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 the corner of Dean Park Street and Comely Bank Road looking along Raeburn Place. The retail premises on the corner are currently occupied by a farm shop delicatessen but, in 1910, when this photograph was taken, the shop was used by the chemist John A Small. The valuation roll of 1914 shows the shop had a yearly rateable value of £50 and rent was paid to the trustees of the former builder and property developer, Sir James Steel, who also owned many other properties in Comely Bank Road.

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 to 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 and with a bit of time, a little luck and the resources of the Edinburgh Room at your fingertips, it may be possible to unlock the secret history of your house.

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