Devon Archives and Local Studies

03/09/2026

26/08/2026

As featured below, during September we will be hosting the latest in the South West Heritage Trust's 'Coffee Time Talks' series. On Friday 18th September Esther Chant will be talking about records of illegitimacy, and on the following day it will be our latest 'Discovery Saturday', when our Senior Archive Conservator Jenny Barnard will be showing how to look after your personal documents and photographs.

https://swheritage.org.uk/events/researching-illegitimacy-in-devons-archives/

https://swheritage.org.uk/events/practical-preservation/

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08/07/2026

The next in the South West Heritage Trust's regular series of online talks takes place next Friday, 17th July, when Richard Manning will be talking about how the archive service in Devon came into being before and after World War Two.

Join Archives Assistant Richard Manning for this online talk about his research into the Library’s Manuscripts Department.

09/06/2026

As part of our next 'Discovery Saturday' on 20th June, experts from the Devon Family History Society will be available to answer all your family history queries.

Start a fascinating journey into your family's past. Meet the researchers of the Devon Family History Society and get expert advice on family history.

16/04/2026

Owing to circumstances beyond our control - extensive external work on the electricity supply to Great Moor House - the Devon Heritage Centre will be closed to the public on Tuesday 21st April.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

31/03/2026

We are looking for people aged 11-18 living in Devon and Cornwall to join our Young Historian of the Year competition and show off their love for history.

23/03/2026

Some people may have seen this film, made as part of the Isca Photographic Collection Project, when it was on show during the exhibition at the Custom House in late February and early March. But for those that haven't, it represents the full breadth of the project, encompassing digital preservation and community engagement.

Thanks are due to the excellent Torbay-based film-maker John Tomkins, who once again helped us encapsulate one of our projects on film.

A unique and irreplaceable visual record of twentieth century Exeter has been saved from destruction thanks to a major preservation project by the South West...

12/02/2026

Details of two events coming up, one online and one at the Devon Heritage Centre, over the next month or so.

https://swheritage.org.uk/events/coffee-time-talk-north-devon-tales-traditions-and-titbits/

https://swheritage.org.uk/events/discovery-saturday-finds-surgery/

Bring along your archaeological finds to be identified.

05/02/2026

Two exhibitions of photographs from the Isca Collection are now on at the Custom House on Exeter Quay until Sunday 8th March.

21/01/2026

✨ A Tudor treasure has arrived in Devon! ✨

A 1586 map of Kingsbridge has been acquired by the South West Heritage Trust and is now accessible at the Devon Heritage Centre in Exeter. 🗺️

This extraordinary map shows:
• The parish church
• The town pillory
• The old ‘Cheape House’, where the manor court met until 1796
• Land belonging to Sir John Petre, of one of Devon’s oldest families

Maps of provincial towns from this period are incredibly rare, making this a nationally significant find.

Huge thanks to the Friends of the National Libraries and the Friends of Devon Archives for making this acquisition possible.