The Percy Terrace Project

If you live in a well-established street it is almost certain that there will be a wealth of history waiting to be discovered about your houses and their past inhabitants.

Percy Terrace was established as a pioneer project, which will hopefully inspire all the central streets of Alnwick to begin researching their own story. An active team of Percy Terrace residents is looking at all aspects of their street history. Question to be answered by any such group include:

• Who built our houses and when?
• What type of people were they aimed at?
• How many people lived in each house and did that change over time?
• How and when did improvements such as mains water and sewage,electricity etc arrive in the street?
• What professions or trades were represented, and did anyof our inhabitants pursue their trade at home?
• Were there any locally or nationally famous people living here?
• What health and other issues affected the quality of life?
• What recreations and other ways of relaxing were popular locally?
• How did great national events such as the Great War affect us*?  etc.

Sources of information include all the available census data over time (which provides not just names and ages but also occupations), Google research, local papers via the library and now often accessible online,  local archives such as the Northumberland archives at Woodhorn, plus any families still living or contactable who were residents.

The Percy Terrace team has already done a great deal of work -samples of which are shown on this website. As other aspects become finished, they will also be posted up. The Percy Terrace residents also aim to launch their results later this year at the Bailiffgate Museum, and will be happy to give advice to other streets thinking of researching their own history.

See a videon clip from the Percy Terrace Project 

There are already two other projects underway- in Howick Street and Belvedere Terrace. If you want to know how to contact these or to learn more about how to start your own street research group, please use our contact form.

* See also the new database of those local men who died in the Great War on this website, as another way to kick off your research.