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
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.
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.
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.
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
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Address
The Engine House,
Fire Fly Avenue,
Swindon,
SN2 2EH
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Phone number
01793 414600