House History: The Classic
A Characterful History of Your Home
For modest historic homes with strong research potential - such as Georgian cottage, early-Victorian semis and Edwardian homes - our Classic Package offers an engaging narrative that’s full of warmth, detail, and historical texture.
It’s ideal for properties that have quietly evolved through everyday life, reflecting shifts in community, architecture, and occupation. These homes may not have made headlines, but they often reveal deeply human stories - showing who lived there, how the neighbourhood developed, and how the house changed over time.
We’re 80% booked for Christmas 2025. Book now to ensure you receive your beautifully printed story in time for the festive season.
£1500 in full
Options to pay over 2, 4, or 6 months, starting from £250 per month
Our Promise: If your home isn't viable for your chosen package after initial assessment (less than 5% of cases), we'll either provide a full refund or switch you to a package that better matches your property's available records — you'll only pay the £49 Records Check fee.
‘You uncovered so many little gems about our beautiful house that may otherwise have been lost or overlooked. The communication was fantastic throughout and the finished book was beautiful, so incredibly detailed.’
VICTORIA, MEAGRAM HOUSE, LINCOLNSHIRE - THE CLASSIC PACKAGESkip to:
[What’s Included & Pricing] • [Who It’s For] • [What You Might Discover] • [FAQs] • [Design Options] • [What Happens After You Book] • [Our Promise]
What’s Included:
This 25-hour package unfolds over 10-12 weeks, including 12 hours of expert online research, drawing from 25–30 sources, plus transcription and referencing, writing and editing, design and layout, and print production.
The Classic package explores a wide range of online sources to uncover your home's story, including all those included in House Tales, plus valuation survey records, tithe records, land tax records, parish rate books, wills and probate documents, photographs, and more - depending on what records survive for your property.
A detailed, chronological narrative
Two beautifully printed and bound storybooks featuring a research report with full transcriptions of all records found, images of documents and maps, and your home’s full story
An A2 fine art giclée wall print designed to showcase the narrative
A digital edition of your storybook and a digital portfolio of all research material
Timeline:
10-12 weeks completion, depending on current project volume
Pricing:
£1500 in full
Options to pay over 2, 4, or 6 months, starting from £250 per month
Our Promise: If your home isn't viable for your chosen package after initial assessment (less than 5% of cases), we'll either provide a full refund or switch you to a package that better matches your property's available records — you'll only pay the £49 Records Check fee.
Designed for Modest Homes with Meaningful Stories
The Classic Package suits properties that may not be architecturally grand but are rich in documentation - such as early Victorian terraces, modest Georgian homes, or larger Edwardian semis. These are the kinds of homes that frequently appear in historical records and often reflect community life and changing eras.
Whether your house was once part of a village community, a tradesman’s cottage, or a long-owned suburban home, the Classic package reveals the lives of those who came before - through maps, census returns, directories, and more.
‘It really resonated when I read about George Stratton, the longest resident at Stoneheal Cottage, and that he was a gardener, as I work in horticulture and actually own my own nursery. It makes me wonder if George Stratton is still here, keeping an eye on the place.
Thank you for all the hard work that has gone into bringing the history of Stoneheal Cottage to us.’
SUZIE, STONEHEAL COTTAGE - CLASSIC PACKAGEWhat Might You Uncover?
Homes suited to the Classic package often reveal multiple layers of history:
Longstanding families tied to local trades or communities
Evidence of rebuilding or renovation across generations
Shifts in street names or numbers through historical maps
Presence in key records like valuation surveys, directories, or local newspaper mentions
‘Finding out the history of the place makes me feel that I'm almost in touch with the people that lived here’
LITTLE GILLIES, A GEORGIAN COTTAGE IN RURAL CORNWALL
Liz Toth has always felt a strong connection to the stream that flows at the bottom of her garden, which winds its way through the rugged moorlands of rural Cornwall surrounding the 230-year-old stone cottage (previously, two adjoining cottages), Little Gillies, where she lives with her husband, Phil, and their furry companions. ‘It’s always been special to me. Every day I go and watch it and listen to it for a minute. I don’t want it to ever become just background noise…and to find out that for the people that lived here, it wasn’t just a pretty stream – it was actually integral to their lives and their livelihoods - that really resonated.’
The first record of tin streaming at Little Gillies came in the will of Stephen Cock of Roche, who died on 19 March 1799, aged 82. Stephen left his son John, ‘all my right I have in that tin stream work called by the name of the Gilley work’. There was no mention of the Little Gillies cottages yet, although the first cottage was believed to have been built around this time and the second by the early 1800s — most likely by the Cock family.
‘When we first moved in, we stood against the big granite lintel above the fireplace in the oldest part of the house, and we touched it, and I remember saying, I wonder how many people have had their hands on this lintel? Because it would have been the hub of the house; it would have been where they cooked, where they cleaned and told stories, where they argued, where they laughed, where they cried. And there would have been hundreds of people over the years, in this room, doing exactly what we do - having dinner - I wonder how many people have sat and had Christmas dinner in this very spot?’
By 1901, Marwood Toms, 29, a clay labourer, occupied the cottage. He lived with his wife Rebekah, 30, and their children. The Toms later lost their grandson, Harold, in World War Two, and Marwood died in 1957, aged 86. His son, Ernest, 53, still lived at Little Gillies in 1965. The cottage then passed hands several times before Liz and Phil made it their home in September 2021, marking the next chapter in this 230-year-old story.
Some key records that helped underpin and guide the research included the tithe maps of Luxulyan in 1839, which allowed us to trace back the owners of the cottages and surrounding land into the 1700s, leading to the wills of the Cock family.
‘Finding out the history of the place makes things make sense in the house; it all starts to fit in place. I feel that I'm almost in touch with the people that lived here.’
Click image to view
What will you uncover?
FAQs
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This depends on the scope of your chosen package.
Our House Tales packages are designed to give you a handful of curated glimpses into your home's history and the people who shaped it - rather than a full chronological timeline.
For our more in-depth packages (Classics, Comprehensives and Premiums), we will trace ownership chronologically as far back as records allow, uncovering as many individuals and families as possible within your chosen scope.
As Classic packages are limited to online records, this may mean that findings are mostly post-1840s (as most older records are found in the physical archives, which are explored in a Comprehensive or Premium package).
Please note that information available on occupants and owners after the 1939 register can be very variable due to privacy laws limiting access to national records.
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Yes, we will transcribe and reference any records/material already in your possession. Depending on the extent, this time can either be included as part of the research time in your package, or we can add additional hours to your package - we can advise on this pre or post-booking.
In terms of research you have already undertaken, we will also need to check, transcribe and reference your research - and again, depending on the extent of this, the time can either be included as part of the research time or be added to your package.
Please email us: support@pursuingthepast.co.uk if you have any questions.
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Yes, you can always upgrade later at the cost of the difference between the two packages.
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Precise build dates emerge in about half of our house histories - though the likelihood of finding them varies with the property's status and age (and is more likely in our bigger packages, which give us access to physical archives), we have uncovered construction dates for Victorian homes even in our House Tales research.
In our online research packages (the House Tales and the Classic 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.
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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.
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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 commission – as any information you have could be very useful in our research and in building a fuller picture of the house’s history.
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Yes! For homes built after 1920, we offer our Modern House Tales package, which explores your property's surroundings, the land it was built on and how your neighborhood has evolved over time.
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Many historical records are now available online, including census returns, maps and newspapers, and our House Tales and Classic packages harness these online resources to uncover fascinating details about your property's past.
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. Our Comprehensive and Premium packages include this archival research, often revealing additional layers of your home's history.
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In over 90% of cases, we find sufficient records to create your home's story. After booking a full package, our first step is to conduct a records check. If we find that there aren’t sufficient records to fulfil your chosen package, we will adjust the package level and refund the difference. If we find that your home can’t be easily identified in enough records to fulfil our smallest package, you will receive a full refund less our £50 search fee.
If we find that your house can’t easily be identified in records, this doesn’t mean that no records are available for your house anywhere, but just that we can’t guarantee that further research would produce the results needed to be able to fulfil one of our packages. In this case, we will advise on next steps.
If you prefer, you can book a Package Check first to determine if a property is eligible for one of our house history packages, and which package it is best suited to.
If you have any other questions or queries, please get in touch: support@pursuingthepast.co.uk
Your Design Options
Your home’s story will be presented in a luxurious, heirloom-quality format:
A2 fine art wall print customised to your choice of pattern and colour palette
Two beautifully bound storybooks featuring maps, images, research report and narrative
Your full research archive provided digitally
Each piece is printed on archival-grade materials and crafted to be proudly displayed.
Scroll through the gallery below to view your pattern and colour options for your house history wall print:
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What happens after booking?
Step 1: Welcome Email & Information Form
You'll receive a form to share what you already know - from deeds to family stories.
Step 2: Discovery
Our researchers will explore online records to uncover your home’s story.
Step 3: Crafting the Narrative
We weave our discoveries into an elegant, chronological narrative, integrating social history and human stories to bring your home’s past vividly to life.
Step 4: Design & Delivery
Your story is edited, designed, and produced - then carefully packaged and delivered to your door, ready to be treasured for generations.
To ensure you receive your Welcome Email, please add support@pursuingthepast.co.uk to your email contacts. Haven't received it? Please check your spam folder and email us if you need any assistance.
Our Promise to You
Within two weeks of booking, we’ll carry out an initial Records Check to confirm your home is suitable for your chosen package.
If it isn’t, we’ll recommend the best alternative - or offer a refund (minus our £49 Records Check fee). That way, you can move forward with total peace of mind.
Take Your Next Step with Confidence:
Flexible payments available via Visa, Mastercard, or PayPal
Still comparing options? [Explore All Packages →]
Want to know what happens next? [See How It Works →]
Need a little guidance? [Browse our FAQs →] or [Meet the Team →]
Thinking About a Christmas Gift?
We’re 80% booked for Christmas 2025. Booking now ensures you’ll receive your beautifully printed story in time for the festive season.
‘I have always loved this house - even before moving in I used to spot it as I drove past. Now knowing it was the village Surgery for many years (as a nurse) I feel I now understand that draw better. The rich and colourful lives of the people who lived here was incredible. Learning that the road and houses behind us had once been our orchard was a surprise. The wall print is now proudly hung in our hallway.’
AMANDA SCOTT, FARBROOKE HOUSE, LINCOLNSHIRE - THE CLASSIC PACKAGE
Still deciding?
Not ready yet? Start with a Package Check and we'll assess your home's research potential.
