Title deeds represent one of the largest groups of historical documents preserved in hundreds of archive repositories, both public and private, across England and Wales. And yet they are often overlooked or neglected by family historians because they are perceived as a particularly 'difficult' or 'incomprehensible' resource. In this publication, the author describes the most commonly encountered forms of title deeds and associated documents and provides a set of simple rules that allows the reader to decipher and understand the information they contain in plain terms. By recognising the various types of title deeds and employing the techniques provided, he suggests that family historians will be much better equipped to unlock the intriguing secrets such documents can reveal.