Here we show you some brief examples of the history of some of the houses we have traced

CHATSWORTH

Edwardian red brick and partial partial painted pebbledash semi detached house in Sussex with an interesting history
Chatsworth is an Edwardian house built around 1900. Using conveyance, probate, mortgage documents and local sources we were able to compile a picture of life in this rural Sussex village and discover that the first head master of the local Blue Coat school lived there when it moved out of London 
​The modern hamlet of Broadbridge Heath was a group of houses built around the unenclosed common. Between the inclosure of the heath in 1858 and 1905 building land was often offered for sale and although little building took place until about 1896, for the next 13 years the village grew in a ribbon development along the Horsham/Guildford Road.
1911 House Built 
​Map                           
1915 Rueben Thomas Kennedy 
​Stockbroker born Marylebone, Mx 1889 and Dorothy
Henry Moore ​(b Nov20 1879) Sub postmaster and wife 
Rosita Moore (b Oct15 1877)

Number 48...

Semi detached Edwardian House in London suburb
 is situated in  a typical London street and the history of this house is the history of this suburban London over  the past 150 years. The house we discovered was built by a Scottish teetotaller who insisted that no public houses or off licenses should be built on the estate and set about  vigorously maintaining this concept. The terraced brick built house was not unique nor was it occupied by anyone rich or famous but its story  was all the more interesting for that.

Firenze.....

Thatched cottage in Devon with interesting history
Firenze was built by a family returning from travels aboard and deciding in 1792 to settle in 20 acres of seaside Devon. The partial cob house was  a unique mixture of European styles and architecture had a very interesting catalogue of residents and we were able to find out the history of this lovely old building for the present owners

Brandon.......

White faced cottage in Devon village which was once a shop and post office
_ is a cottage is in a tiny village in the Blackdown Hills of Devon. Most of the original title deeds were missing. It was difficult to find its origin because the cottage was built on Glebe land and not visible on the tithe maps. We discovered that one local family owned the house from 1851 – 1930s and traced the all occupiers up to date. We discovered that the cottage was at one time a drapers, general store and post office. We found people who remembered the shop and post office.

Pantiles......

Row of Regency shops with apartments over in Tunbridge Wells, Kent
A beautiful Georgian house in the centre of a Spa town yielded far more information than anticipated. Built for the visitors to the  town this house had undergone a number of  changes and was now a shop with a flat above it.

We discovered hidden deep in a  chimney breast a glass bottle which contained  a letter dated 1874, an old newspaper, some coins and some old labels all wrapped in bandages. Using directories, census and local records we were able to link this with a chemist who had lived here for a number of years.

The letter told us all about his family – he had nine children and how two had died of whooping cough and how he was having his kitchen floor relaid because water kept getting underneath it

He also put 12 copper coins worth 6d pence and estate agents catalogue showing the type of homes that were available to buy or rent at that time , stamps and labels from his chemist shop. He finishes his letter by saying that he has sprinkled rose oil on the parchment and when we opened the capsule 120 years later we could still smell it.

Hedley.........

Terrace of Georgian houses in Bath
_ The owner of Hedley Villa in Bath could not access any of the conveyancing papers relating to this house. The first thing we discovered was that not only had the house changed its name so had the road. Using local library we were able to track these changes and then build the history of the house using a combination of directories, census and the local record office We discovered the house had been built by a local soap manufacturer. 

Twistgates.......

View of Sussex village with houses that have interesting history
_ The owners of  Twistgates in East Sussex thought their rather large house had once been much smaller and wondered how it had evolved. We managed to find over ten planning applications and permissions at the local town hall showing how the house had grown as its residents families needs increased. We also found the title documents and via census, directories, local books managed to paint a picture of the people that lived in the house.

Ruth Cottage.....

Georgian style cottage with front door with porch
Was once a nurseryman’s cottage when it was built in 1870 in the heart of Sussex but is now a much larger house. We discovered who lived there and how the house had evolved as well as old photographs of both the house and the road.  Most interestingly we discovered that a poet, memoirist and critic  who translated  Kafkas early work  lived at the house for a while in the 1930’s and found some brief  but useful biographies in which he gave  an account of what life was like in the house.
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