Extract from musical manuscript, undated [B89/3]

• Records of local authorities: Devon County Council; North Devon and Torridge District Councils, and their predecessors, the urban and rural district councils; the borough councils of Barnstaple, Bideford, Great Torrington and South Molton; parish councils.
• Public records: shipping registers for Barnstaple, Bideford and Ilfracombe; borough quarter session records for Barnstaple, Bideford, Great Torrington and South Molton; Petty Sessional Division records; records of local hospitals and coroners
• Poor Law Union and Public Assistance Institution records
• Taw and Torridge Fishery Board records
• Education records: individual schools and colleges; School Boards; Barnstaple and North Devon Divisional Executive
• Ecclesiastical records: for the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple, including parish registers and records
• Records of nonconformist denominations: please note that the Bible Christian branch of the Methodist Church was founded in North Devon
• Families and estates: collections of estate and family records and private papers
• Records of local solicitors, businesses, clubs and societies, charities and trusts

• A detailed list of our holdings
• On-line catalogues

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Microfiche and Microfilm copies

We hold the following records on microfiche or microfilm for the whole of Devon, including Plymouth and Torbay:

• Church of England parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials. These do not include recently deposited registers
• Pre-1837 nonconformist registers and those post-1837 nonconformist registers which have been filmed
• Bishops' transcripts of parish registers for Devon and Cornwall, pre-1813
• Tithe maps and apportionments
• Electoral registers, 1832-1900
• Inland Revenue wills, 1812-1857
• Land tax assessments, 1780-1832
• Borough Quarter Sessions, Barnstaple, Bideford, South Molton and Great Torrington

Indexes and lists

We have an ongoing programme of listing and indexing of our holdings.

Copies of lists are available for use in the search-room, together with card indexes of places, subjects and personal names appearing in the lists.

Copies of the lists are sent regularly to the National Register of Archives (Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts) in London.

An increasing number of our indexes and catalogues are also becoming available on-line through the Access to Archives website, which is sponsored by the Public Record Office.

Where to find printed books

The North Devon Local Studies Library and North Devon Athenaeum have a large selection of books and pamphlets relating to all aspects of North Devon and surrounding areas. These are available for reference only in the Local Studies Centre, Barnstaple Library. Any enquiries relating to printed sources should be directed to the North Devon Local Studies Centre.

• More information on  North Devon Local Studies Centre