By looking at old maps and information from the census and google, I have discovered the following facts about my house, in Florence Road:
Ok so I have found out a bit more by looking at the land certificate deeds and checking the London gazette.
The land my house was built on was sold by Joseph Lucas to William hodson in 1879. Joseph Lucas was the original owner of lots of land round here ( see Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Stroud_Green, inherited it. William hodson was the architect and builder, he lived in dalston!
Cool!
Mainly by looking at the census and googling! Am breastfeeding so have a lot of time to do one handed typing and needed something to occupy my mind. Really enjoyed doing it!
It costs £7 to access census records at findmypast.com. Just look up your address and then you'll find out who lived there, and you can search for them in the census and on google and in the London gazette, and see if they are mentioned anywhere.
Here's an 1872 map - Stroud green is mostly fields http://london1872.com/stanford21b.htm and http://london1872.com/stanford05.HTM>
1878 map - some houses now: http://london1878.com/stanford21.htm and http://london1878.com/stanford05.htm
Isnt the 1872 map absolutely beautiful?
Here's the 1888 map, Florence road is finally there!
http://www.oldtowns.co.uk/London1888-new/sheet-4.HTM
Here's where you can search the census:
http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/census/1911/address
Probably easiest to start at 1911 and work backwards.
If you look through your house title deeds (can be accessed from the land registry) you might be able to find a covenant between Joseph Lucas and your builder/architect.
Let me know if this is useful, would be happy to help!
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