How to research the history of a place: where to start

Want to find out more about the history of a particular place? It can be tricky trying to work out the best way to begin. There is such a wide range of exciting and empowering community projects going on all round the country that knowing where to look can be overwhelming.

I’m one of the modern records specialists in The National Archives’ Collections Expertise & Engagement department, a wide-ranging role that includes acting as our public engagement lead for local and family history. I undertake a variety of pieces of research – a lot of work on the 1939 Register, for example – and I was one of the research leads when the 1921 Census was released in 2022. Amongst other things, I regularly teach and lecture about local history, give talks to local history societies and also carry out my own research into various localities.

In honour of Local and Community History Month, here is a short list of websites and resources I regularly use when I am researching the history of places:

Vision of Britain

Vision of Britain has a wealth of material for locations in Great Britain and is well worth a peruse for your local area. Equally good for getting a flavour of how a geographical area has shifted and changed over time, there is some much to get your teeth into. It also has a quick and easy-to-use search functionality to get you going.

Victoria County History

Victoria County History is a national project to write a history of every county in England, founded in 1899 and still going. It is a treasure trove of information, rigorously researched and a pleasure to use. I could lose hours to the research gathered together in this resource.

HistPop

HistPop, an offshoot of the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex, contains copies of all the major population reports for the UK from the 1800s onwards. Especially good for census reports, there is a huge amount of material here which can inform and support your research into a particular place.

Society of One Place Studies

The Society of One Place Studies allows you to uncover whether there is already a one place study for the area you are interested in, and brings together like-minded researchers. It runs a series of webinars, and is a wealth of information and support for this kind of research.

National Library of Scotland Maps

The National Library of Scotland Maps resource covers all over the United Kingdom and beyond, drawing together a substantial collection of cartography. It is an essential tool for anyone undertaking historical research in a local capacity and is regularly adding new material to its sizeable collections.

British Newspaper Archive

Another resource which is frequently updated is the British Newspaper Archive, whose newspaper collections cover the whole country, and permits a vivid glimpse into society in the past. Without its exciting range of material, however would we find who won the fruitcake class of the Llandewi Brefi Country Show back in the 1910s, and far more besides?

National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales’s collections encompass an extraordinary range of material relating to Welsh life, heritage and culture, so if your research touches upon any Welsh locations then it is definitely worth exploring the collections here to see what might be found.

The National Archives

And finally, The National Archives’ own research guides cover a multitude of topics and research areas relating to local history, so if a particular records series has caught your interest, or you want to know how to get started in our collections, this is always the first place I direct people.

I hope that this is helpful to you! Good luck with your research.