Upcoming Events with the Historic England Archive and Partners
Discover our events, exhibitions and activities
We are the Archive of England's historic environment. We are located in The Engine House, which was built from the 1840s and was formerly the Great Western Railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer's Office and Drawing Office.
We are a public archive of architectural and archaeological records and hold over 15 million historic photographs, plans, drawings, reports, records and publications, covering England's archaeology, architecture, social and local history.
We host events and collaborate with partners to engage people with our collections in person and online.
What's on
Wednesday 25 November 2026, 6.00pm to 7.00pm
Join us for this free online talk about our amazing Janette Rosing Collection. See some wonderful historic photographs and find out about Rosing's passion for collecting photographic prints from every county in England.
Courtyard Gallery, Swindon Central Library, SN1 1QG
Tuesday 1 December to Monday 14 December 2026
Enjoy this free exhibition of photographs from our Janette Rosing Collection. Created by our Friday Men's Group, this eclectic mix of historic images shows camels at the seaside, gnarled blacksmiths, steam engines and much more.
Culture House Sunderland
Monday 8 March 2027, from 1.00pm
In this talk, photographer and PhD researcher Sophie Piper will describe how her research into the Historic England Archive introduced her to the work of photographer Eileen Deste, who documented women's work at the Pyrex factory in Sunderland.
The Engine House, Swindon
Every other Friday, 10.00am to midday
Our informal, easy going group for men aged 50 and over meets fortnightly to enjoy our Archive collections, create displays and be inspired by historic photographs. It's free to attend and there's always a cuppa available.
To find out more please contact Gary Winter (Engagement and Content Officer) at Gary.Winter@HistoricEngland.org.uk
Parking and accessibility
Tours at The Engine House will involve some walking, including up and down some staircases, so please take that into consideration when booking. The Archive store is also quite cold, so you will need to bring warm clothing with you.
Unfortunately we do not have parking facilities for the general public, so we would encourage you to get to the site via other means or use the Designer Outlet Swindon car park (however there is a charge for this).
We do have limited access to blue badge parking if needed. If you would like this, please contact Jade-India Balmer (Engagement and Volunteering Officer) at Jade-India.Balmer@HistoricEngland.org.uk
If you have accessibility requirements and would like to participate in any of our events please do contact the above email address in advance so that we can put the necessary measures in place.
Also of interest
Archive Customer Services
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Address
The Engine House,
Fire Fly Avenue,
Swindon,
SN2 2EH
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Phone number
01793 414600