It was established as The Beaford Centre in 1966 by John Lane for the Dartington Hall Trust.The organisation is now based in Bridge Chambers, Barnstaple.
[1] It promotes and supports the arts in rural north Devon - an area of 799 square miles[2] bounded by Dartmoor, Exmoor, and the Atlantic west coast.
This collection of 80,000 black-and-white photographs taken over seventeen years "forms a unique exploration of the society, culture, geography and economy of a 'corner of England'".
[5][better source needed] The Beaford Archive also includes 10,000 older images of north Devon, mainly taken between 1880 and 1920, collected by Ravilious from his subjects during his work.
It is currently stored in secure conditions in the North Devon Record Office.