Hidden history

Do you know who used to live in your house? Now you can find out

Discover the history of your house with the resources at Edinburgh City Libraries and Capital Collections, our online image library which gives access to some of the 100,000 images in our collection.

This photograph is of a complex of 16th and 17th century buildings in the Canongate which currently house the Museum of Edinburgh.

The A-listed building is also known as Huntly House; a little misleading as it implies a grand town residence, but in fact the original 16th century buildings were built as tenements and only later amalgamated into a single dwelling.

The name of the house most likely refers to a visit by the 1st Marquis of Huntly in 1636.

This photograph dates from 1925 and clearly shows David Murray as the landlord’s name of the public house. Murray continues to be listed in the Post Office directories until 1968 as a wine and spirit merchant at No 142 Canongate.

The Edinburgh Room within Central Library has a wealth of material to help you discover the hidden history of your home. Using large-scale OS maps in conjunction with other resources, such as Post Office directories, can help identify specific properties, significant dates and previous uses of the building.

The Edinburgh Room also holds census returns for the years 1841-1901 and valuation rolls from 1914-1989 which record the people who owned and rented the domestic properties of Edinburgh.

Central Library has a subscription to The Scotsman online archive and to Scran, an online resource providing educational access to digital materials.

See if you can find an early picture of your home at www.capitalcollections.org.uk

Need to know

Look out for the upcoming “History of the House” events taking place at Central Library in November. Details of how to get involved will be available nearer the time at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/libraries