When attempting to trace the history of a house, property or building, one of the most important ways of finding out more information is to consult the mass of documentation created over the centuries relating to ownership, occupancy and use. This material is often scattered within several archives, libraries and museums, making it hard to obtain and often even more difficult to interpret. Since surviving evidence will vary from property to property, it will be necessary to consult a wide range of sources that will include cartographic material, legal papers and title deeds, trade, street and phone directories, taxation records, land surveys, private documents (wills, inventories, rent books), official sources (census returns, electoral lists) and municipal files (planning permission, disputed rights of way, tenancy agreements). To view case studies from former commissions, click here.

At House Detectives, we offer a professional research service drawn from a decade's experience working in archives across the entire British Isles, covering both national and regional institutions. We present our findings in a bound volume with relevant research material, outlining the history of the property and - where applicable - the names of former owners and occupiers. Research rates start at £200 per day, excluding travel and expenses (eg photocopies). For domestic houses, we usually find that 2-3 days research yields the maximum amount of results, split between one day's work in London archives to prepare a research framework followed by more detailed research at the relevant local archives.

Of course, you may want to add other elements of work to the archive research, such as an architectural analysis of your property or a scientific investigation of the fabric of the building. For further information, click on the links above.

We also offer a chancel repair search service. For further details of this search, and its importance to a homebuyer, click here.

To obtain a quote or commission work, please click here.

Dr Nick Barratt is the co-ordinator for archive research undertaken by House Detectives. He also runs a team of archive researchers and historians at Sticks Research Agency. To find out more about his background, click here.