House History?

[Cazza47]

Is is possible to find the history of a house before 1841?
If so any advice on how to start who be gratefully appreciated.
The house I have in mind is in the 1841 census, it is a farmhouse in cumbria.
Off to work, back at lunchtime.
Thanks
Carol

[suttontrust]

Are you close to the relevant record office?  That would certainly help.
You need maps as far back as possible to see when the house might have been built.
Then there's the structure of the house itself.  There are lots of books which will help to date it.

I know that's not much help.  But I hope you persevere, because house history is a fascinating pursuit.

[nainmaddie]

It might be helpful to see if your local Record office has the Tithe maps for the area.

I have found many in Wales.  You can then see if the house was rented or owned and by whom.

Maddie

[california dreamin]

Hi Cazza
There are lots of avenues for you to pursue.  Maps as suggested are an excellent resource.  Which maps will depend on your property.  There are Ordnance Survey maps, enclosure maps and tithe maps & apportionments. You may also find out what the land was used for prior to any house being built on the land. As mentioned the local records office for that area or local studies library is the place to head for.

The farmhouse you are thinking of may have been part of a manor or Estate therefore you could look out for Manorial or Estate Records.  There are land tax records, hearth tax and window tax records.  Rate books, electoral registers, parish records and probate records.  Old photographs, newspapers and trade directories. (However, not all will be relevant to the house you are researching).

I have done my house history and I found reading about the local area and contacting our local history society was a great help.  Finding out the property was previously part of an Estate opened up many avenues to chase up.

A very useful book is called Tracing the History of your House by Dr Nick Barratt
Have fun!

Good luck

[mshrmh]

Some of the online sites may have mentions - I've found mentions of a farm that part of my family occupied on the British History Online site & in sites covering listed buildings (turns out parts date back to the 1600s):
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/protection/process/national-heritage-list-for-england/

There may be a local history society or local architectural historian that has already done research, which may be mentioned online. Some areas seem to have had enthusiastic local researchers in Victorian times who produced pamphlets & magazine articles. Some of these can be found via Google Books & the Internet Archive
http://books.google.co.uk/bkshp?hl=en&tab=wp
http://archive.org/index.php

As with family trees that are online the quality of the research may vary, but any may give you ideas & sources.

Many archive catalogues can be searched via the Access to Archives site, which could lead to something away from the local area (eg if the land was owned by people from outside the area their papers may be elsewhere):
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/advanced-search.aspx?tab=1

There are still many archives that don't have all their catalogues online so visiting may be needed to establish what they hold.

[Cazza47]

Thank you all very much. You have all given me differents areas to explore, it is in the Aspatria area so perhaps the Lawson family might have had something to do with it.
I will get searching.
Carol