" … a unique body of work, unparalleled at least in this country for its scale and quality"
Barry Lane, Secretary General, Royal Photographic Society, April 1998

"These photographs, anything but nostalgic, reveal the persistence of an England one had thought long gone"
Alan Bennett

seventeen years and 80,000 images

The Beaford Archive – part of Beaford Arts, the longest-running rural arts organisation in England – was established in the early 1970s to document the land, its people, and their traditional way of life in rural North Devon.

Today’s Archive is largely the creation of one man. Shortly after its inception, artist and photographer James Ravilious (1939-1999) was asked to take “a few photos” for the collection. Seventeen years later, he had created a uniquely detailed portrait of a corner of England on the brink of change.