Our House Print

House history research checklist

Fourteen steps for finding out who lived in your house and when it was built, in a sensible order, each with a link to the archive guide. Tick them off on screen or print the list.

Your research checklist

Tick each step as you do it. Add your house and it goes at the top of the printed sheet.

Start here

Maps: when it first appears

A shelf of old cloth-bound books under a framed landscape painting.
Local books and record offices hold more than any one website.

Who lived there

Plans, deeds and tax

A framed photograph of a pebbledashed semi-detached house on a mantelpiece beside a lit candle.
One house, and a stack of records behind it.

How to use it

Work down the list. The first few steps cost nothing and take an evening. Tick each one as you go, then add your house's name or address and print the sheet: your ticks print with it, so the next trip to the record office starts where you left off.

A red-brick terraced house with a bay window, as a soft watercolour illustration. The House Illustration From £19.99 8 formats

One photograph of the front of the house, restyled into an illustration. The watermarked preview is free.

The steps cover England and Wales, because the guides they come from do. Scotland and Northern Ireland keep their own records.

Where the steps come from

The National Archives says the best place to start is the local archive for the area. Local archives usually hold maps, electoral registers and family and estate papers. The National Archives itself is most useful for who lived in a house in particular years: the census, the 1910 survey and the 1939 Register.

Historic England suggests a similar route: find out how old the house is, learn about the area, then decide what you want to know. Its guides add photographs, sale catalogues, Land Tax lists and rate books. We have put the two together into one order, and the wording is ours.

A framed pen drawing of a stone cottage on a wooden desk below a green lamp.
Notes, a lamp and an evening: most of the first steps happen at home.

A word about deeds

People often hope the deeds will tell the whole story. Sometimes they do. But The National Archives notes there is no legal duty to keep evidence of title for more than 30 years, under the Law of Property Act 1925, so older deeds may be gone. Ask your solicitor, your mortgage lender and HM Land Registry before you give up on them.

Sources

Found a date already? Put it into our when was my house built tool to see the window. And once the story is told, a drawing of the house makes a fine first page for it.

Written by Craig Fearn, Our House Print. Last updated .

A few practical answers

Where do I start researching my house history?
With the house itself and its area: look for a date stone, check if it is listed, then find your local archive. The National Archives says the local archive is the best place to start.
Can I see who lived in my house?
Yes, for some years. The census from 1841 to 1921 and the 1939 Register can be searched by address, and local archives hold electoral registers.
Is it free?
Much of it is. Old maps, record office visits and many guides cost nothing. The 1939 Register is on paid family history sites.
Does it work in Scotland?
Not as it stands. It follows guides for England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland keep their own records.