Branch meeting at West Berkshire Museum 12 February 2025
Speaker: Gill Blanchard
Researching the history of a house calls for a holistic approach, looking at social, family and local history sources to determine ownership, occupancy, neighbours, associated commercial/agricultural activity, original structure, boundaries and subsequent changes.
Censuses 1841-21 and the 1939 register give names and occupations. In 20thC censuses the number of rooms are recorded. (Censuses are online and in CROs.)
Land Registry records begin nationally from 1862, but some earlier ones exist. They identify successive owners, mortgages, disputes and boundary changes. (Go direct to the Land Registry site, avoiding fee-paid agencies purporting to search for you.)
Title deeds and estate records, if they have survived, may predate the Land Registry and can show successive owners/tenants and mortgages. Before 1733 they may be in Latin.
Old OS maps will show building footprint, wells, rights of way, ice houses, fountains, neighbouring landmarks and abstracts of title for neighbouring properties. (digitised on National Library of Scotland site)
Tithe maps (c1830s) by eccelsiastical parish detailing plots and ownership, tenancy, size, rental value. (sometimes 1 held locally, certainly 1 copy at local CRO, another at TNA)
Old postcards may illustrate earlier constructions on a given site.
1873 Return of Owners of Land details all land ownership of >1 acre within a given county. (digitised on The Genealogist website)
Listed buildings register (Historic England) and local listing of historic landmarks (local authority).
Inland Revenue Valuation Office Survey 1910-1920 shows map, field books and register, including names of owners and occupiers, plot size, rateable and rental values. (TNA and online at The Genealogist)
National Farm Survey 1941-1943 listed plots of >5 acres, food production, owners and tenants. (At TNA, currently being digitised)
Manorial, probate and insurance records.
Sale catalogues of individual properties and estate break-ups. (CROs and TNA)
Newspapers (BNA online), trade directories (libraries and CROs) electoral registers and poll books (CROs).
