Historical Records

There is a service point at the Westcountry Studies Library in Castle Street, Exeter. Here microfilm and microfiche of parish registers and Inland Revenue wills, 1812-1858, are available.

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The Devon Record Office exists to collect and preserve the historical records of Devon and to make them available to all who wish to study them. There are three record offices which share this task.

The Devon Record Office at Exeter houses all types of historical records relating to the county of Devon, the city of Exeter, and East, Mid and South Devon, including Torbay. These include the records of the parishes, and of innumerable individuals, families, estates, businesses, societies, chapels and schools.

Searchroom at the Devon Record Office

It also holds the ecclesiastical records of the Diocese of Exeter, and administers the Exeter Cathedral (Dean and Chapter) Archives in the Cloister Library.

The North Devon Record Office at Barnstaple has a wide range of historical records for the North Devon area.

Since 1998 the Devon Record Office has provided an archives service for both Devon County Council and Torbay Council under a joint arrangement between the two authorities. Records relating to the Torbay area are generally deposited at the Exeter office.

The Plymouth and West Devon Record Office holds records of the old borough and modern city of Plymouth, as well as the west Devon area. From the 1st April 1998, it has been run as an independent archive service by Plymouth City Council.

Microfiche or microfilm of some records, in particular parish records relating to the whole of Devon, are available in the search-rooms of all three record offices.

What's new?

Free access to DocumentsOnline now available image - PDF icon (16KB - pdf help)

The Devon Tithe Apportionment Project

In 1998, the Friends of Devon’s Archives undertook a project to make the information from the county’s tithe apportionments more accessible. The names of owners, lessees and occupiers, along with the names of the holdings and their acreages, have been extracted and a database of this information has been created. Several border parishes in Cornwall and Dorset have also been included.

This database is now available on the Friends of Devon’s Archives website.

The data can be accessed in two different ways, - by searching on a parish to obtain a complete listing of the parish, or searching on a name to obtain all occurrences of that name.

Explore North Devon

Explore North Devon is a window to the rich and diverse heritage of one of the most beautiful and historically important areas of the United Kingdom.

It contains collections of pictures, documents, filmed and recorded memories, stories and recollections - all contributed by organisations and individuals associated with North Devon, past and present. Visit the online resource.