Image library

What’s in our collection?

With more than a million images, the MERL is one of the United Kingdom’s largest specialist sources for pictures of farming and rural life.

Our photographs show people, landscapes, animals and machines. They include top quality photo-journalism and rare works by talented amateurs. We have a wide range of illustrations, footage and artworks, and historical photographs of the local area.

Photograph Collections

You can find more information about some of our key photograph collections here, including links to online galleries.

Services

Our customers range from major broadcasters and publishers to local historians and academics.

We offer professional copying services and print on demand at reasonable rates. You can also obtain licences to use much of our content.

Many images are available via our online databases and you can conduct research onsite or via our dedicated MERL Images enquiry service. Please note that longer searches may incur a fee.