When undertaking research, it is often best to start by investigating the history of the neighbourhood, which might be the village, suburb or town in which the house is located. Many public libraries have sections devoted to local history and topography and staff will be able to suggest useful sources of information. Most householders pay Council Tax and appear on the electoral register. Early ratebooks and registers can offer information on those who could have lived in your house in the past. Early maps, particularly Ordnance Survey maps, can help in dating property, and old photographs and illustrations in local museums and guidebooks may provide evidence of former uses and show how the property looked before alteration or extension.
County archives are potentially a rich source of documentary evidence.
As a result of the compulsory registration of land transfers, very few owners are now lucky enough to retain previous title deeds and other documents, but some areas, Middlesex in particular, have deeds registries going back to the eighteenth century. These are generally not easy to work with, but, in combination with census returns and trade and local directories, can be a good guide to previous owners and their occupations. If it can be established that the property once formed part of the estate of a well known local family or corporate body, their papers, if deposited in a public archive, might well be worth examining. When it comes to the property itself, it is worth bearing in mind that although the remains of an ancient structure may lurk under modern extensions and improvements, it is equally possible for the researcher to be misled by eighteenth or nineteenth century recreations of much earlier building styles, often recycling original materials. Start your physical investigation in the parts of the house which are more likely to have remained unaltered, namely the roof void and the cellars.