House History

Step 1 - what do you know already?

What can the building or your local community tell you? What do older local residents know? Apart from obvious date stones can other features help date the property? Does the property appear in historic photos on the Cheshire Image Bank? Is there a local published history?Can you access information from title deeds or the land registry and what information were you given if you bought the property?

Checklist: Architectural clues, Cheshire Image Bank, published histories, deeds/land registry

Step 2 - look at old maps

Use the postcode search on our tithe maps website. The plot details tab tells you land ownership, occupiers and use around 1830-1850. This is the earliest comprehensive and detailed map of Cheshire. Larger scale OS mapping is available on the National Library of Scotland maps site. You should now know if you need to follow step 3 or move straight to step 4.

Checklist: Cheshire tithe maps, National Library of Scotland maps

Step 3 - built before 1850?

If your property appears on a tithe map, records of the landowner such as maps and surveys, rentals, leases and sales particulars may survive in an estate or solicitors collection.If the owner or occupier left a will this can provide information about valuation and often earlier ones include details about internal layout and furnishings.

Checklist: estate collections on our catalogue, wills in the Cheshire collection on Find My Past

Step 4 - records after 1850

If your property isn't on the tithe map consult later OS maps from the 1870s onwards to confirm when it is first mapped. If your property is in a town centre you should also check the more detailed OS town plans. If it was built after 1870 you may find building plans in local authority collections.The Board of Inland Revenue Valuation survey took place between 1910 and 1915 and provides a record of owners, occupiers, type and size of property.

Checklist: OS maps on Cheshire tithe maps website, National Library of Scotland maps, town plans, valuation registers, building plans

Step 5 - interested in past occupants?

The census was taken every ten years from 1841 onwards and is available up to 1921. There was also a special wartime census in 1939. They will give you details of who was living in a property, their occupations, age and place of birth. Lists of people eligible to vote living at a property can be found in electoral registers. These exist from 1832 up to the present day. Note that not everyone was eligible to vote until 1928. Other details of owners and occupiers can be found in Land Tax Returns 1786-1832, and rating and valuation records found in local authority collections. Trade directories begin in the 18th century listing private residents and local tradesmen.

Checklist: census of Find My Past or Ancestry, 1939 register on Find My Past, electoral registers at the Record Office or Find My Past up to 1900, land tax returns on Find My Past, rating and valuation records 

Step 6 - was your property special?

If your property is a listed building, records may be found in the Historic Environment Record. If it was previously an alehouse, inn or pub licensing records may exist in court records or plans in brewery collections. If it is a former chapel or vicarage check Methodist, Church of England parish, and Diocese of Chester collections. Search our online catalogue using the parish or chapel name. If your property is next to a canal or railway it may feature on official plans. Check the online catalogue to see if title deeds for the property have survived in private collections.

Checklist: Historic Environment Record, licensing records, church or chapel search in our catalogue, official deposited plans, property name search in our catalogue