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Primary sources in print useful for building history

Serial publications of records by national and local bodies are listed in various useful volumes and more recently online. (See Texts and Calendars.) Listed below are a selection of sources published independently. See wills for probate inventories in print. See early sources for pre-Norman material in print.

Norman (1066-1199)

• Biddle, M. (ed.), Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An edition and discussion of the Winton Domesday (1976). Two 12th-century surveys of the borough of Winchester.
• fitz Stephen, William, Description of London was written in the late 12th century as a preface to his biography of Archbishop Thomas Becket. The original Latin text was published as a preface to the first edition of Stow's Survey of London (1598); the 1912 edition substitutes a translation. The Latin text was also published in Henry Thomas Riley (ed.), Liber Custumarum, Rolls Series, no.12, vol.2 (1860), 2-15; Stephen Alsford provides an online translation, with commentary. Other translations can be found in Stenton, F. M., Norman London, Historical Association leaflet no. 93 and English Historical Documents, vol. 2.
• Gesta Stephani: The Deeds of Stephen, ed. and trans. K.R. Potter (2nd edn. 1976) is a useful contemporary source for Norman castles and fortified towns involved in the war between King Stephen and Empress Maud (1141-53).
• Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales and the Description of Wales, trans. L.Thorpe (1978). Written 1188-91, it mentions some castles in Wales.
• Giraldus Cambriensis [Gerald of Wales], The Topography of Ireland and The Conquest of Ireland, trans. Thomas Forester, revised by Thomas Wright (2000, 2001) are online in pdf format. They are combined in an earlier edition: Gerald of Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland, trans. John O'Meara, rev. edn (1982). Written 1183-5.

Medieval (1200-1485)

• The Black Book of St David's ed. J.W. Willis-Bund (Cymmrodorion Record Series, no.5, 1902): A survey of the episcopal lands in 1326.
• Cole, R., Rental of the Houses in Gloucester [in 1455], ed. Stevenson (1890).
• Orkneyinga Saga: The history of the Earls of Orkney, trans. H.Palson and P. Edwards (1981): written c.1220, it mentions a few Norse castles in the Northern Isles and Caithness.
• Rental of Community Property in [King's] Lynn 1391.
• Salzman, L.F., Building in England Down to 1540: A documentary history, 2nd edn. (1967) prints the full text of 131 medieval building contracts and a range of other primary sources.
• Survey of the Honour of Denbigh, 1334 ed. P. Vinogradoff and F. Morgan (1914).
• William Worcester: Itineraries ed. J.Harvey (1969). Travels in England 1477-80. This volume does not include Worcester's detailed description of Bristol, for which see William Worcestre, The Topography of Medieval Bristol, Bristol Record Society vol. 51 (2000).

Tudor (1485-1603)

• Camden, William, Britannia (Published in Latin 1586; translated by Philemon Holland in 1610).
• The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-43, ed. L. Toulmin Smith, 5 vols. (1906-10). Full text, covering England and Wales. John Leland's Itinerary: Travels in Tudor England ed. J. Chandler (1993; revd. edn. 1997). Condensed and illustrated edition in modern English, drawn from Toulmin Smith's edition. Covers England only.
• Harrison, William, Description of England first published in Holinshed's Chronicles (1577); edited by F.J. Furnivall (1877); extracts published as Harvard Classics, Vol. 35, Part 3; edited by George Edelen for the Folger Shakespeare Library (1968), paperback by Dover. Includes commentary On the Manner of Building and Furniture of Our Houses.
• Hentzer P., Paul Hentzer's Travels in England During the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, trans. Horace, Later Earl of Orford  (1797). Has most to say about London and royal palaces.
• Hooker, John, The Antique Description and Account of the City of Exeter (1765). Written 1575. Extracts online.
• Morris, W.H. (ed.), A Kidwelly Town Rental of the Early 16th Century. Two later surveys of Kidwelly are online on the same website.
• Stow, John, A Survey of London (1598; revised 1603; reprinted in several editions.) The edition of 1912 was reprinted in 1994 by Sutton Publishing.
• Treswell: The London Surveys of Ralph Treswell ed. John Schofield (London Topographical Society 1987). Illustrates over 50 of the London plans by Ralph Treswell senior (c.1540-1616).

Stuart (1603-1714)

• The Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, 1654 includes a description of Scotland here translated from Latin into English by Ian C. Cunningham for the National Library of Scotland.
• Fiennes, Celia Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (1888). New edition under the title The Journeys of Celia Fiennes ed. C. Morris (1947). Illustrated edition 1982. Travels in England c. 1682 to c. 1712.
• Knyff, Leonard, and Kip, Jan, Britannia Illustrata or Views of Several of the Queens Palaces also of the Principal Seats of the Nobility and Gentry of Great Britain (1707) had 80 plates drawn by Knyff and engraved by Kip. Reprinted and expanded many times, sometimes under the title Le Nouveau Theatre de la Grange Bretagne. A 2-vol. edition (1714/5) included additional plates originally produced for Robert Atkyns, Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire (1712). There was an edition of 5 vols. in 1724-9.
• Moryson, Fynes, An Itinerary Containing his Ten Yeers Travell, 2 vols. (1907-8). Includes an early 17th-century description of Edinburgh.
• Pepys, Samuel, Diary ed. Rev. Mynors Bright (1885); new edition edited by Robert Latham and William Matthews (1970-1983). The famous diary 1660-69 of a naval administrator living in London. Pepys comments mainly on London (he witnessed the Great Fire of 1666), but also on places that he visited in southern England. Full text online of the Mynors Bright edition.
• Speed, John, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain (1611-12): national and county maps, with inset plans of each county town and one-page descriptions of each county. The maps were largely copied from those of Elizabethen map-makers. The maps were reproduced in The Counties of Britain: A Tudor atlas (1995) and are also online.
• A Survey of the Duchy of Lancaster Lordships in Wales, 1609-1613 : Public Record Office, Duchy of Lancaster miscellaneous books, nos. 120-123, transcribed and edited by William Rees.

Georgian (1714-1836)

• Allen, T., The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent (1827).
• Boswell, J., The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1784).
• Brayley, E. W. and Britton, J., The Beauties of England and Wales, 18 vols. (1801-15).
• Britton, J. and A. Pugin, Illustrations of the Public Buildings of London, 2 vols. (1825-28). 2nd edn. with additional material by W.H. Leeds (1838) available for download via Google Books.
• Carter, John:
  • Plans...of St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster (1795).
  • Plans... of Exeter Cathedral (1797).
  • Plans... of the Abbey Church at Bath (1798).
  • Plans... of Durham Cathedral (1801).
  • Plans... of the Cathedral Church of Gloucester (1809).
  • Plans... the Abbey Church of St Alban (1813).
• Cobbett, William, The Weekly Political Register (1802-1835). His Rural Rides (1830, 1958, 2001) were reprinted from the Register and were much concerned with social conditions, but there is some topographical commentary.
• Defoe, Daniel, A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain, 3 vols. (1724-1727): full text online at A Vision of Britain covering England, Scotland and Wales. Sections of it: Tour Through the Eastern Counties and From London to Land's End are also available on this site.
• Delamotte, George Orleans, A South Wales Sketch Book c.1816-1835, ed. Bernard Morris (West Glamorgan Archive Service 2007). Reproduction of the sketch book held by the West Glamorgan Archive Service.
• Grose, Daniel, The Antiquities of Ireland: A supplement to Francis Grose, ed. Roger Stalley (The Irish Architectural Archive 1991). Written in the 1790s by the nephew of Francis Grose and accompanied by watercolour illustrations.
• Grose, Francis, The Antiquities of England and Wales, 4 vols (1773-87) [images from vols.I and III online]; Antiquities of Scotland, 2 vols. (1789-91); The Antiquities of Ireland (1791-5). Many engravings.
• Halfpenny, William, Useful Architecture.. in Twenty-Five New Designs for Erecting Parsonage-Houses, Farm-Houses and Inns (1760). Facsimile online.
• Harbison, P., Beranger's Views of Ireland (1993), Our Treasure of Antiquities: Beranger and Bigari's Antiquarian Sketching Tour of Connacht in 1779 (2002) and Beranger's Rambles in Ireland (2004) reproduce watercolours of Irish buildings by Huguenot artist Gabriel Beranger (1729 - 1817), which are now in the National Library of Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy.
• Langdale, Thomas, A Topographical Dictionary of Yorkshire For the year 1822.
• Langley, Batty, The City and Country Builder's and Workman's Treasury of Designs (1756). Facsimile online.
• Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England .... and the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey and Man (1831) The 7th edn (1848) is online.
• Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1833). The 4th edition (1849) is online.
• Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837). The section on County Waterford has also been put online by Waterford Museum.
• Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1846).
• Loudon, John Claudius, Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm and Villa Architecture (1833; 1846; facsimile 2000). An influential pattern book.
• Lysons, Daniel, The Environs of London (1792). Covers much of present-day metropolitan area.
• Malton, James, A Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin Displayed in a Series of the Most Interesting Scenes taken in the Year 1791 (1792-1799).
• Malton, James, Georgian Dublin: Twenty-Five Aquatint Views in Colour, ed. Maurice Craig (1984).
• Moritz, Karl, Travels in England in 1782.
• Noorthouck, John, A New History of London Including Westminster and Southwark (1773). Includes description of contemporary London.
• Pain, William, Pain's British Palladio, or, The builder's general assistant (1788). Facsimile online.
• Pain, William, The Practical House Carpenter (1792). Facsimile online.
• Stow, W., Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, Borough of Southwark (1722).
• Swete: Travels in Georgian Devon: The illustrated journals of the Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, edited and with an introduction by Todd Gray, 4 vols. (1997-2000).

Victorian and Edwardian (1837-1910)

• Acton, F. S., The Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire (1868). Online in pdf format.
• Binns, Jonathan, The Miseries and Beauties of Ireland, 2 vols. (1837).
• Borrow, G., Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery (1996). Describes his travels through Wales in 1854.
• Ditchfield, P.H., English Villages (1901): online with photographs and sketches.
• Ditchfield, P.H., The Charm of the English Village (1906; reprinted 1994). With illustrations by Sydney Jones.
• Ditchfield, P.H., Vanishing England (1910): online with many sketches by Fred Roe.
• Dunraven, Earl of, Notes on Irish Architecture, 2 vols. (1875). Online in pdf format.
• Ferguson, L. (ed.), Wanderings with a Camera in Scotland: The Photography of Erskine Beveridge (RCAHMS 2009). Photographs taken between 1880 and 1919.
• Harrison, W., Memorable Dublin Houses (1890).
• Hutchinson: Peter Orlando Hutchinson's Travels in Victorian Devon: Illustrated Journals and Sketchbooks 1846-1870, compiled and edited by Jeremy Butler (Devon Books 2000). Based on a 5-volume diary and 6 volumes of sketchbooks in the Devon Record Office.
• Moore, D., Artists' Views of Glamorgan: the nineteenth century (Glamorgan Archive Service, 1988). 30 views and two maps.
• The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland (1846) is available online in Google Book Search.
• Parker, E., Highways and Byways in Surrey (1908) Illustrated by Hugh Thomson.
• John Tallis's London Street Views 1838-1840 (The London Topographical Society 2002). Reproduces all Tallis's detailed street views.
• Thornbury, W. and Walford, E. Old and New London, 6 volumes (1878).
• Many other Victorian topographical works are listed in J.P.Anderson,The Book of British Topography (1881).