About South West Heritage Trust

The images of the Devon parish records are provided by South West Heritage Trust, who provide an archives service for both Devon County Council and Torbay Council under a joint agreement between the two authorities.

Their main headquarters, at the Devon Heritage Centre at Sowton, Exeter, houses both archives and local studies collections relating to the county of Devon and the City of Exeter. These include the records of ecclesiastical parishes, the Diocese of Exeter, county, district and parish councils, as well as those of a huge number of families, estates, businesses, societies, chapels, schools and individuals.The Heritage Centre is a designated repository for public records of local interest so their collection also includes hospital and asylum records, as well as the tithe and manorial collections.

With the move of the remaining archive collections and local studies materials from the Westcountry Studies Library in May 2014, the Devon Heritage Centre has become the first place to hold all of Devon County Council’s archive and the local studies collections from Exeter under one roof.

The North Devon Record Office at Barnstaple holds a wide range of archives for the North Devon area. It is also part of South West Heritage Trust. The record office operates as a joint local studies centre in partnership with Devon Library Services and the North Devon Athenaeum, a privately endowed charity.

Microfiche or microfilm of some archive records, in particular filmed parish registers relating to Devon, are available in the search-rooms in the repositories at Exeter and Barnstaple.

Free access to findmypast is provided by the South West Heritage Trust in its Exeter and Barnstaple offices. Users have to be on site to get this free access, which is not bookable in advance.

Start searching for your ancestor in the Devon parish records: