Delving into building history
Would you like to find out more about the history of your house?
Do you want to research any historic building? Is it in the United Kingdom or Ireland?
If so this guide by Jean Manco will start you on the detective trail. Some information could be just a few clicks away, but to get the full story you will need to visit libraries and archives. Researching Historic Buildings points the way.
It includes hints on planning a research programme, and clues to finding and understanding useful sources. There are bibliographies on everything from architects to Victorian architecture. There are quick guides to archives. There are introductions to a wide range of building types and architectural styles, plus the development of towns and villages. Eccesiastical sources are such a big topic that the Church gets a section to itself.
News and updates. Advertisers - please note that I do
not accept advertising of any type, including paid links, anywhere on this
website.
Help
Choose a section from the top menu. Then use the side menu to explore.
- A good place to start is pointers to help you plan your research.
- Gazetteers and inventories will lead you to what is on record about an historic building.
- Do you know who designed the building? See the books and links on architects and engineers.
- Local history suggests books to help you ferret out and understand the local context.
- Towns and villages may help to place the building in its setting.
- Maps and images are the best place to start looking beyond the printed page.
- Though the most important thing to look at is the building itself.
- Select the type of building for an outline history of the type and any studies, gazetteers and specific sources.
- The style section takes a brief look at British architectural styles and lists further reading.
- By this time you may be ready for a trip to the library. See tracking down the book you want.
- The next move is to take the plunge into archives. Save time through careful preparation.
- This whole website is printer-friendly.
News and site updates
English Parish Church DVD
The Christianity and Culture project at the University of York has anounced the release of an interactive DVD The English Parish Church through the Centuries, which will be available in early August. It aims to explore every aspect of church and parish life, from the Anglo-Saxon Church to the present day, not just church architecture. Yet it does not neglect the latter, offering 3-D modelling of the development of interiors and exteriors of churches through the centuries, as well as sections on care and conservation. 20 July 2010.
Archwilio
I'm happy to report the launch on 1 July of Archwilio, the combined online database of the Historic Environment Records of the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts. 3 July 2010.
ADS new website
The Archaeology Data Service is sensibly migrating to a new domain which doesn't trigger off advertisement-blockers by containing the acronym ADS. It is currently in beta test version that requires registration, but this is free. Since the new site was tested in Firefox only, you are recommended to use that browser only during the test period. 2 July 2010.
SPASE: village origins
The SPASE website has been online for while. It was created for a series of workshops last year, entitled Sense of Place in Anglo-Saxon England, hence the acronym. The exercise brought together academic departments and societies researching different aspects of village origins. The result is a quick and comprehensible guide to the latest thinking on Anglo-Saxon place-names. 16 June 2010.
1901 Census of Ireland
The complete 1901 census returns for all thirty-two counties of Ireland are now online from the NationalArchives of Ireland: Census. 8 June 2010.
Historypin
Yet another map-image mash-up was launched a few days ago. As with Sepia Town, mentioned last month, and the original Histografia, Historypin aims to coordinate old photographs donated by users with a map by Google. However this latest venture has been partly funded by Google. It shows. Not stopping at one Google product, they offer linkage to Street View, Picasa and Google Accounts. So far it is in beta, and there is little content. 8 June 2010.
English Heritage Archives
At last
English Heritage has put online a catalogue of the archive held by the National
Monuments Record in Swindon. English Heritage Archives
makes it possible to search a database of over a million records relating to
England’s historic buildings and archaeological sites. These include a
huge collection of historical photographs. The advanced search includes an
option to search only for records with images attached. 31 May 2010.
Sepia Town
Another map-image mash-up is out there. Sepia Town takes photographs and other images of urban buildings and places them on a Google map. The images come from Wikipedia and public online collections, such as that of the British Library. This is very similar to Histografica. Both are world-wide. Both hope to have their collections enlarged by user contributions, but Histografica has had a head start. 19 May 2010.
Briggait re-opens in August
The Briggait was Glasgow's fish market for over 100 years. Built in 1873 of cast iron and glass, it is Scotland’s oldest collection of surviving market halls. It also incorporates the 17th-century Merchant’s Steeple. But when the fish market moved out of town in the 1970s, the Briggait became redundant and stood slowly decaying, until redevelopment as artists' studios started in August 2008. The central courtyard will be open to the public from August, after an open studios launch event on 24th and 25th July during the Merchant City Festival weekend. 17 May 2010.
Population history
Population figures are not the most obvious source for building historians, but they are useful in understanding the growth of towns and cities, and hence underlie our understanding of bursts of building. I have therefore added a short bibliography and useful links for British and Irish population history to my local history bibliographies. The official population abstracts from each decennial census are available online these days. 11 May 2010.
British churches
This month The National Churches Trust is launching an online survey of all the churches, chapels and meeting houses in the UK. The aim is to understand how they are maintained, repaired, funded and used by their local communities. Those responsible for these places of worship are encouraged to submit information. The survey will be at survey.nationalchurchestrust.org. 3 April 2010.