If you want to know how old your house is or who used to live in it, there are many websites that can help guide you. We have listed sites that will help you date your house as well as sites that will give you access to records such as census records that record who lived there.<\/p>\n

Whether your ancestors lived in a worker\u2019s cottage, 1930s semi or Georgian manor, house history can quickly develop from being a casual side project to an all-consuming quest. It\u2019s equally fascinating if you\u2019re tracing the history of your own house.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019ve uncovered the history of your old house, find out how to restore it with this guide<\/a> from\u00a0Homes & Antiques<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
The best websites for house history<\/h1>\n1.\u00a0 National Library of Scotland Maps<\/a><\/h2>\n
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Obviously old maps<\/a> are a necessary tool for house history, and in particular Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, tithe maps<\/a> and valuation maps, often showing individual houses and outbuildings, can be a vital first stop.<\/p>\n
The National Library of Scotland has been leading the way in terms of digital access to its map collections for years, and this includes maps covering all of the British Isles, not just Scottish records<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Thanks to the successful\u00a0GB1900\u00a0project crowdsourcing project drawing to a close, volunteers have transcribed all of the place names printed on sheets of the original 1900 OS maps of the British Isles, adding a new and truly comprehensive gazetteer.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0 ScotlandsPlaces<\/a><\/h2>\n
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This website lists the core sources that form the basis of the free and totally wonderful ScotlandsPlaces, a fantastic source for Scottish house history.\u00a0You can find maps, surveys and plans, drawings, various tax rolls, Ordnance Survey name books and more.<\/p>\n
Examples include schedules of 18th century<\/a> \u2018Duties on inhabited houses\u2019, first imposed in 1778 and arranged in county volumes, and the \u2018Official reports\u2019 section.\u00a0This leads to the likes of the Land Ownership Commission 1872\u20133 \u2013 a land ownership report that gives the names of every owner of land (of one acre or more) in each county.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0 Historic England<\/a><\/h2>\n
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Historic England has a useful guide to exploring your home\u2019s history including a link to the National Heritage List for England to check if you house is a listed property.<\/p>\n
The site also has a guide to tracing the past inhabitants of your house.<\/p>\n
It could be more comprehensive, but it\u2019s a good starting point, and includes some useful links to the likes of\u00a0 Victoria County History<\/a>.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0 MyHouseMyStreet<\/a><\/h2>\n
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There are all sorts of local history projects out there that might record the history of your house, or properties in the wider community.\u00a0This example from Brighton and Hove was launched in 2008.<\/p>\n
The result is a database of census<\/a> and historical\u00a0trade directory<\/a> information which allows users to view the occupancy history of local properties.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0 British History Online<\/a><\/h2>\n
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The wealth of material available at British History Online can seem somewhat overwhelming, especially when you combine it with other sites in the\u00a0 Connected Histories<\/a>\u00a0stable. As\u00a0a starting point I strongly recommend visiting two of the subject guides \u2013\u00a0 \u2018Urban History\u2019\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0 \u2018Local History\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n
These give broad overviews of the strengths and weaknesses of what\u2019s available here, and describe the primary and secondary sources for house history at your fingertips.<\/p>\n
6. Expert\u2019s choice: TheGenealogist<\/a><\/h2>\n
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Chosen by\u00a0Gill Blanchard, professional researcher and author of\u00a0 Tracing Your House History<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n
\u201cI recommend TheGenealogist for house history because the site has digitised copies of the tithe maps and apportionments held at\u00a0The National Archives<\/a>\u00a0which can be searched by name and place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old system of tithes payments of farm produce in kind, made by parishioners to support the parish church and clergy<\/a>, was replaced by money payments in 1836.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaps showing all titheable land and properties on it were drawn up with accompanying apportionments listing owners and occupiers, acreage, type of cultivation and its tithe valuation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther useful house history records on TheGenealogist include the Returns of the Owners of Land (1873\u20131876).<\/p>\n
\u201cThese list everyone who owned more than one acre of land in England (except London<\/a>), Wales<\/a>, Scotland and Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for those researching house history in Ireland the site also has copies of Griffith\u2019s Valuation of land, carried out between 1848 and 1864.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are also trade and telephone directories, electoral registers and poll books.<\/p>\n
\u201cA new addition to the site are the beginnings of the Inland Revenue Survey collection taken between 1910 and 1915.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore commonly known as the Lloyd George Domesday Survey, these records and their accompanying maps feature owners and occupiers across the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n
More house history websites<\/h1>\n
The National Records of Scotland guide<\/a>\u00a0details house history sources in Scotland, including the Register of Sasines, exchequer records, registers of deeds and more. West Yorkshire\u2019s Archives Service looks after one of only five surviving Registry of Deeds<\/a>, containing memorial copies of more than seven millions house deeds (1704\u20131970).<\/p>\n
Dating a house\u2019s original construction is an important step in tracing house history. A really old house may have had all sorts of redesigns, rebuilds, alterations and additions. Deeds and wills<\/a> are of course incredibly useful, but they\u2019re not for the faint-hearted. Step forward Building History<\/a>. It has a simple design, giving brief and clear advice for anyone interested in house history.<\/p>\n
Title deeds are useful documents in house history because they include the names of vendors and sellers, a description of the property and the amounts of money used in transfer of ownership. Further information for many properties can be obtained from the Land Registry<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Historical trade directories can give you some indication of who used to live in your property. There are some free examples online for England and Wales held by the University of Leicester<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Both Findmypast<\/a> and TheGenealogist<\/a> feature an address search tool for their census records, which makes it easier to search for your address and see who lived in your house.<\/p>\n
Other useful websites for house history include University College London\u2019s Survey of London<\/a>; Vision of Britain<\/a>, a map-finding tool; and HistoryPin<\/a>, where you can search for photographs of streets and buildings in the past. You can also see more information about house history and real-life house histories on Trace My House<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jonathan Scott is the author of<\/em> A Dictionary of Family History<\/a><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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