{"id":11903,"date":"2022-04-08T11:10:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T09:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=11903"},"modified":"2022-04-08T11:10:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T09:10:36","slug":"best-websites-houses-and-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/2022\/04\/08\/best-websites-houses-and-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"Best websites: Houses and streets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
BEST WEBSITES<\/h5>\n\n

Houses and streets<\/h2>\n\n

There\u2019s nothing like a picture of the place where an ancestor lived to put us in touch with our past, says Jonathan Scott <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Terraced houses in Morley Street, Rochdale, c1900 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Some streets are more photogenic than others, and some areas will have been more carefully documented than others. Streets may have been surveyed by the local council, or snapped by professional photographers, or be depicted in postcards preserved at a local-history library.<\/p>\n\n

I live in a nondescript building, which replaced an even more nondescript building, which itself stood on land that had once been the corner section of school fields. As a result, it\u2019s been a tricky but rewarding experience to find photos of the land as it used to be, and of the building that existed before 1973.<\/p>\n\n

For your \u2018then and now\u2019 folder, you can quickly find photographs of your ancestors\u2019 street, house or area as it exists today using the likes of Google Street View (google.co.uk\/maps<\/strong><\/a>) <\/strong>or Rightmove (rightmove.co.uk<\/a>), showing property for sale or rent. We\u2019ve also listed some websites where you can search for aerial photographs, which even if they don\u2019t show your ancestors\u2019 specific street will reveal how the wider landscape has changed.<\/p>\n\n

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND <\/h4>\n\n

w catalogue.nli.ie<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

<\/strong> It\u2019s worth visiting the NLI\u2019s online catalogue to explore the kinds of images that survive, and see how fun they can be to research when they\u2019ve been well catalogued, regardless of whether you have Irish roots or not. This is the finding aid to all sorts of NLI content, including references to more than 150,000 photographs, of which about half have been digitised. These cover all sorts of subjects, from historic buildings to industry, events and disasters, famous people, civic celebrations and protests. But there are of course many hundreds of images that simply show streets, houses and communities from across Ireland. You can narrow by timeline, creator, region or subject \u2013 and there are categories for both \u2018Houses\u2019 and \u2018Streets\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

FRANCIS FRITH<\/h4>\n\n

w francisfrith.com<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Although this website is focused on selling you prints, it is nevertheless an excellent place to browse vintage, retro and nostalgic black-and-white photographs of areas across the UK. More are added every month \u2013 in February 2022 alone 1,098 photos were uploaded depicting 432 places. The site is also quick and responsive, and there are various new features since it last appeared in this column, including the ability to send free electronic postcards to friends. You can also share memories and stories relating to specific images \u2013 more than 82,600 have been added to date. There\u2019s no postcode search, so just type in the name of a town or area to get started.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

BRITAIN FROM ABOVE<\/h4>\n\n

w britainfromabove.org.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

This website is based around a collection of 95,000 aerial photographs, the majority of which were taken by the company Aerofilms Ltd between 1919 and 1953. It was the result of a four-year project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to conserve and digitise the images. You can search by keyword, image reference or county, or by using the map which is arguably the best way in. The site has been online for some time now and is showing its age in some respects, but remains a useful tool for family historians. Britain From Above is free to use, but you will have to create a user account in order to be able to zoom into the photographs.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

HISTORYPIN<\/h4>\n\n

w historypin.org<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Historypin was first on the scene with the idea of superimposing old photos on Google Street View, attracting lots of publicity in the 2010s. It remains a diverting browse, although how useful it will be for your research depends on how much material has been uploaded for the area you\u2019re interested in. Visitors can browse the photographs on the website, and if you sign up then you can upload and curate collections too. WhatWasThere (whatwasthere.com<\/a>) also allows you to explore historic images linked to Street View. It works well, and has all sorts of interesting stuff if you dig for it, but there are not yet enough photos from the British Isles to make it genuinely useful.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR LOCAL HISTORY <\/h4>\n\n

w balh.org.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

This smart and spiffy website has all sorts of resources aimed at the association\u2019s members, and will help you track down local-heritage groups. Many of these will have online galleries, often featuring privately owned images of local streets and houses that you can\u2019t find elsewhere. And if you visit a local-history website then always make sure that you check out the links section. This is where you tend to find members\u2019 own websites, which in turn may have all sorts of buried treasure, and are just the kind of sites that won\u2019t turn up anywhere near the top of the results of a web search \u2013 no matter how good you are at using Google.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Experts Choice<\/h3>\n\n
\"\"\/
Houses on the bank of the Thames in Lambeth, c1850<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

One of my favourite online sources of historic images for house history is Historic England\u2019s site England\u2019s Places (historicengland.org.uk\/imagesbooks\/photos\/englands-places<\/a>), an enjoyably absorbing wholly digitised and searchable photographic collection. The images date from the 1850s to the 1990s and comprise street scenes, village and townscapes, and exterior and sometimes interior views of individual buildings. Often referred to as the \u2018Architectural Red Box Collection\u2019, the originals were, not unsurprisingly, stored in red boxes in Historic England\u2019s archive.<\/p>\n\n

The collection originated in 1941 when the National Buildings Record began to document built heritage. Subsequent additions to the core of 1930s photographs include a variety of images from both commercial and amateur photographers, lending the collection a wonderfully eclectic air.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
The photos on the website were originally stored in red boxes <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

An especially endearing feature of this digitised version is its replication of the physical experience of looking through the red boxes \u2013 as far as is possible \u2013 which many may fondly remember doing in person at the Swindon searchroom. Simply search by place name, and virtually \u2018open\u2019 a box to browse a clickable gallery displaying cards with images affixed. Clicking on an image reveals the handwritten details on the reverse, such as building name, date and photographer. Happily, there are zoom and rotate options too.<\/p>\n\n

Looking through the images one by one is a fascinating process, made all the more enjoyable if your house or street pops up. Even if the house you are researching is not included, the views of streets and buildings in the area you are looking at offer glimpses into the past, literally snapshots in time, thereby providing a wider visual context for your investigations.<\/p>\n\n

Karen Averby is a buildings historian and co-hosts #HouseHistoryHour <\/em>on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

Go Further<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nine more websites that can help your research<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A VISION OF BRITAIN<\/span><\/strong>
w visionofbritain.org.uk<\/a> <\/strong>
Find out how your postcode has changed since 1801 using Ordnance Survey maps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FACEBOOK<\/span><\/strong>
w facebook.com<\/a><\/strong>
Local-history groups and libraries often post highlights to Facebook. Try searching for the name of an area together with \u2018local history\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FLICKR<\/span><\/strong>
w flickr.com<\/a><\/strong>
Many museums, archives and libraries still upload georeferenced images to Flickr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GOOGLE IMAGES<\/span><\/strong>
w google.com\/imghp?hl=en<\/a><\/strong>
It\u2019s always worth searching Google Images, but you may be swamped with estate agents\u2019 photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOUSE HISTORY HOUR<\/span><\/strong>
w househistoryhour.co.uk<\/a><\/strong>
This is the website of the weekly Twitter event #HouseHistoryHour, <\/em>which takes place on Thursdays at 7pm GMT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LONDON PICTURE ARCHIVE<\/span><\/strong>
w londonpicturearchive.org.uk<\/a><\/strong>
Many archives and libraries have their own dedicated image catalogues, such as this one from the London Metropolitan Archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES<\/span><\/strong>
w tinyurl.com\/nlw-gallery-photos<\/a><\/strong>
View digital versions of some of the library\u2019s photographic collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STREET DIRECTORIES<\/span><\/strong>
w tinyurl.com\/uni-leicester-directories<\/a><\/strong>
Directories can be invaluable for getting to grips with changing streets and house numbers. For Scottish properties try digital.nls.uk\/directories<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES<\/span><\/strong>
w images.nationalarchives.gov.uk<\/a><\/strong>
Search 75,000 digitised examples from TNA\u2019s image library, including aerial photographs.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

Photos: GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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