Our House Print

When was my house built?

Type the years from what you have found, such as a date stone, an old map or a census entry. You get the years your house was built between, and which record could narrow it next.

Your clues

Fill in only what you have found. One clue gives you an edge; two from different records give you a window. Leave the rest blank.

It is on the tithe map

Type a year for any clue you have. The answer appears here.

A red brick terraced house with a bay window and a dark green front door, seen straight on from the pavement.
Start with the front of the house: some carry their date in stone.

How to use it

Fill in only the clues you have. Each one sets an edge. An old map that does not show your house yet says it was built after that year. A map, a census or a register that does show it says it was standing by then. A date stone sets both edges at once.

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.

Two clues from different records give you a window, such as "built between 1880 and 1891". If your clues disagree, the tool says so and does not guess which one is right.

Where to find the clues

Historic England suggests starting with the house itself. Some older homes have an "Erected" date or a name carved into the front. If your home is listed, its entry on the National Heritage List for England gives a short note of when it was built.

Old Ordnance Survey maps are the next step. Historic England says they can help establish when a house was built, and copies from the 1840s onwards are kept at county record offices. The National Library of Scotland puts OS maps for England and Wales online too. Find the last map without your house and the first one with it.

Then the records that list homes by address. The National Archives holds the census, taken every ten years from 1841 to 1921, the Valuation Office survey of 1910 to 1915, and the 1939 Register, taken on 29 September 1939. Tithe maps, which Historic England dates mostly to 1836 to 1850, show whether a building was there. Our house history research checklist has a link for each one.

Several photographs of houses spread across a wooden table beside a mug of tea.
Old photographs of the street are clues too.

How it is worked out

This is our own method, and it is an estimate. We take the latest year that says "not built yet" and the earliest year that says "already there". The house went up somewhere in between. If you tick the tithe map but do not know its year, we use 1850, the end of the usual span.

It is only as good as the years you type. Street numbers and names have changed in places, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so a census can list a different house under your number. Check the neighbours in the same record. We do not date houses by their bricks, windows or style, and we do not use any paid data.

Sources

Read on 30 October 2026: the Houses guide from The National Archives for the census, survey, register and tithe years; Historic England's home history pages for date stones, listing and street numbering, and its page on maps and plans; and the National Library of Scotland map collection.

Once you know its age, a picture of the place makes a good companion to the story. See how a house illustration is made.

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

A few practical answers

How can I find out when my house was built for free?
Look for a date stone, check whether the house is listed, then compare old Ordnance Survey maps online. The last map without the house and the first map with it give you a window. Local record offices hold more.
What if I only have one clue?
Then you get one edge, such as "built by 1891". That is still worth knowing. The answer box says which record to look at next for the other edge.
Why do my clues disagree?
Often a typing slip, or a street that was renumbered or renamed, which Historic England notes happened in places. Check the houses either side in the same record, and if a map gives a survey year as well as a print year, try the survey year.
Is the answer exact?
No. It is an estimate from the clues you type, worked out by our own method. A date stone or building plans for the house itself get you closest.