House History Research

The ordinary historic houses of England are perhaps one of the most underestimated parts of our heritage. They are everywhere; an integral part of the fabric of our towns and countryside, most of them with an unknown history. However, the potential is so often there to find out who has lived and worked in them and to uncover the part they played in the development of their locality. It is not just large country houses that have an interesting story.

If you live in an old house, you are the latest in a long line of people who have made your house their home. Moreover, the building itself may have been their livelihood as a farm, a school, a workshop or a pub. We produce individually researched and written histories of these people and the houses they helped to create.

For most buildings there are archives that can be used to piece together a story. Even the smallest house has been bought, sold, leased and been subject to rates and taxes. Their inhabitants were baptised, married and buried at the local church or chapel. They may have left their wills and letters, diaries and portraits. It is possible that your locality was mapped in the eighteenth century or visited by an amateur photographer during the nineteenth. Archives such as these can be used to write and illustrate a history of your house.

I have been researching aspects of local history since the late 1970s when I produced my degree dissertation. In 1983, I undertook my first house history and since 1993 I have completed over seventy commissions specialising in the history of houses in Surrey and West Sussex.

In 2005, my wife Sally joined me in writing the histories. This allows me to concentrate on the research side of the work and enables us to accept a greater number of commissions.

Sally is also involved in the artistic aspects of the work and has often undertaken separate commissions to paint the houses researched.

Please email or telephone if you would like to discuss your house and its potential for research.

01483 420763

house.history@virgin.net

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Philip Gorton

Specialist in Historic Buildings Research.

Sally Gorton

Artist & Writer

Telephone: 01483 420763 house.history@virgin.net