A few years ago I studied on a short course at Glasgow University researching the history of my house.
I was inspired by the TV series “History of a House in Time” presented by David Olusoga.
I learned how to research using electoral rolls, valuation rolls, Sasine registers and Feu registers. The last two are specific to Scotland and I shall explain these in future posts.
I did spend a lot of time at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow where the City’s archives are kept. The staff there are knowledgeable and helpful. On one occasion they suggested that I have a look at the Feu registers of the Nether Pollok Estate from whom the builder of my house had purchased the land. I ordered them up and was then advised to take a coffee break because someone would have to fetch them from a basement store. They were trundled to my reading table on a trolley. Two thick books about five inches thick and covered in dust.
The magic of research is when you discover what you are looking for. Here in copper plate handwriting was the Feu duty information for my house, telling me who had purchased the land from the Pollok Estates and who the builder was.
I compiled as near a complete record of all the owners of my house since it was first purchased in 1910 and I also worked on Census records to find out more about the builder and first owners who didn’t leave until the 1950’s.
I was about to write the history up when a chance discussion with a solicitor who was drawing up some legal documents for me, led to the discovery that since my house was registered with the Scottish Land Registry, the need for safe storage of the title deeds was no longer necessary. She discovered where they were being kept (in the vaults of a firm of solicitors who received them from our original solicitor when she retired) and brought them to me.
They arrive in a neat plastic storage bag. It contained every deed of purchase and transfer of land from 1908 to 1987 when my wife and I purchased the house. It was like inheriting a gold mine with a treasure trove of information that is helping me to write up the history of this house in time.
The earliest document from 1908 was the 50 page document, handwritten on foolscap paper, transferring the land in Earlspark Avenue to the builder, George Anderson and outlining exactly what his responsibilities would be to satisfy the Feu disposition.
The most creative document in the collection was the 1910 title deed to the house that George Anderson had built. It was written in very small copperplate handwriting on parchment and tied with blue ribbon and signed in his own hand.
These documents confirmed everything that I had been researching. More importantly, they are legal documents from the past, no longer required to prove my ownership, but essential to evidence the past ownership.
I shall share stories from this research in the coming months.