The Friends of Devon’s Archives (FODA) were 25 years old in 2023. The organisation was founded in the summer of 1998 as part of the planning for the archive service’s move from central Exeter to our current home at Great Moor House.
A Valuable Partner
Over the years FODA has proved an immensely valuable partner, both for the countywide archive and local studies service based at the Devon Heritage Centre in Exeter, and our sister service, the North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple. In addition, the Friends have been in the vanguard of support for archives throughout the county, and were involved in campaigning for new premises for the Plymouth and West Devon archive service for many years before it moved to its current home at The Box.
Friends of Devon’s Archives Projects
In recent years FODA has donated significant amounts of money to support a wide range of document purchases and projects such as the cataloguing of the Cary collection, but in its early days it was responsible for publishing a number of books, including Early Devon Maps and Maps of Georgian Devon.
The Norden Survey Project
In 2023 this tradition was continued with the publication, in print and online, of a transcription and translation of John Norden’s survey of the seven Devon manors – Ashburton, Bovey Tracey, Bradninch, Buckfastleigh, Dunkeswell, Heathfield and Ottery St Mary – owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, compiled in the years following 1615.
The original survey is held by the London Metropolitan Archives, and the project to transcribe and publish it – entitled 17th Century Communities in Devon: People and their Landscapes in the Norden Survey – was funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project relied heavily on the engagement of volunteers, with a number of keen amateur historians collaborating to develop their palaeography and transcription skills with the assistance of two Devon-based medieval historians, David Stone and Desmond Atkinson. The project has represented an instructive collaboration between FODA and the South West Heritage Trust, with Irene Andrews of the Devon archive service creating a catalogue of the transcriptions which can be accessed via the service’s online portal. The project, which effectively began in 2016, also had to overcome a range of interruptions and challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The project was the brainchild of Dr Frances Billinge, former Secretary of FODA, and has been a great example of the way in which an archive support organisation, amateur and professional historians, and archivists can liaise to bring a document of national and regional significance within easy reach of people in the county to which it relates.
Access the Survey Transcription
The transcribed survey can be found online here and the published version is available from the Devon Heritage Centre, price £15.
