Welcome to the Dartmouth History Research Group
The Dartmouth History Research Group is a small voluntary and community group, founded in 1991. We research the history of Dartmouth and surrounding villages and make it available to the general public through publications, events and this website, to promote public understanding of local history and heritage. The “Dartmouth Archives” section provides resources enabling you to explore the rich and fascinating history of Dartmouth and the local area, and discover more about local people and places. It contains an extensive collection of documents and records, built up by members of the Group over several years and still growing. The timeline section gives a brief account of key events in Dartmouth’s history. Other sections of the website tell you more about us and about what we do.
Our next monthly meeting
Monday 2 February 2026
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
Our next meeting will be on Monday 2 February 2026 at our usual venue. It will comprise the AGM followed by a discussion the Group’s plans for the forthcoming year.
Everyone is welcome. If you are new to the group and plan to come, it would be helpful if you could email us by clicking this link so that we have some idea of numbers. We look forward to seeing you!
Your Pandemic Stories
On 15 November 2025 we held a public event reflecting on seven centuries of health and disease in Dartmouth, “From Plague to Pandemic”.
We would like to capture impressions of life in Dartmouth and the surrounding area during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic. Unless we collect people’s memories and stories of that extraordinary time, they will be lost.
We have created a new space on our website to form a community archive about the pandemic. If you would like to contribute your memories or stories, or other material such as photographs or other documents, please go to this page.
Dartmouth Explorers Trail
A FREE quizzing trail around Dartmouth to challenge residents and visitors alike!
A family-friendly way to have fun – solve clues, explore our fascinating town and discover Dartmouth’s rich history.
The trail covers about 1 kilometre around the centre of the town and takes about 1 – 1½ hours. You can miss out a bit in the middle if you’re short of time.
Point your smartphone camera at the QR code above to access the FREE FlipBook!
In conjunction with
Join Us
Membership of DHRG is free and open to all and everyone is welcome at any of our meetings. We usually meet on the first Monday of each month in the Church Hall, Baptist Church, Carey Road, Townstal, 10.00 – 12.00 noon (see the “Contact” page for more details). As arrangements may change at short notice, please let us know if you plan to come to any of our meetings.
Our Books
The DHRG has published many books and booklets about aspects of the history of Dartmouth and surrounding villages. Books and booklets are sold at a price sufficient to cover our costs. Please go to the “DHRG Books” section of the website to see what’s available and for information about how to purchase our current titles. Out of print titles are free to download as PDFs from this website.
Latest DHRG News
Complementing our “Plague to Pandemic” event on 15 November 2025, we have uploaded a transcript of the 1854 report on sanitary conditions in Dartmouth by Dr Waller Lewis. This can be found in the Social History category, under Public Health.
Within Social History, we have also created a sub-category for the Covid 19 pandemic, where we have uploaded extracts from the DHRG Chair’s AGM Report of 2022, covering the years 2020 and 2021, and describing the impact of the pandemic on the Group during that year.
DHRG on Facebook
