Whether you live in a manor-house...
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or a town-house...
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your house has a history
| From Georgian period dwelling to Victorian rectory, from coaching inn to farmhouse, each building tells a story. Fom the people who lived there in the past to the materials it is built of, each house is unique. |  |
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Many people would like to know more about their treasured home. When was it built? Was there something else there before? Was it always a house? Who were its former occupants? What did they do? |
An old Rectory?
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Many of today's households
occupy attractive and interesting buildings that had former uses and were
an important part of the community in days gone by. Old rectories and
vicarages have been converted to houses everywhere and often, with research,
tell a wonderful story of people and community, eccentric clergymen, scholars,
large Victorian families, church disputes, even ghosts.
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A former farmhouse?
| Many old farmhouses are now private residences devoid of their farmlands. Sometimes they stand on the site of much older homesteads. These can go back to medieval or Anglo-Saxon times, with even hedgerows revealing their history. Sometimes they occupy a moated site or were once a yeoman's house. |  |
A converted school?
| Many newly-converted houses were once schools, inns or even chapels. Imagine how much history is there? The people who sat in the desks, drank porter in the bars or listened to sermons from a fiery preacher? All this can be discovered, and the past can live again, your house's past? |
A town house of distinction?
| Or maybe you live in a town? Every house has a history. Even a small Victorian terraced house may reveal surprisingly interesting secrets. Maybe a famous person lived there (as Mary Webb did in the house opposite). Perhaps the house was part of a complicated speculative building or was a one-off designed for a gentleman of means. All can be explained. |  |
| Through MAPS. Enclosure, Tithe and Estate maps often show interesting and surprising facts about the age, state and purpose of your house. Tithe maps, for example, often come with schedules which name occupants, ownership and acreage of land. |  |
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Through documents such as CENSUSES, which will give details of a house's occupants and family relationships through the generations. These can be augmented by other records such as WILLS and INVENTORIES which might list contents of houses and value of furnishings. |
| Through PLANS. Often estate or church records for manor-houses, court-houses, rectories, school properties etc contain plans of particular buildings with use of rooms and shape of structure which can be matched to present condition. |  |
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Through PHOTOGRAPHS, DRAWINGS or POSTCARDS. Sometimes your house might appear in an old photograph or postcard, or in a drawing, engraving or painting. The more important the house, the more likely this is the case, and this may provide invaluable information about its structure. |
And finally through on the spot research I will not only visit you in your house for an initial meeting before my research begins, but (with your leave) survey and inspect your house's structure and fabric, site and location, and research the topographical and historical context of your home whether in village, countryside or town.
You can choose between TWO services:
STANDARD or EXCLUSIVE
My STANDARD history service will present you with a bound history of your house and its occupants, comprising:
The work of a STANDARD history will take from two to four weeks to complete and the final book will be presented to you within a month after my research is complete.
If you require an EXCLUSIVE house history, I will be happy to discuss this with you, as it will be custom-designed depending on the age and site of the house, and the records available. This will go on to explore in further detail the history of your house, and be presented to you in the form of a tooled leather-bound book.
Whether you choose STANDARD or EXCLUSIVE, you will also have the chance to commission an original watercolour painting or pastel of your house, mounted and framed, for an additional fee of £350 (example below).
For a STANDARD history, the cost will be £950, with a down payment of £150 on commissioning the research; after two to three weeks and upon my submitting a progress report with a visit, a further £350 will be due, and the remainder of £450 on completion of the project. This fee will cover all costs, including record office fees, stationery, photographs and photocopying, but excludes necessary travel expenses, which will be itemised separately (an estimate will be given beforehand).
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Your researcher is Dr Peter Foss, a historical research consultant, well-known for his work on Midlands parishes, his seminal book on the Battle of Bosworth (described recently as a 'milestone in battlefield studies') and his architectural and topographical writings. He is the author of six books and numerous historical essays. His wide-ranging knowledge and longstanding expertise will be put exclusively to your service.
Please fill in this short questionnaire and send it to me
