When we research a house, official records can tell us when it was built, who owned it and how its structure changed. What they rarely capture is the memories of children playing in the hallway, the neighbours who always looked out for one another, the shop at the end of the road, or the family photograph taken beside the front door. These ordinary details are easily lost, yet they are often the details that bring local history to life.

That is why I created HouseStories: a national, address based Social Media platform where people can preserve the memories and photographs connected to homes they have lived in. Its purpose is simple, to make sure the memories of our homes and the people who lived in them are available for future generations to read. I have also been told by several story tellers of how therapeutic it was reliving their stories, often recalling memories they had forgotten.

A timeline for every home

On HouseStories, a contributor searches for an address and adds the years they lived there, who they shared the home with, what the house and neighbourhood were like, and the memories they made. Photographs can also be included. Each contribution becomes part of a growing timeline for that property, allowing different generations of residents to add their own chapter.

The address is the anchor. A family may move away, a street may change and neighbours may lose touch, but the home remains a fixed point around which memories can be gathered. Over time, one property page could connect a wartime childhood, a young couple’s first home, a family celebration and the recollections of the people living there today.

Nearly 400 stories have already been preserved. The project has also been featured on BBC South Today, helping more people recognise that their own memories however ordinary they may seem have historical value to future generations.

The moment the idea came alive

One early contribution described life in a home in the Mount Pleasant and Winners Enclosure area. A later resident found the story and said it was the most information they had ever read about their house. They asked whether it might be possible to contact the contributor.

For me, that moment demonstrated what an address-based archive can do. A memory shared by one person had crossed time and reached someone now caring for the same home. It had turned a building into a connection between lives. HouseStories includes ways to follow a property and leave a message, so that new information can bring people back and further chapters can emerge.

A partner for local history

HouseStories is not intended to replace the work of local history societies. Societies hold detailed knowledge, trusted collections and relationships built over many years. The platform can offer another route into that work: an accessible place where members of the public begin with an address they know and discover the wider memories of history around it.

There is real potential for collaboration. A society might invite residents to record memories of a particular Road or Street and share them with HouseStories. Contributions can acknowledge the organisation that helped to save them, giving the society visible credit and directing interested readers towards its work.

This also creates an opportunity to reach people who may not think of themselves as local historians. Someone may not feel ready to write an article or undertake formal research, but they can answer a few welcoming questions about a home. A date is often the easiest starting point: when did you live there? From that simple fact comes the invitation to remember a room, a neighbour, a celebration or a change in the street.

Inviting the next generation

The HouseStories Heritage Challenge has been developed as a national activity for Scouts, Girlguiding, schools and community organisations. Participants speak to relatives, neighbours or older residents, ask about homes they remember, and preserve what they learn. It is both a local-history activity and an intergenerational conversation.

Young people can learn that history is not only found in castles, famous buildings or textbooks. It is also present in our ordinary, everyday homes. By listening carefully and recording a story, they become active participants in preserving their community’s heritage.

An invitation to take part

My ambition is for every home to have the possibility of a living timeline, built carefully and respectfully from the memories of the people connected to it. The archive will become more valuable with every story added, but its greatest strength will come from partnerships with people who already understand and care for local history.

I would love to hear from local history societies, researchers, organisations and community groups interested in taking part in the Heritage Challenge, which will be officially launched on National Television in October/November 2026 and all stories will contribute to the “Most Storied Town 2027”. The Winning town will receive the HouseStories Heritage Challenge – Most Storied Town 2027 Trophy, which will be awarded to the towns local History Society.

To explore the project or add a story, visit www.HouseStories.uk.

About the author

Donna Line is the founder of HouseStories, a national digital Social Media, interactive Platform, created to preserve photographs and everyday memories connected to all homes across the UK. The sites Platform also allows people to connect via messages left against a property or “Follow this House” button which will send you an email when a new story has been added. As an ex-Conveyancer and History lover this combines her two passions. Donna said “I have often wondered what a house would say if it could talk and now they can”. She is developing partnerships with local historians, community organisations and young people to ensure that the stories held within ordinary homes are saved for future generations.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the British Association for Local History (BALH). Any content provided by our contributors is of their own opinion and is not intended to malign any individual, group, organisation, or entity.