Historical Records

Welcome to the Devon Record Office website

You will find directions and a location map together with our opening times, under General Record Office Information, Visiting Us.

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

Devon Record Office Spring Newsletter 2008 (795KB - pdf help)

_______________________________________________________

Events in 2008

All aboard the Community Bus- learn how to research your Family and Local History in 2008 with our mobile service

_______________________________________________________

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.

Grant of Edward II to Tavistock Abbey, 1334 - detail [W1258M/D84]

Detail from grant of Edward III to Tavistock Abbey, 1334. Bedford Estates [W1258M/D84]

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?

The records of the Drake family of Colyton have been purchased with generous support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Friends of Devon's Archives, and the Kent Kingdon Trust. You can see an on-line exhibition of letters and other papers relating to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic War by following this link. The catalogue of the main collection (Accession 1700) can be searched on the Access to Archives website. There is also an on-line list of additional letters and papers received in 2005.