General Chat

I have decided to do a Land and area history of where my parents live.....

I need to pick your brains and ask have you any ideas or tips
in order for me to collect information......

I could buy one online but after reading reviews I think with a bit of
help I could do something a little better :-)

Any Ideas?

i think the library would be my first call
thay may have old photos and maps to get you started

good luck


:-D :-D :-D

Mersey, not sure if you still do this but i remember doing a search for 1881 on just an address. May have been FMP or something similar. It showed all the streets in areas of a town plus seeing the census and who stayed on a particular street etc.

perhaps someone else can remember where i saw this a while ago?

This was free and could be interesting to you research etc

Good luck
Florence
in the hebrides :-)

Thanks Shelly and Florence....... :-) <3

I have made a start so hopefully I can find out more information :-)

Try this site for photos.

http://www.francisfrith.com/

Will take a look, thanks AndysMum :-)

You need to go to the library and work back through the Electoral Registers to see who lived in the house to when it was built.

From those dates when it changed occupants it may well have been up for sale so then you need to search the local newspapers. But just because the occupants changed it could be because it was rented so not up for sale.

Hope you understand this.

It's a case of bums on chairs in library searching.

Thanks Mr M :-)

I have just received a pm virtually saying the same thing......

I will go the library in the next few days....I want to try and go right back before the house was actually built too, as I know it was part of farmland, and was sold as part of a debt by the Landowners......

Very much appreciated :-)

If it's any help, this is a thread I had up a year ago asking for assistance for much the same thing.

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/ancestors/thread/1323171

The library were very helpful and had a copy of an auction notice. Trade directories helped fill in the between census years, then the historical ER collection.
The library held old maps from which it was possible to work out the gradual development of the area.

As AnnC had discovered that it had been a school, it did mean that there were internet resources about that as well.

Victoria County History is the place I would start

Almost all counties are online now.

Try Googling 'old whatever county maps'. Sussex is particularly well supplied and Hampshire is too but I have not needed to look at other counties.

Hi DeT & Sharron, thank you all so much for information and for those who sent via PM.......I have got so much to look at now and given me so many ideas.....

Much appreciated ..... <3 <3

oo - I've had a mention - can't remember anything about it - doh!!! :-) :-S

I <3 a dabble in local history!!
Having recently completed a Fam & Local History course, I can offer these subject headings, off the top of my head, which you could try searching out in your local library/county records office.....
Local Govt History records.
Land Ownership, Glebe land, Tithes.
Taxation
Wills & Probate records
Church books.
Highway Board papers, Rights of Way, Turnpike records.
Electoral Registers & Poll Books.

From my Uni reading list, here's some local history books which you might be able to find/order in from your library...

LOCAL HISTORY READING LIST.
W.G. Hoskins : Local History in England (3rd edition Longman 1984) .
Paul Carter & Kate Thompson : Sources for Local Historians (Phillimore).
John Richardson : The Local Historians Encyclopaedia (3rd edition Historical Publications 2005).
Philip Riden : Local History : A Handbook for Beginners (Merton Priory Press 2nd edition 1998) .
David Iredale & John Barrett : Discovering Local History (Shire Publications 1999) .
Keith B. Lucas : English Local Government in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Historical Association 1977).
Keith B. Lucas : Local Government in England (revised edition 1970).
John West : Town Records (Phillimore 1983).
J.M.Beattie : Crime and Courts in England 1660 – 1800 (Oxford 1986).
E.Cannan :The History of Local rates in England (1927)
J. Gibson : The Hearth Tax Returns, other late Stuart Tax Lists , and the Association Oath Rolls ( FFHS 2nd edition 1996).
J.Gibson & J.Hunter : Victuallers’ licences : records for family and local historians (Federation of Family History Societies 1994 ).
J.Gibson. M. Medlycott and D. Mills : Land and Window Tax Assessments, 1690 - 1950 (1998).
M Turner & D, Mills : Land and Property : The English Land Tax, 1692 – 1832 (1986).
R.W. Unwin : Search Guide to the English Land Tax ( West Yorkshire County Record Office,1982)

P.S. Mersey, what area/town/village are you looking into??

Hi Karen will pm you :-)