Our Activities

NDAS was established in 1959, and for many years concentrated on providing lectures and visits for members. The society merged with North Devon Rescue, a campaigning organisation which had been instrumental in ensuring proper recording and excavation in the area, particularly during Barnstaple's major redevelopment in the 1980s.

The society continues to lobby and campaign for proper investigation and preservation of North Devon's physical heritage, including, for example, continuing threats against the Braunton Great Field.

Members of NDAS are well placed to be involved in cutting-edge archaeological exploration. Since the first discovery of Romano-British iron-working on the fringes of Exmoor, NDAS members have been actively involved. At Combe Martin a leading Society member has extended our knowledge of mineral exploitation – silver and lead - by centuries if not millennia. In Parracombe, where the Society has its own long-term landscape project, members are engaged in an excavation programme which is revealing new traces of Bronze Age settlement.

The Society acts as an umbrella organisation, encouraging a network of local groups to act together, sharing their observations, knowledge and experience. These currently represent Brayford, Combe Martin, Hartland, Hatherleigh, Parracombe, South Molton, Torrington and Winkleigh as well as the Barnstaple and Bideford areas