People often view ‘family history’ and ‘house history’ as two separate endeavours with two distinct end results. In reality, the two are inextricably linked. To attempt to do your house history involves as much searching for the people who lived there as it does searching for the address, or the location. The lives of houses are the lives of the people who lived in them, and you cannot find one without the other.
Traditional sources, such as censuses, maps or telephone directories, are all useful (if limited) options in finding out more about a building’s past. Physical evidence may also provide you some further clues – is there a date stone for example? Is there evidence of old architectural styles – such as cob walling; or contextual information about when the property may have been built, such as at Corfe Castle, where many properties used brick from the destroyed castle to build or improve the houses?
Alongside all of these sources of information, one of the most useful types of document about the history and ownership of a property remains the deeds. Title deeds are prevalent records which are kept to this day, and as we look back through history, title deeds give us information about houses or buildings, the surrounding lands and their usage, the owner or tenant and their family or friends, and the changes in valuation over time.
That is not to say that title deeds are particularly easy things to read or understand, but often these are the things which survive due to being written on parchment rather than paper. They were official documents, legally binding, and important for all the parties involved in any transaction.
But what, exactly, do they tell us?
Well, first and foremost, they tell us about the property, albeit often in a fashion which can be a bit unclear. Typically, properties were identified not by an address, but by the name of a person. “Bloggs’ Tenement” is commonly found in such records, rather than “50 King’s Road” for example. However, we do sometimes get a bit of a history of the place as well. “Bloggs’ Tenement, previously Smith’s tenement, previously Jones’ tenement…” is not uncommon, and gives us clues as to who to search for next when trying to find more of the history of the property.
The lands are often described as well, but again they can be difficult to determine. You generally need to know a little about the area to understand such descriptions fully, but names of woods or copses, ponds or lakes, fields or roads are all frequently mentioned, and all help to define the boundaries of the lands in question. Larger landmarks are also useful guides to help determine the area of a tenement or property. Later deeds sometimes included a plan of the property, but earlier deeds need a bit more work to decipher!
What else do they tell us? Obviously the names of the people making the deal are included, but often, so too are their families. Frequently, leasehold deeds were made on the condition of ‘lives’, with agreements made for a period of years (usually 99) or for three lives (generally, sometimes it was less). For most families, including the names of young children as part of the lease was a method of ensuring the greatest length of contract for the property to remain leased. For genealogists or house historians, it is another way of finding information!
Obviously deeds include lots of other information too.
- Was it a freehold, leasehold or copyhold agreement?
- How valuable was the land, or the area, and how did this change over time?
- How did towns or cities grow? We frequently see references to the ‘waste’ or the ‘heath’ or other similar terms – as populations expanded, so too do we see patterns of land being claimed from previously unsuitable locations.
- Was it some other legal document – a mortgage document? A quitclaim? Is it part of a marriage settlement? Is it a conveyance document? Or a bond?
- There are numerous different types of deed and understanding something about what the different types were created to do can help you understand more about what the deed is telling you!
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If you want more information about old title deeds, along with guides on the terms used in such documents, what to look out for, and how to read them, the University of Nottingham have a series of very detailed pages with lots of information that are well worth a read!