Trace the history of your house
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
The history of a house is pieced together from records made for other purposes, such as census returns, tithe maps and the Valuation Office Survey of 1910 to 1915. The National Archives says the best place to begin is usually the local archive for the area, which typically holds local maps, electoral registers and estate papers.
GentleUnder £100 / $130MonthsIndoors or outOn your ownUK
How to start
- Read The National Archives research guide to the history of houses.
- Use The National Archives "Find an archive" page to locate the local archive for your area and ask what it holds for your street.
- Search the census returns by address to list who lived in the house in each census year.
Where to go
We opened this link on 8 October 2026 and found it to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. Projects run over months and stall without a rhythm, so the plan sets milestones you can see.
Read next
Long stays and house-sitting: how to spend 30 to 90 days somewhere else
A guide to long stays: how the Schengen 90-in-180-day rule works for UK and US passport holders, the EU Entry/Exit System and ETIAS, when you need a visa, what house-sitting platforms involve, and how to rent an apartment abroad safely using FTC guidance.