One-Place Studies: Studying a Street

This class will explain why it is important to research the communities within which people lived. We tend to look at our ancestors in isolation, or within family groups. Using parish registers and other parish records, censuses, electoral registers, newspaper articles and by visiting local and national archives, we can build up a vivid picture about what life was like for our ancestors and their neighbours. A one-place study is the next best thing to a time machine!
Did you know that a one-place study can be anywhere with a geographical boundary? So if the place you’re interested in might be a bit big for a one-place study, if you’d like to know who lived in your street, or if you’d like to dip your toe into the water of a one-place study, then a street study will be right up your alley!
You might want to study a street where your ancestors lived, or perhaps you live in an older property and are wondering who lived in your street, or how the houses were used. Did they have passageways linking them through the loft? Was a particular house ever divided into flats? Did the properties have any unusual features?
Street studies are the perfect way to engage a community in its history, perhaps even people who might not be interested in family history might be interested in house history and the people who once lived in their home. A street study is a way of creating a manageable project which will run for years, if you want it to. I can offer suggestions for methodology and process which would provide a great starting point for anyone interested in undertaking a similar project.
I am building a database of historical residents and researching the individuals I’ve discovered, both before and after their time in the street. Perhaps you’ve watched the television series ‘A House Through Time’ and have delved into your own house history? Those of us who live in close proximity to others all interact with our neighbours and our ancestors were no different. Why not get to know the people they knew, who they chatted to as they scrubbed their doorsteps or over the garden fence? Using my street study of a 28-property street as a case study, I will show you what it’s possible to achieve, and how to ‘meet’ the historical occupants of your chosen street.