Hello listers, My parents are selling their house, and as they have lived there for almost 40 years I thought it would be a good idea to look into the history of their property. (should have done it years ago). Can anyone suggest ways of finding out details of who lived there, when, occupations, change of use (farm) etc. I have looked through the S&DFHS census disks, but they have no addresses. Would I have to go to the Land Registry, and do they charge for their services? I have tried looking on the 1901 census address search, but althought the house has changed name since then, and the name of the road has not changed, I could find no record. Perhaps the person recording details didnt bother with an address? Any other suggestions would be gratefully recieved. Kim from the Blackmore Vale in Dorset, England white@evemail.net I use Archive CD Books. All my incoming & outgoing mail is protected by Norton AntiVirus 2002.

Hi Kim Old directories may help or other local records often held in local libraries. It depends on the area I suppose, but I know Weymouth library has a very good selection of local information. Is there anything in the title deeds? I remember years ago having a copy of the deeds of a Victorian house which was not that interesting other than that it recorded that there had been a dispute around 1900 over the passage of light with the neighbour. It only became compulsory for land to be registered from the early 1980's or thereabouts. We had to register the above mentioned house for the first time when we bought it in 1982 and prior to then there was nothing recorded for it at the land registry. So your parents may be living in an unregistered house/land if they have been there that long. The Land Registry charge £2 for details of a property in the register and £2 for title plans of it. Their website: http://www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/ I hope that's of help. Debby > Hello listers, > My parents are selling their house, and as they have lived there for almost 40 years I thought it would be a good idea to look into the history of their property. (should have done it years ago). > > Can anyone suggest ways of finding out details of who lived there, when, occupations, change of use (farm) etc. > I have looked through the S&DFHS census disks, but they have no addresses. Would I have to go to the Land Registry, and do they charge for their services? --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.708 / Virus Database: 464 - Release Date: 18/06/2004

Hi Kim, The Dorset Record Office has some records of the older propeties. Before going off there, have a look at the deeds of the house. I have the deeds of my grandfathers house which were offered for sale on the internet a year or so ago! Solicitors have the habbit of "pruning" the deeds as they take up a lot of space. There is only a certain number of years that the deeds must be held for. Then th old ones can get sold for the parchment! Your parents have been there for 40 years. Who did they buy from? Who were they? Where did they go? What can your parents remember about buying the house? How did they hear of it? Was there an estate agent involved? If so, who were they? Are they still in business today? If they are what do their records say? If the busines has changed, when did it change and were any records sent to the record office? Who were the solicitors who handled the sale to your parents? Do they have any records? Who was acting for the vendor? Do they have anything on their records of the property or the people? Armed with these answers take a look in the local papers' archives. They may shead some light on the matter. They may even have a photograph of the property during various sales, not only the one 40 years ago. They could have sales going back over many years. If this not the case the previous owners may have lived there for generations and there are local stoies of them in the area. The churches, schools, pubs etc could have information. Is there anyone who has lived in th area longer than your parents? If so, they could have a tale to tell. One thing could lead to another and in the end a story could be told. Good luck! Bernard

Thankyou Debby, Bernard & Viv, My parents have requested their deeds from their Solicitors and he said he would help. The property is approx 200 yrs old and my grandfather bought it for my parents as a wedding present in 1966 for £2,000. (If only prices were still this low!) It was almost a shell, two rooms up and two rooms down, a kitchen was in a lean-to and stairs were outside! They believe there is quite a large file held on the house which was a farm/smallholding when they bought it. The previous owners no longer have any connections in the village, but I do intend to ask the local historian and some of the elderly residents who grew up in the vilage regarding the previous owners. The village Historic Soc (locally known as the histerical soc!) doesnt have any info but I will keep searching. If anyone on the list knows any history of Hazelbury Bryan I would be very interested to here form them. Many thanks again for your help and I will update if I find anything of interest. Kim from the Blackmore Vale in Dorset, England white@evemail.net I use Archive CD Books. All my incoming & outgoing mail is protected by Norton AntiVirus 2002.

Kim I tried to find the owner of some land (in Kinson), and asked the Land Registry in Weymouth about it, online, via the site Debby gave. I had been sent the registered title number of the parcel of land by the archivist of the present owners, a brewery. Registration began in 1925 or 26, but is still not yet completed. Weymouth was unable to find it. They wrote by snailmail to say "we did not keep a copy of the said transfer" (ie they threw it away!) This cost me nothing, but was in 2001. Your parents should look in every single nook and cranny first, then contact the solicitors who were involved in their original purchase, and the bank/building society that they had their mortgage with. Sadly, most legal documents like this are thrown out. Look in old directories, maps, electoral registers, even, when and if they find names, the CWGC and absent voters' lists. Our house - not in Dorset - is Victorian, and we were lucky enough to inherit lots of deeds and a couple of wills (from the building society), mainly because many of the past families who lived here were the kind of people who kept important papers! I was able to find the first family to live here, and because their surname was very unusual, to contact a descendant, in Australia, and send her the 1901 census information, and information from the deeds and wills. There is a small group of them (SOUSTER/SEWSTER) scattered round the world. It was really exciting! Hopefully your parents will be as lucky as we were. Viv vivpritchard@ntlworld.com Rugby, England DYSTONIA SOCIETY M00226 www.dystonia.org.uk SDFHS 9551 U Looking for LANE, Holnest 1729+/-, Hermitage 1765+/-, Leigh 1808+, Longfleet 1881+/-, Kinson 1884+, all in Dorset --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.709 / Virus Database: 465 - Release Date: 22/06/2004