joey Deacon said:
Your only real option is to join ancestry.com and pay.... Good luck, it is fascinating once you get your first bit of information and start piecing it together.
Yes indeed, a jigsaw puzzle with no edges... and military people, esp those KIA, are pretty well documented.I also found Probate records can give a lot of useful extra details like addresses and relatives. Pre-1996 is best; the newer they are the less info the have. https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills
HRL said:
Not sure how the previous owners of our property got their information together but they left us a nice book full of info and the details of the previous occupiers back to the 1200’s. It’s a bit grey earlier than that but the property is almost a 1000 years old.
Well, bits of it!
Any chance of a thread ? That sounds fascinating!Well, bits of it!
LeadFarmer said:
Evoluzione said:
LeadFarmer said:
Mines a 1930's house and I'd love to know the names of all its owners over the years.
Why, what would you do with them?To meet them or their offspring, to look at any photos they have, to know what it was like to live here, what they did and why they did such and such would be great, but it's not going to happen.
Evoluzione said:
I know who owned mine as I have copies of many, if not all of the deeds. It's pretty useless information!
To meet them or their offspring, to look at any photos they have, to know what it was like to live here, what they did and why they did such and such would be great, but it's not going to happen.
I don't want to do any of that, I'd just like to know who has lived in my house over the last 91 years, how may owners, how loving they lived here etc.To meet them or their offspring, to look at any photos they have, to know what it was like to live here, what they did and why they did such and such would be great, but it's not going to happen.
The only history I do know is that the previous owner sold up when sentenced to prison for committing a sexual assault on the driveway. The neighbours were glad to see him gone,
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