The Duties on Land Values survey, carried out by the Valuation Office, is often referred to as the Lloyd George Domesday Survey. Like the original Domesday Survey, it looked at virtually every property on the country, hence its nickname. This survey is extremely important, as it gives details of the owner, and the occupier, along with a description of the property.
The National Archives have produced a useful guide to the survey here:
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/valuation-office-survey-land-value-ownership-1910-1915
The Summary Books are available at Cheshire Archives:
http://catalogue.cheshirearchives.org.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=NV
The detailed Field Books are stored at the National Archives at Kew. For each premises there are four pages. The first shows the address, a description of the premises, the occupier and the owner:
The next page shows details a bout the building and how the valuation was arrived at:
The third pages is often left blank (for example on small domestic properties).
Note that these books were used as working documents. The writing in red tells us that John Harding bought an adjacent shoe factory at a later date.
The final page is also often left blank, and shows details of the valuation calculations:
Some landowners had to complete a ‘Form 4’. The information was later transferred to the field books. Some field books may contain nothing more than a note to ‘see Form 4’. Some Form 4 records still exist in County Record Offices and/or the National Archives.
Not all the records have survived, as there was bomb damage in the Second World War.
Finding records at the National Archives
There’s a map finder here:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/labs/valuation-office-map-finder
There’s a Field Book Finder here: –
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record?catid=8088&catln=3
when loaded, search for Nantwich as a keyword.
Nantwich Museum have catalogued 900 records for the town. To search our catalogue, click here. If you see a record that you would like an image of, this can be arranged (if you make a donation to Nantwich Museum). Please note the records vary tremendously, with regard to the level of detail contained.
The Duties on Land Values provides us with a fascinating insight into the buildings are ancestors lived and worked in.