It is always best to start from what you know and work backwards. You may not find out exactly when the house was built but you can discover who occupied the house, its status and any previous uses. Records held in the archives, the library service, and on-line resources, could help your research but before considering these, find out as much information as you can about the house and the surrounding area. Ask neighbours if they knew any of the previous occupiers or uses, or know of any property name changes. it should be noted that the present house numbering system is a creation of the late 19th century and that house names may have also changed over time.

It may be useful to contact your local history group as they might be able to give you additional information (follow the link on this page). Particular attention should be paid to the architectural detail of the house; it can often give you more of an indication as to the date of the property than documentary sources can.

A warning: tracing the history of your house, although fascinating and often rewarding, can be extremely time consuming and occasionally fruitless.

Denbighshire Record Office

Here is a list of the types of records, held at Denbighshire Record Office, which are most commonly used for tracing the history of buildings:

• Deeds
• Maps and plans
• Census

Follow the links on this page to find out more about each of these sources.

Many other records held at the Denbighshire Record Office contain valuable information for the house history researcher, including: taxation records - including hearth tax and land tax assessments, photographs, trade directories, electoral registers, alehouse registers and recognizances, nonconformist meeting house licenses, rate books, wills and inventories, parish records - glebe terriers, and education records.

Library services

Sometimes research has already been done on an area, street or building, so it is always worth looking at local history books. Local history books for Denbighshire are held by the Denbighshire Library Service. Follow the link to the online catalogue to search the books that are available from Denbighshire libraries.

Online resources

Follow the links on this page to useful on-line resources for house historians, including The National Monuments Record of Wales, which holds information on listed or prominent buildings in Wales.