Genealogy Chat

Strange request for this site I know, but does anyone know how to trace the previous occupants of a house? At the local records office our house appeared on a O.S map in 1864, but, information has lead us to believe that it used to be an old "chapel". Not sure where to go from here.

Just a thought - would the deeds of the house help?? I live in an old house and hope to find out more about it's history - when I have time!! Did your house have a name? Think I have found the location of a house my ancestors lived in by searching http://www . historicaldirectories . o r g / Hope that helps. Maggie

When we bought our house 4 years ago, because we had to reigister the title I believe, we were given a lot of paperwork at completion which included a lot of information about previous owners and about the land it was built on. You should be able to get info from the land registry and I think there is also a book available from the FRC about finding the history of your house

Maggie's right about the deeds. I recently did a house sale and the deeds had previous owners and even maps of the area. You don't usually see the deeds but can ask to see them. Thay are yours to keep when the house is paid off, if you so wish. Bob,

Try this website http://www(.)hmc(.)gov(.)uk/focus/your_history/housesources(.)htm Don't forget to remove the brackets! Maz.XX

You could try asking in your local library if they keep copies of Kelly's Directory. These have lists of private residents and business addresses. They do take some searching through as they are not listed in alphabetical order, you may also need a magnifying glass as print is small. Alternatively, log on to census related website, find anybody living in your town and just check every page until you come to the correct area. Very time consuming, took me three days of searching to find previous occupants of our house. I can go right back to when the house was brand new though. Strange to think of those people sleeping in my room!

It's very unlikely that we will be able to track the occupants back to when our cottage was brand new - we don't even known when it was built. There were no deeds until 1829 when the owner died intestate and with no living relatives.The property was put up for auction by the Crown and the first set of deeds were written. We have recently discovered that our cottage appears on a map dated 1680, which ties in with the fact that we have two 'Tax Windows'. The only other building in the village to have Tax Windows is the Old Rectory. Isn't this history business fascinating?!