Tracing the History of Your House: The Building, the People, the Past

The essential purchase for anyone researching a house or locality: find out who built your house, when it was built, who the previous occupants were, and how they decorated it!

This fully revised and expanded guide to house history is for anyone interested in how buildings, streets and towns have changed - or even stayed the same. It explores the many kinds of information available to the amateur house detective, and offers expert guidance for navigating the information sources and records. These include the three great land surveys of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the records of the Land Registry, and conveyancing documents. For those looking farther back in time, the book covers tax and manorial documents for properties dating to the medieval period. The author also reveals how more modern dwellings can be studied through building plans, local directories, electoral lists and rate books.