Is it possible to search a census by street name instead of by person? If so how is it done? My house was built in 1868 and I would like to try and search Ancestry to find out who lived there.
You can search by street name on Find My Past, though in many instances I have found that villages or rural areas don't have street names so it can be a matter of working out from the descripton of the area where the property may be located then counting addresses up or down the road from a known point such as an inn, a farmhouse or a large property which has been named.
You can search the 1881 and 1911 censuses on Ancestry by putting the address in the Keyword box. The other censuses were not transcribed by address so you won't find them that way. You may need to fiddle around a bit eg sometimes street will work - if not try st. Same with Road/rd or Avenue /ave. Some roads were not numbered. If you find by putting eg 12 Crosby Road in and it doesn't work try using just Crosby Road.
The 1901 census street index is only available at The National Archives (TNA) on Microfiche - don't know why.
But if you find the house on 1891 and 1911 those people may with a bit of luck still be residing there in 1901.
Forgot to say :
On ancestry you need to scroll down a census search page and click on ENGLAND census in order to enter the piece and folio numbers;
see here for example.
When you find the street you may find the house number is different to what it is now. I researched my daughter's house through the censuses and was very confused at first. What helped me was finding some neighbours who lived nearby in an identifiable house for several censuses running. The house I was after had a different number and, later, a different name to the current one. I made a list of all the residents and then it became clearer.
Anne
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