Devon Archives and Local Studies

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.

05/01/2026

At 10.30 am on Friday 16th January, the Isca Collection Project Officer, Kitty Vega, will be talking about the treasures in the collection and our project to preserve, digitise and catalogue them. The talk is part of the South West Heritage Trust's regular series of 'Coffee Time Talks' and is free to all.

https://swheritage.org.uk/events/coffee-time-talk-isca/

29/10/2025

More classic photographs of bygone Exeter which have been digitised as part of our ongoing project to preserve and make available Peter Thomas's Isca Collection.

In connection with this, the Project Officer, Kitty Vega, will be giving an online talk on Friday 16th January:

https://swheritage.org.uk/events/coffee-time-talk-isca/

There will also be an exhibition of photographs from the collection at Exeter Custom House during February and March 2026. Further details will be circulated in due course.

27/10/2025

As mentioned among our events, between 10 and 12.30 on Saturday 15th November, as part of our latest 'Discovery Saturday', we will be holding an exhibition of maps in the Heritage Centre searchroom. The exhibition is free and all are welcome.

https://swheritage.org.uk/events/pathways-from-devons-past/

21/08/2025

Some more classic photographs of old Exeter from the Isca Collection.