Tracing the history of a property can be difficult and often it is only possible to date a property through its architectural features rather than through documentary sources. This leaflet gives you an introduction to some of the documents available that may help you discover the history of your house. You can find more detailed information and guidance in our Local Studies Library.

Getting started

It is helpful if you have an idea about the date your house was built before you visit the Somerset Heritage Centre. Have a think about the property in which you are interested and try and come up with an approximate age. If you have access to your deeds, they should give you lots of relevant information that you can bring with you on your visit. If your deeds are housed at the Somerset Heritage Centre (which is unlikely for most houses) you will be able to see them during your visit.

When visiting the Somerset Heritage Centre to do house history research, you will need to book a space on the map table in our public searchroom. Further information about visiting us and making a booking can be found on our website.

Maps

Maps constitute a major source material and can be helpful in identifying a point in time when a house was built, and also in seeing how the village or town in which it is situated has grown or developed. Depending on the age of your house, the following maps will be helpful to your research:

• Ordnance Survey maps: The major series of OS maps comprise 1st edition (1882 to 1888), 2nd edition (1900 to 1903), and 2nd edition revised (about 1929 to 1931). We have complete sets of the 6” survey, near complete coverage of the 2nd edition 25” survey, but only limited numbers of sheets from the 1st edition 25” survey. (A full set of the 1st edition is held on microfiche and can be consulted in the searchroom at the Somerset Heritage Centre). We also have OS maps going up to 1970s or later, but only for some areas. The pre-war Ordnance Survey maps can be accessed online via the Somerset Historic Environment Record (excluding parishes in North Somerset) and Know Your Place West of England. Full coverage is also held, as either original maps or microfiche, of the very large scale town plans (1:500) maps of the urban areas of Bath, Bridgwater, Clevedon, Crewkerne, Frome, Shepton Mallet, Taunton, Wellington, Weston-super-Mare and Yeovil, 1844 – 1890
• Tithe maps and awards (ref. D/D/rt): These maps are excellent sources for property history; the whole county was surveyed, and often in Somerset they are the only old map source available for a parish. They were largely prepared between 1838 and 1842, and provide information about ownership, occupancy and the status of land and buildings for most Somerset parishes. Three copies of the map were produced: one to be held by the parish; one to be held by the Diocese; and one to be held by The National Archives. The Somerset Heritage Centre, as Diocesan Record Office for the Diocese of Bath and Wells, holds the Diocesan set together with a substantial number of parish copies. All of the tithe maps have been digitised and are available online via the Somerset Historic Environment Record (HER) (excluding parishes in North Somerset) and Know Your Place. The tithe awards for Somerset (excluding parishes in North Somerset) have been transcribed and the information added to the Somerset Historic Environment Record, though the originals may still be consulted in the searchroom. We also hold microfiche copies of the national set
• Enclosure maps and awards (ref. Q/RDE): Enclosure describes various ways in which land-holdings were consolidated or extended into larger units. This included the partition of large areas of communally farmed land into small fields farmed by individuals, as well as the conversion of arable land to pasture and the occupation of commons by large landowners. Most of these maps were created between 1780 and 1830, and provide valuable dating information for properties on previously unenclosed land. A selection of Somerset enclosure maps have been digitised and made available via the Know Your Place website
• Deposited plans of public undertakings (ref. Q/RUP): These consist of original plans, with books of reference, relating to public utilities such as canals, turnpike roads, railways, tramways, water supplies, harbours, docks, gas, electricity and light, extensions of borough boundaries etc**.** These are good sources for houses built beside railways, canals and turnpike roads from 1791. Many of the railway plans in particular fall between the dates of the tithe (c. 1840) and the 1st edition OS maps (c. 1880). A catalogue is available, but this will only give the project title and not necessarily all the parishes through which is ran. It will also include schemes which were never brought to fruition
• Maps of highway diversions/closures: Highway diversions or closures were settled locally by two Justices of the Peace and subject to confirmation at Quarter Sessions. Held in the Quarter Sessions papers (ref. Q/SR) from around 1790, these records mark some properties and areas on the routes of diversions on public roads and highways
• Estate and parish maps: The estate and parish maps we hold differ from area to area and from collection to collection. Unfortunately, Somerset lacked the early tradition of private map-making so widespread in other counties, and so comparatively few exist. Early maps have varying levels of detail, depending on the purpose for which they were originally drawn up. There is a map catalogue in the public searchroom giving the map date, extent and location of the area mapped, together with the 6” OS sheet numbers involved

For further information about the maps we hold please see our research guide on maps. The Know Your Place website is an excellent freely available mapping resource, taking historic maps and overlaying them with modern, geo-rectified mapping, to provide a fully interactive map website, see our further research guide for details on how to view historic maps online.

Taxation and Rating records

• Land tax assessments (ref. Q/REL): In the 18th century tax was paid only by the owners of land or property and was calculated according to the size of their landholdings. The rate of this ‘Land Tax’ was set by Parliament each year. Land Tax records for Somerset are available on microfiche for 1766, 1767 and 1780 to 1832 (with gaps), and give the names of owners and occupiers, and sometimes very brief property descriptions. They are particularly useful if owners who have been identified on the tithe award can then be found in the land tax returns. The records are arranged alphabetically by hundreds, and similarly within each hundred by parish; this arrangement is reflected in the catalogue. (Any edition of Kelly’s Directory of Somerset will indicate the hundred to which each parish was assigned in the land tax period). Land Tax records are available on microfiche in the searchroom at the Somerset Heritage Centre
• Inland Revenue valuation records (ref. DD/IR): The 1909-1910 Finance Act resulted in a survey which assessed lands and the duty paid on it. The records provide a snapshot of land ownership and occupation in 1910, and consist of valuation books with accompanying Ordnance Survey maps, although there are gaps in the series of maps. The copies of the records held at the Somerset Heritage Centre are the working copies; final drafts are held at The National Archives
• Parish rating records: Similarly, to Land Tax, parish rating was based on real and personal property, and was managed by the parish. Within Somerset, these are held in parish collections (ref. D/P/*), or in local authority collections, such as parish, borough, rural, urban and district councils (refs. D/PC/*, D/B/*, D/R/*, D/U/* and D/DC*) but are not always complete
• Hearth tax: This was a property tax levied on each hearth. In England, it was imposed in 1662 to support the Royal Household of Charles II. It was considered easier to establish the number of hearths in a household than the number of heads. One shilling was liable to be paid for every firehearth or stove in all dwellings, houses, edifices or lodgings, and was payable at Michaelmas (29 September) and on Lady Day (25 March). The tax thus amounted to two shillings per hearth or stove per year. The Somerset Heritage Centre has Dwelly’s published copy of returns, which covers about 30% of Somerset parishes. It provides an occupier’s name and some indication of the size of the property for properties known to date back to 1660

Privately deposited records

Deeds, leases, and manorial and estate management papers will often be the only source of primary material after map sources have been exhausted. The Somerset Heritage Centre has the estate papers of most of the major landed families in the county, as well as for a number of solicitors and many private individuals. These collections may include court rolls recording surrenders and admissions by copyholders, surveys, rentals and deed bundles. There can be problems identifying a property in deeds, particularly because names and numbers change over time. However, a good deed bundle may give details of the ownership of a property over several centuries, and include abstracts of title, sale particulars and wills.

If a family held lands in Somerset, but the principal family seat is outside the county boundaries, you will probably need to contact the appropriate record office for the county in which the seat is located, to see whether they hold the records. You can find contact details online or via The National Archives Find an Archive directory.

Other sources

• Wills and inventories: Where they survive, these may provide essential links with deeds to establish the chain of ownership of a property. Inventories sometimes give detailed room-by-room descriptions of furnishings and fittings, or books in the library for example
• Listed building reports: There are over 10,000 listed buildings in Somerset, and printed reports of some of the listings are available at the Somerset Heritage Centre. Online access to all reports is available via the National Heritage List for England, which also contains an image of each building. You can also get up-to-date copies of listings from local district councils, or from the relevant Historic Environment Record (Somerset, North Somerset, B&NES or Exmoor)
• Somerset Vernacular Architecture Group reports (ref. DD/V/*): This group surveys and produces detailed reports about the architectural features of Somerset buildings. Copies of all existing reports are available at the Somerset Heritage Centre, and can be searched for on our online catalogue
• Newspapers: Local newspapers contain many advertisements for letting and selling properties. Somerset Heritage Centre holds microfilm copies of most Somerset newspapers from their earliest publication to the latest edition. These are available in the searchroom
• Further Quarter Sessions records: In addition to the public undertakings and records relating to highways, Quarter Sessions records also include enrolled deeds, 1537 to 1828 (ref. Q/RDD); and registration of Papist (Roman Catholic) estates, 1717 to 1788 (ref. Q/RRP). You can find Registrations of Protestant places of worship, which were often in private houses, in either the records of Quarter Sessions (ref. Q/SR) or in records of the Diocese of Bath and Wells (ref. D/D/rm)
• Published sources: Books, including the Victoria County History, may contain information about individual properties in a parish. Part of the Victoria County History of Somerset can be found online. The Somerset Local Studies Library is also based at the Somerset Heritage Centre, and the catalogue can be accessed from our website. Greenwoods’ map of 1822 and Day and Masters’ map of 1782 are on a scale comparable to the 1” Ordnance Survey map, and therefore may show individual properties. Both have been published as Somerset Record Society Volume 76 (1981)
• Census returns: were first collected in 1801, but names were not recorded until 1841. From then the census has been taken every ten years (apart from 1941). The census provides details of individuals and the address at which they live, as well as position in the family, age, sex, profession and place of birth. Census returns for 1841-1911 can be found online at Ancestry and Find My Past (the latter also provides access to the 1921 Census). The 1939 Register was compiled at the outbreak of World War II as a National Register listing the personal details of every civilian in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to assist with coordinating the war effort at home. It was taken on 29 September 1939 and includes similar details to a census: name, address, date of birth and occupation. See the Census Records research guide for more details on Census records, including information on what each census can tell you, common abbreviations and more details on the 1939 Register
• Electoral registers: These begin from from 1832 (ref. Q/RER) and can help you trace previous occupants of a property. However, very few people were entitled to vote until the early 20th century and detailed addresses are not often given in earlier registers for rural areas. See the Electoral Registers research guide for further information
• Particular categories of houses: There are other sources for certain categories of houses, especially if they had a functional use before being converted to private housing. These include records of former parsonage houses, inns/public houses, schools, parish poor houses, charity properties, tollhouses and mills. Search our online catalogue for details
• The Manor of Taunton Deane (ref. DD/SP): The Manor covered a wide area around Taunton, including all of Taunton, Bishops Hull, Kingston St. Mary and Pitminster. The collection records hundreds of deeds, and you can sometimes trace a piece of land back for hundreds of years. Many records survive from 1550 to 1845, and there are some records for at least 100 years before 1550
• Building control plans: Planning permission to erect or alter buildings was required in the historic boroughs, such as Taunton and Weston super Mare, from the second half of the 19th century. From the 1890s such permission was also required in those areas administered by the newly created Urban and Rural District Councils (with responsibility transferring to District Councils in 1974 and then Somerset Council from April 2023). Planning applications often include accompanying floor, elevation and site plans for the building. The survival of such building control plans varies considerably. Those that have been deposited and selected for permanent preservation at the Somerset Heritage Centre (primarily new builds or significant alterations to existing buildings) are listed under the relevant local authority collection (D/B/-, D/U/-, D/R/-, D/DC/-). It is very rare to find building plans for an earlier date, and those which we do hold are usually for the more notable properties such as stately homes

• See the Wills research guide for more details on probate records

• See the Newspapers research guide for more details on our holdings