Melanie’s A House Historian
Meet the woman whose job it is to uncover the secrets buried in the past of some of Britain’s most fascinating houses
Melanie Backe-Hansen’s former role with an estate agent was one that focused on detective work rather than decor. I researched the history of various houses for them. Some of the discoveries were used for publicity for the property and it was also something to offer their clients.
As a history graduate with marketing experience it was a per fect role for me but after about six years, I was getting so many requests for private commissions that I decided to become a freelance house historian.
The houses I research are not big stately homes or famous houses, they are more “ordinary”. All houses can have a history and stories, although obviously the older the house, the more information there will be to find.”
Melanie researches past owners and occupants, what was on the site before the house, changes to the property through time, architectural features and connections to historic people or events.
To do this she consults historic records relating to the property in local and national archives, many of which require some skill for deciphering and interpretation – if they exist or can even be found at all.
“That’s especially true for the legal language of property deeds. Some 13th century documents I looked at recently were in Latin! House history involves delving into lots of different sources and piecing scraps of information together – you become quite a detective. It requires a lot of reading and a great deal of time in the archives. It is possible to spend an entire day trawling through a source for a missing link or references to a specific house or people and not actually find what you are looking for.
“Unfortunately, a lot of deeds are disappearing because older documents are no longer legally required. It’s such a shame as while key information might be with the Land Registry, the original document has lots of other details which are useful for historians.
“Some information can be easily obtained from other sources, such as census records and electoral rolls, although it can get tricky for more recent decades because of issues such as data protection.
“For later 20th century houses I would research what was there before the property was built – a connection to a large estate, for example, or another house on the site. Old maps are very interesting to look at for this.
“Private home owners make up the bulk of my work now, but I do some work for corporate clients, estate agents and commercial clients too. My customers tend to be people who are fascinated by their own home – perhaps they have just moved in, or they have lived in a property for many years and they want something to remember the house by because they are moving out.
“Quite often it is a gift from husband to wife. At the moment I’m working on a commission to celebrate 25 years of the family having the home. Bound copies of my research are being made for all the family members to have a copy of it.”
Melanie has recently appeared on screen in the More4 series Phil Spencer’s History of Britain in 100 Homes and she was a research consultant on BBC2’s A House Through Time. She has also consulted on the second series, due out this spring, which studies the history of a property in Newcastle through the decades.
“I was asked to help research the property in the early stages, when there was a lot of confusion about the
“I can spend an entire day trawling through old papers for references”
specifics of the owners and the occupants because the sources were a bit sketchy,” explains Melanie. “Also, the house number changed, so I deciphered a whole pile of deeds to work out exactly what happened.
“House number changes were common, especially in Victorian times when there was so much building. It’s a hurdle you often com me across. Houses are not always identified clearly in records. In a lot of earlier documents the reference might just say the house on the road to...
“There have been some surprise discoveries in the course of my work. I recently traced the history of a lovely Cotswolds house back to the 1580s and found a whole drama involving Queen Elizabeth I. Later on there were connections to Thomas Jefferson, who became an American president, and also Mary Wollstonecraft! It was all so fascinating, the owners just loved learning about it all. A house in London turned out to have been owned by some famous 1940s gangsters. I’ve had everything from Byron to ghosts – you just never know what you will find.
“Every house I work on is interesting to me and I would quite happily research any home. My job is brilliant, I absolutely adore it!”
Series 2 of A House Through Time starts soon on BBC2. Read more about Melanie’s work at www.house-historian.co.uk