General Resources
Listed here are various free resources that may be useful for research or perhaps just browsing.
Click on the links or the logo to go to the websites.
Beaford – The Archive
The Beaford Online Archive features the results of the extensive project to digitise the photographs of James Ravilious and Roger Deakins which the Devon Heritage Centre hosted from 2016-2019.
Bomb Sight
Explore the London Blitz.
The Box
Plymouth and West Devon Archive under its new name. The Box (archives) has about 20,000 photos of Plymouth and Devon scanned and uploaded – mainly Western Morning News. Also all the Local Studies collection of engravings. To search for images add ‘AND digital image’ to your search.
British Film Institute National Archive
Lots of free films to watch, covering all sorts of genres, but try this one for starters. The Open Road (1926) is Claude Friese-Greene’s trip (in colour) around 1920s Britain starting with Cornwall and Devon.
British History Online
British History Online has made all content free including Magna Britannia for Devon.
The British Museum
Get closer to the British Museum’s collection and immerse yourself in two million years of history, across six continents.
Collection online has been completely redeveloped, making it much easier to find what you want. It allows access to almost four and a half million objects in more than two million records. The search is more intuitive and now offers suggestions as you type.
Devonshire Association
Fancy something Devon-related to read while you’re not going out? The Devonshire Association has over 150 articles in the Devon section of their website, short & long, new & old, academic & easy-reading, all sorts of topics are covered. More content being added regularly.
English Handwriting Online
An online palaeography course for people who would like to improve their skills in reading handwriting found in ancient documents.
Exeter Memories
The superbly detailed and informative Exeter Memories site, researched and built by David Cornforth.
FreeBMD, FreeReg and FreeCen
FreeBMD to access Birth, Marriage and Death records, FreeREG to access parish registers and FreeCen to access Census Records. Not as comprehensive as the subscription genealogical sites but good for those without subscriptions. Useful for local history research as well as family history.
Gresham College Lectures (History)
Gresham College’s free lectures (provided for the public for centuries) are now available to listen and view for those outside London via their website. This link takes you to the History Lectures, but you may enjoy other topics too.
Historic England
Find out about the history of protected historic sites. If you could add to the information or provide photographs of them, then go on to the ‘Enrich the List’ feature. You’ll have to register to upload your information, but it is all fairly straightforward.
Historic England Archive
Did you know that England’s Places is an online version of The Historic England Archive Architectural Red Box collection – started in 1941 by the National Buildings Record to document our built heritage, especially those buildings threatened by WWII.
Internet Archive
A non-profit library of millions of free books, moves, software, websites and more. You never know what you may find!
JSTOR (Digital Library)
Open-Access JSTOR Database accessible to the public
Layers of London
Layers of London. For any DHS members who, like me, are interested in London, this is an excellent cartographic site.
Local Heritage Collections
Browse through the collections listed by local groups on the Devon History Society website.
National Trust Heritage Records
Search for heritage features or historic buildings you are interested in.
The Old Bailey Online
The proceedings of The Old Bailey 1674-1913. A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court.
Prison History
A resource created by historians at The Open University to further knowledge of the practice and experience of imprisonment in the British Isles between 1500 and 1999. Records of nearly 850 penal institutions in the 19th century and over 400 lock-ups from the early modern to the modern period.
Turnpikes Road in England & Wales
A very informative, if somewhat dated looking, website relating to the history of turnpike roads.
University of Leicester Special Collections – Historical Directories
An extensive collection of digital and print trade directories for England and Wales, covering the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Resources for Devon include White’s, Pigott’s and Kelly’s Directories (up to 1919) and some town directories for Exeter, Plymouth, Tavistock and Tiverton.
Wellcome Library
Thousands of digitised items from the Library’s collections covering a range of topics related to medical history. Data sets include medicinal and culinary recipe books from the 16th-19th centuries and records of the Royal Army Medical Corps with correspondence, reports, personal field diaries, memoirs and photographs from both world wars and other conflicts.
The Workhouse
Peter Higginbotham’s site on the history of the workhouse. One of the finest of all local history websites.
Latest news
DHS Book Awards 2025
The Devon History Society is delighted to announce the winners of our 2025 prizes for new writing about Devon's history. The standard was very high this year, reflecting the variety and quality of...
Award for Renowned Devon Historian
DHS were delighted to hear that Dr Julia Neville had been awarded one of two personal achievement awards given this year by the British Association of Local History (BALH). The formal...
Festival of Devon in the 1920s – February Update
The major Festival news over the last weekend has been the opening of the National Trust properties in Devon hosting 1920s related exhibitions. Four properties contribute to our picture of the...
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