West Record Office

Searchroom Leaflet No. 5: How to Research the History of Your House

This leaflet is a guide to records and printed sources which may provide information on the history of a building or house. More detailed help is given in Mini-Guide no. 10: House History Printed Sources 1870s. Tithe Maps were produced following General information on the history of the the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836, and date parish in which a property is located can be from the late 1830s to the early 1850s. Their obtained from our large collection of parish apportionments give names of land owners histories and guides, all of which are indexed and occupiers, and the title, description, by place, subject and author, or from the acreage, state of cultivation and rent charge Victoria County History. Some older houses of each property. Estate maps, which date or farms may already have been written back to the late 16th century, can also be about in Sussex Archaeological Collections, useful. Enclosure maps, produced for Sussex Notes and Queries, the Sussex parliamentary enclosure of commons and County Magazine and volumes of the Sussex waste, and deposited plans of canals, Record Society. We have complete sets of turnpikes and railways may also contain each in the searchroom, and full indexes. information on a particular building. Key maps in the searchroom show the Title Deeds geographical area covered by most of the Title deeds contain descriptions of a property maps in our custody. and the names of its previous owners, and often include one or more abstracts of title, Building Plans which provide a handy summary of the If your house was built after the end of the property's history. You may have the deeds 19th century, we may have original plans yourself, or they may be with your solicitor, among the relevant District Council records, building society or landlord. Sometimes, which we hold for the following dates: packets of deeds may have been deposited at Arundel borough c.1898-1948; Bognor Regis the Record Office by previous owners or UDC 1883-1948; Burgess Hill UDC 1880- solicitors. If they have been catalogued, 1948; Chanctonbury RDC 1928-1948; there should be an entry in our general card Chichester City 1923-48; Chichester RDC index of places. If the house or farm formed 1924-1948; Cuckfield RDC 1882-1948; part of one of the large estates such as Cuckfield UDC 1878-1948; East Grinstead Cowdray, Goodwood, Petworth or Wiston, RDC 1907-34; East Grinstead UDC 1886- some of the deeds will probably be 1948; Haywards Heath UDC 1878-1934; catalogued and indexed among the relevant Horsham UDC register 1878-1922 only—no estate archives. plans; Horsham RDC 1923-48; Littlehampton UDC 1865-1948; Midhurst RDC 1900-1948; Maps East Preston RDC 1899-1933; [there are Maps will indicate whether a property existed none for Petworth] Shoreham UDC c.1883- at a particular date, and sometimes provide 1933; Steyning West RDC 1927-1933; information on how the property was laid out Thakeham RDC 1928-33; Westbourne RDC and who owned or occupied it. We hold 1919-1933; Westhampnett RDC 1924- large-scale Ordnance Survey maps for 1933; Borough c.1865-1966; the whole county, dating back to the Worthing RDC 1933-1949. Sale Particulars Rates also identify property owners in many If a property has in the past been sold or parishes. Since their creation in 1894, District auctioned by an estate agent, we may have a Councils have been responsible for collecting copy of the original particulars of sale, which local rates. For most, an incomplete run of sometimes include plans or photographs. Any Rate Books survives, listing by address such documents should appear, under the property owners and occupiers. Inland relevant parish name, in our general card Revenue Land Valuation "Domesday Books" index of places. and Forms created under the 1910 Finance Act also give owners and occupiers of individual Census Returns properties, and their rateable values. Those Ten-yearly Census Returns for for the western end of West Sussex, including 1841-1901 are available on microfiche, or on Bognor, Chichester and Midhurst, have not www.ancestry.com on the public access survived. computers. They give, house by house, the name, occupation, age and place of birth of Probate Records every individual present on the night of the If you have identified a former owner of a census, and many have been indexed by property, his or her Will may tell you to whom name and street. However, in rural areas in it was bequeathed. We hold locally proved particular, addresses are often vague or even Wills from the 15th century to 1928, all of non-existent. which are indexed. Wills of wealthier individuals are more likely to have been Directories and Voters' Lists proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, County Directories, available in the and these are held at The National Archives. searchroom on microfiche 1792-1938, list by They can be searched and copies ordered parish a selection of wealthier residents and through the National Archives website. their addresses, and tradespeople. For towns, Street Directories list heads of household and We also have an index of Wills proved tradespeople by address and surname. Our nationally, the National Probate Calendars, for holdings, mostly on microfiche, include: 1858-1943 on microfiche. For the period Arundel 1886, 1910-70; Bognor 1886, 1900- 1521-1834, we have the Probate Inventories 72; and (with Shoreham and of nearly 12,000 testators. They provide a Southwick) 1890-1974; Chichester 1784- detailed list and valuation, usually room by 1974; East Grinstead 1793, 1799, 1872- room, of the goods and chattels remaining at 1963; Horsham and 1816-1975; the home of the deceased, and are indexed on Littlehampton 1871-1970; Mid-Sussex 1883- microfiche in the searchroom. 1967; Selsey 1905-50; Worthing 1919-75. We also hold parliamentary Electoral Registers Manorial Records 1832-2007; up to 1903 they are available on If a property belonged to a particular manor, it microfilm. In the 19th century, the electorate had to be bought, leased or conveyed in any was relatively small - all adult males were only other way in the Manorial Court. Court Books included from 1918, and all adult females and Rolls recording such transfers of property from 1928 - and voters were listed, by parish, have survived for many of the County's in alphabetical order. Listing by address was manors, and are listed in a card index, introduced in 1918 for built up areas. arranged by name of manor, in the searchroom. If you don't know the name of Land Tax Returns and Rate Books the manor to which your property belonged, Annual Land Tax Assessments survive for consult the Victoria County History of Sussex, each parish for the period 1780-1832, and are which lists all the manors for the parishes it available on microfilm in the searchroom. covers. During the nineteenth century many They record assessments for each property, manorial properties were enfranchised, or usually naming the landowner and occupier of converted into freehold. If such each, and sometimes identify the property enfranchisement deeds survive, they will itself. Records of the payment of Poor Rates, also help to identify the relevant manorial and Churchwardens' Rates and Surveyors' records for your property. 23/11/2007 A large-print version of this leaflet is available in a special folder in the searchroom