Discovery Reports

Every Discovery Report begins with a Records Check. This crucial step confirms whether your property can be successfully identified in any online records.

If we find that further research would be needed to identify the property (as happens in about 5% of cases), we will be in touch to advise on next steps and will provide a refund (less our £49 search fee) if you decide not to undertake further speculative research.

Think of Discovery Reports as the foundation layer - the essential facts and findings that could later become part of a fuller narrative. While our signature packages weave these discoveries into beautifully crafted stories with bespoke wall prints and printed storybooks, Discovery Reports focus purely on presenting the historical facts clearly and directly.

You'll receive a digital pdf report detailing our findings from online records in chronological order, including document transcriptions.

You’ll also receive a digital file containing all of the records listed in your report.

Yes; many clients begin with a Discovery Report to discover the core facts, then choose to transform these findings into a complete narrative through our signature packages.

Precise build dates emerge in about half of properties - though the likelihood of finding them varies with the property's status and age (and is more likely in our archive packages, which give us access to physical archives), we have uncovered construction dates for Victorian homes even in our smaller research packages.

If precise dates can’t be found for Victorian and Edwardian properties, we are usually able to narrow down construction periods using maps. For older properties, archive research may be needed to provide a construction period. It depends on the status of the property and the available records for each property.

Architect and builder details tend to surface more often for grander properties.

Historical photographs are available for about 5-10% of properties, so they are relatively rare but exciting to find! They are much more likely to be found for grander properties and in our archive packages, but we have also been lucky to find photographs for more humble properties and even in our online research packages.

The main focus of our work is the social history of a house; however, we will always include details of the house’s architecture and development whenever we find them during our research.

We will ask you to share anything you know about the house and its history and development before we begin your research – as any information you have could be very useful in our research and in building a fuller picture of the house’s history.

Many historical records are now available online, including census returns, maps and newspapers.

However, the full story of your home often extends beyond digital archives. For a deeper exploration, many valuable records are still only accessible in local and national archives, including deeds, tax records, older maps, wills and probate records, sales particulars, estate and manorial records, and more.

Discovery Reports including ten hours of research or more will include this archival research, often revealing additional layers of your home's history.