Lustleigh Community Archive provides an important picture of a small west-country village over a period of more than 150 years. It consists of parish records; registers and census records; maps including the parish copy of the 1837 Tithe Map; parish magazines dating from 1888; minutes of village organisations; over 1000 postcards and photographs; paintings; books and other historic documents.

The Lustleigh Community Archive was started in the 1980s to provide a home for items of historical interest to the people of Lustleigh and the surrounding area. The Community Archive is housed in the listed Old Vestry, built as a school in 1825, which is situated in one corner of the churchyard right in the centre of the village.

The Archives Room has been re-furbished, with the support of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and conservation grade storage has been provided for the archives themselves. The Society is also in the process of cataloguing the collection and scanning the photographs and postcards. This is an on-going process which will take at least a year more to complete.

We have also been able to create an exhibition about the history of Lustleigh, its people and activities. This exhibition will be shown at local shows and venues.

If you want to find out more about your family, your home or your surroundings we may be able to help. Or if you just want to know more about the history of Lustleigh come and see what you can find in the Archives Room.

In November 2007, The Lustleigh Society was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £13,000 towards the Archives Development Project. This grant, together with additional support from the Dartmoor National Park Authority and fund raising in the village, has enabled the Lustleigh Society to improve the Community Archive to provide appropriate environmental conditions and storage for the preservation of the archives and the digitisation of sensitive material. It is also helping the Society to increase access to the records through a computerised cataloguing system and the creation of displays both in the village and in the surrounding area.