House History

[ShabbyNat]

Hi All,
Im looking into the history of my house, that Ive lived in for the past 30 years almost!! Its the only house Ive ever owned, bought it jointly with my husband in 1990, moved in, in January 1991, got married in August 1991,started a family in 1999, separated about 10 years ago-sorry about the life story, but Ive always felt as though this was my forever home, even though we could of bought a better, newer house within our budget!! Its a terraced house, built around 1900, give or take a couple of years either side of 1900.
Could anyone give me advice as to where to start looking??
Im more interested in the people that have lived in my house over the years, then I thought I could take it further, as in what life was like while living in my home!! Im going to post in the property board too, but if anyone can suggest another board to get more people to see & to hopefully help me, I`d be
really grateful of your help, on every level of this post

Can’t help with the specific things you were after, but I found this site useful when looking at my house (it’s an oldie too - 1850s).

www.old-maps.co.uk/

Check all the paperwork you got when you bought the house too, usually a wealth of information there too.

Years ago I read a book by a woman who had found out every person who had lived in her house - it started when she was decorating and wondered at each layer of wallpaper who had put that on the walls. It was fabulous. I think she had used the census for some names. Asked elderly neighbours for most recent etc then old newspapers etc.
I can't remember the author but maybe someone else will...

Contact your local archive/record office. They will have various things which will help you.

For people who lived there, your main sources are:
Census returns, 1901 and 1911
Electoral registers - only really useful from 1918 onwards as earlier ones hard to tie names to properties and not everyone eligible to vote
Rate books
Land valuation records, c.1910
Street directories

The book was called 'home, the history of everyone who ever lived in our house' by Julie Myerton.

Your local library service should have historical electoral rolls which are probably your best place to start. Once you have the names of the head of the household then look at ancestry (free library version) for census results.
The more recent infomation is harder, but you might be able to use street directories, also at the library.
Newspapers are only useful if the people who lived in your house did something terrifically exciting.

you may be lucky and find there's a bundle along with the deeds, wherever they're held or with your conveyancer. They'll be beautifully handwritten and give all previous owners.

My house +ndn was a boarding school for girls in a small seaside town!! Still has bells and laundry chutes!!

The census is fun to look at and exactly what you need. Contact your local archives office for any help you need.

Local historical society? Are there any mills in the area? Most terraced houses were workers cottages.. Ours was a weavers cottage.

Don’t forget the 1939 register too. I’ve been doing this with my parents house.

I used find my past and ancestry.com. You can search by address

Thanks for your replies, that`s given me a few things to look into