House history, starts 22 Jan 2019
Every house has a story; tracing the history of your property and finding out about the people who lived there can be absolutely fascinating but can also be time consuming and possibly frustrating.
Old buildings have often been altered and since documents rarely give a date of construction, it is unusual to be able to date a house accurately. Finding out about your house is like reading a good detective story and, though there may be a few dead ends along the way, this six-week course will give you the opportunity to discover the wealth of documents available at Shropshire Archives and will help you in your own research.
We will start the course by showing examples of completed house histories; viewing the original documents used in undertaking their research, including maps from 19th and 20th century, census, directories and taxation records; photographs, newspapers and wills.
You will find out about other available source materials in order to get the answers you are looking for, whether that is to find out more about the actual building or the people who lived in it and how the local community developed.
During the course there will be opportunities to make a start on your own house history and have support in using the archive’s catalogues, indexes and other finding aids, to discover the stories of the property or community you have a personal interest in.
When: 6 sessions : Tuesdays 22nd Jan, 29th Jan, 5th Feb, 12th Feb, 19th Feb, 26th Feb 2019
Where: Shropshire Archives, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury SY1 2AQ