Devon County Council

Devon County Council offers a professional research service through its Devon Record Office. While the most popular area of research is currently family history, we also carry out research into the history of houses, farms and other buildings and various aspects of local history. In addition we offer a transcription and translation service.

Devon Record Office Exeter: We have been offering a professional historical and genealogical research service since 1982. This popular service can help you if you are unable to visit the Record Office in person or are only able to make a brief visit, but wish to make further progress with your research. You will also find the service beneficial if you need assistance in interpreting the records, or wish to take advantage of our expert knowledge of our sources to support you through a difficult stage in your research. The fee is £12 for 30 minutes' work or £20 per hour. Both sums include V.A.T.

What our service can offer:

The research staff have a detailed knowledge of the holdings in the Devon Record Office and the Westcountry Studies Library, Exeter, and can access them directly. These collections include most Devon parish and some nonconformist registers, bishop's transcripts for Devon and Cornwall, some wills, census enumerators' returns, tax and rate assessments and other inhabitants' lists, overseers of the poor records, trade directories, newspapers, Devon estate and family archives, manorial records, maps and comprehensive indexes in both departments. We do not charge for travelling expenses, and we can supply a limited number of photocopies or print-outs where these can present the results of the research more economically, or if you request such copies. The Research staff can also call upon the particular knowledge and expertise of other staff members in relation to specific topics, and seek second opinions and further advice where appropriate. This strongly enhances the quality of the service we provide.

Our transcription and translation service:

The Research Archivist can provide a typed transcript or abstract of a document that is proving troublesome to read or understand, and can also supply typed translations of some documents, translation from Latin to English being the most frequent request. If the original document is not held in the Devon Record Office, it is vital that a legible copy is supplied. Note that transcriptions of some documents, particularly very long deeds and wills, can be quite time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, we can first provide you with an estimate of the cost of a full transcription, and also advise you if it is clear that an abstract containing all the pertinent details, but costing less, would be just as useful.

How to make use of the service:

We prefer you to complete a research service request form (64KB - pdf help) describing the research you wish us to carry out. You can download the form here, it is available in the form of a PDF (Portable Document Format) which requires a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to be installed on your computer. If this isn't currently installed on your computer, you may download a copy by clicking on the above pdf help and following the instructions given. You can then either return your completed research request form by post or fax.

If you already know that our record office holds sources relevant to your research request, you may wish to submit your research request and payment on-line, using the link below.  Before using this alternative method of submission, please read the rest of the information given on this page.  You should also be aware that overpayments submitted on-line can only be refunded with difficulty, using a manual processing system.  For more information on methods of payment see below.

Do It Online

Research Request Online

The research service is not a copying service.  If you only require photocopies of documents please see the information on our photocopying service.

For family history enquiries, please include all the relevant information about the family which you already have.  Copies of or details from birth, marriage and death certificates and census returns can be helpful, as can a rough chart or pedigree showing names, dates and places.  A note of sources you have already checked, even if the results were negative, will prevent our research staff repeating research you have already done. For enquiries relating to houses and other buildings, we can identify your property more quickly if you include a map (preferably modern) or a plan showing the location of the property and its position in relation to other prominent features such as the church, road junctions etc. For other enquiries please give all the necessary information concisely.

When your research request is received, we will send you acknowledgement of this by post or email. Please note that the research staff carry out research requests in the order in which they are received, but this is a popular service and you must expect delays.  We aim to send the research report to you within eight weeks of receipt, but factors such as sickness, staff holidays or an unusually high number of research requests may occasionally lead to a greater backlog of work.

Up to 2 hours’ work (£40 worth) will normally be carried out for one person at one time, after which the enquiry may be put back in the ‘queue’ for further research. This allows a reasonable turnover of searches, and also enables the searcher to control the progress and cost of the search. If you wish to limit the search to a shorter time, please make this clear in your request. When the search is complete you will receive a typed report, which can be sent to you either by post or as an email attachment. It will give full details of sources used and the information found, with advice on further avenues of research where appropriate.

While we make every effort to supply the information requested, we cannot always guarantee a positive outcome. The County Archivist also reserves the right to refuse to undertake a search or to impose a limit on the total length of time to be spent on it.

Payment:

You may pay by cheque, bank draft or credit/debit card. We require payment or credit/debit card details before we begin your research request.  Please send cheques (made payable to Devon County Council) together with the research request form, or a letter giving concise details of the searches required, to Devon Record Office, Great Moor House, Bittern Road, Sowton, Exeter, Devon EX2 7NL, U.K. Payments by Visa, Delta, Mastercard, Eurocard, Switch and Maestro are accepted – details of cardholder name, address, card number, expiry date and, in the case of Switch and Maestro cards, the ‘valid from’ date, should be sent by post, telephone or fax but not by e-mail.   

If you are submitting your research request and payment on-line, please follow the directions about payment given on the on-line submission form.

If you are an overseas customer not paying by credit or debit card, you should send your payment in £ sterling or add the equivalent of £7.00 for handling fees on each local currency cheque.  If, in the opinion of the research staff, suitable material is not available to undertake your research request, the whole cheque or bankers draft will be returned, but we regret that partial refunds from your initial £12 research fee cannot be made if a search takes less than half an hour.

North Devon Record Office, Barnstaple: This Record Office does not have a researcher on the staff. If the search involves some records which are at Exeter and some which are in Barnstaple (and note that most parish registers are on microfiche at Exeter), it will be co-ordinated through the research service at Exeter. If the search requires extensive work in the North Devon Record Office only, it may be possible for a member of staff there to undertake this, depending on other commitments. The rates are as quoted above. Please apply in writing to the North Devon Record Office, Tuly Street, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 1EL.