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Researching the Cottage
- Thread starter RChurch
- Start date
biffvernon
Member
- Messages
- 4,607
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Hmmm, tricky.
Trouble is that detailed records were not always kept, and even if they were could have been lost in the mists of time.
For example, my house deeds date from the 1890s but I have established the building is older than 1840 (but not older than 1836) by other means.
I used the on-line census returns to find out about who lived in my house, but again this is limited in terms of how far back you can go (and how much information you'll get).
I went to my library's Local History section and trawled through old maps and books. I was also very very lucky indeed that a neighbour is also a historian and gave me all the information I needed on a plate (or in this case a book he'd written that included my street). So I didn't actually have to try very hard.
What clues do you have already. Is your house 100, 200, 400 years old? Is your house in a terrace, perhaps a workers' cottage, or would it be something grander, perhaps a yeoman farmer or gentleman's house?
Ian
Trouble is that detailed records were not always kept, and even if they were could have been lost in the mists of time.
For example, my house deeds date from the 1890s but I have established the building is older than 1840 (but not older than 1836) by other means.
I used the on-line census returns to find out about who lived in my house, but again this is limited in terms of how far back you can go (and how much information you'll get).
I went to my library's Local History section and trawled through old maps and books. I was also very very lucky indeed that a neighbour is also a historian and gave me all the information I needed on a plate (or in this case a book he'd written that included my street). So I didn't actually have to try very hard.
What clues do you have already. Is your house 100, 200, 400 years old? Is your house in a terrace, perhaps a workers' cottage, or would it be something grander, perhaps a yeoman farmer or gentleman's house?
Ian
JanieB
Member
- Messages
- 144
- Location
- Oxfordshire
The oldest part of my cottage was built after 1770 but before 1820 according to the maps. Until January I had a descendant of the family who had the terrace built living next to me. Although I learnt a lot about the houses from her (and her sister-in-law who died last year) she didn't know the date of the original buildings.
They were built as workers cottages for a farm and orchards behind our gardens, compulsorily purchased for social housing in the '80's.
I have found it exremely difficult to research using the old census records as, not only have we changed counties, but the road has changed it's name twice and the numbering has also altered more than once. When the houses were built, there were no numbers.
My house was once part of a terrace of 4 one-up, one-downs. This was completely gutted in 1820 and turned into 3 houses and two more added. My house is the only one left with an original fireplace from the original terrace. In 1880 the terrace was extended at the back and the roof raised to provide each house with an extra downstairs room and an extra 2 bedrooms. The attic rooms had no windows. At the same time the kitchens and sculleries were moved out and rebuilt about a metre away hence a previous post when I said it must have been uncomfortable going down for a cuppa during the night in winter!
In 1981, the house was "modernised" extremely badly and on the cheap. An act of vandalism I would like to remedy.
I would still like to find out when the original terrace was built, but have no idea where the records would now be kept. I have a record of the floor plan of the house from 1880 - 1981 as we were given the planning permission papers from when it was modernised.
They were built as workers cottages for a farm and orchards behind our gardens, compulsorily purchased for social housing in the '80's.
I have found it exremely difficult to research using the old census records as, not only have we changed counties, but the road has changed it's name twice and the numbering has also altered more than once. When the houses were built, there were no numbers.
My house was once part of a terrace of 4 one-up, one-downs. This was completely gutted in 1820 and turned into 3 houses and two more added. My house is the only one left with an original fireplace from the original terrace. In 1880 the terrace was extended at the back and the roof raised to provide each house with an extra downstairs room and an extra 2 bedrooms. The attic rooms had no windows. At the same time the kitchens and sculleries were moved out and rebuilt about a metre away hence a previous post when I said it must have been uncomfortable going down for a cuppa during the night in winter!
In 1981, the house was "modernised" extremely badly and on the cheap. An act of vandalism I would like to remedy.
I would still like to find out when the original terrace was built, but have no idea where the records would now be kept. I have a record of the floor plan of the house from 1880 - 1981 as we were given the planning permission papers from when it was modernised.