House History Sources

It is important to emphasise at the outset that the task of tracing the history of a house is not at all an easy one. 

You may not find straightforward answers to your questions  We can usually direct you towards likely sources and sometimes we can tell you whether there are useful printed histories (Libraries), deeds and plans (Archives) or photographs (Museums), for example, but often these sources give an incomplete picture. You can sometimes discover a great deal about the occupancy of your house by adopting the methods of a family historian. 

Where to start

Start at your house - take a close look at it, at its design and architectural features, and take photographs and make a plan.  Make a note of its materials (mass produced bricks such as Ruabon Bricks often arrived with the railway), the size and shape of the windows etc, and also of any date stones or inscriptions.  This can help in working out the way in which a house may have changed shape. Check your deeds.  These may be with your solicitor or building society.  If you have an old house your deeds can sometimes tell you a great deal about previous owners and occupiers, and occasionally about any important changes to the house or house-plot.  Find out from older neighbours what they know about your house and make a note, any earlier names, and the ancient parish in which it lies. 

Land Valuation Registers

If your house existed in 1910 then it should be recorded in the Doomsday Books drawn up under the Finance Act 1910.  These will tell you the names of the owner and occupier, the acreage (if relevant) of your house-plot (hereditament) and details used in the assessment of tax.  The hereditament number corresponds to the marked up Ordinance Survey 25" scale maps at the Powys Archives, but the map series is incomplete.  All the maps for Breconshire seem to have been lost, and there are gaps in the series for Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire.  Some of the gaps in Radnorshire are filled, however, by a series of 6" scale OS maps.  A full set of the 25" maps and the master series of Finance Act books are held at  the Public Record Office, Kew. 

Maps

You may wish to check any older editions of maps.  Powys Archives holds a full set of the OS 2" working drawings for Powys c1817 - 1830, the OS 1" sheets, and most of the OS 6" and 25" sheets.

Tithe Maps:  Nearly every parish in Powys has a tithe map and apportionment drawn up under the Tithe Commutation Act 1836.  (See our maps section for more information). Powys Archives has copies of tithe maps found in diocesan records, obtained from The National Library of Wales.  In the case of a number of border parishes in Hereford diocese, the original tithe maps reside in the Herefordshire Record Office.   Do not expect too much from tithe maps and apportionments.  They are probably of more use in rural areas rather than in towns, and properties that did not pay tithes are omitted.  Sometimes a tithe map does not exist, because the tithes had already been commuted to fixed money payments before the 1836 Act.  At their best tithe maps can tell you the names of owners and occupiers, the name of the property (if any), the amount of the tithe payable, acreages, sometimes land use (arable, pasture, meadow etc), and field-names.  You should also bear in mind that spellings are sometimes erratic and both Welsh and English names can be misspelt. 

Registers of Electors

These survive for all three of the old counties of Brecknock, Radnor, and Montgomery.  Regrettably, there are large gaps in the Montgomeryshire series.

Use the maps and registers of electors in combination with printed trades and local directories (such as Kelly's) and guide-books and you may be able to piece together a list of owners and/or occupiers for your house.  If sale particulars survive they can add considerably to your knowledge. 

Census Returns

Using the returns is not always an easy matter because the enumerators districts did not always correspond neatly with modern local authority boundaries.  It can be very difficult identifying individual buildings from the lists of occupants, particularly in towns. 

Parish Records

Powys Archives has parish registers on microfilm for virtually the whole of Powys, including many border parishes.  Rate assessment records can tell you the names of occupiers of particular properties and specify the amount assessed for particular rates such as highway rate and poor rate.   

Deeds and estate records

Deeds can prove to be very difficult for the beginner even when their contents have been summarised in the catalogues at the CAO.  You should be prepared to spend time in learning the palaeography and a little about conveyancing and in examining each document carefully.

Other useful sources will include rentals (lists of tenants on an estate with particulars of rent due), surveys (sometimes with maps), abstracts of title (lists of deeds relating to particular properties) and wills (which were often used to prove title when other deeds such as leases, mortgages, and bargains and sales did not exist).   

Probate records

When these have inventories they can prove very useful in identifying individual rooms in a particular house.