Colour photograph of a man wearing a black t-shirt and purple gloves, standing in an aisle between rows of shelving. He reaches up to remove or replace a box from the top shelf of the left-hand side of the shelving.
A volunteer retrieving a box from shelving in the Historic England Archive store at The Engine House, Swindon. © Historic England Archive View image record DP181167
A volunteer retrieving a box from shelving in the Historic England Archive store at The Engine House, Swindon. © Historic England Archive View image record DP181167

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

Heritage Open Days

The Engine House, Swindon

Saturday 19 September 2026, 10.30am to 1.15pm

There will be 2 free tours on the day.

Each tour will be approximately 1 hour 15 minutes.

Tickets available here

Heritage Talk: Women's Work at Pyrex

Culture House Sunderland

Tuesday 10 November 2026, 1pm to 2pm

Photographer and PhD researcher Sophie Piper describes how her research into the Historic England Archive introduced her to the work of photographer Eileen 'Dusty' Deste.

Find out more and book tickets here

Friday Men's Group Exhibition

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.

Friday Men's Group

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.

Archive Customer Services

  • Address

    The Engine House,
    Fire Fly Avenue,
    Swindon,
    SN2 2EH