A community-commissioned exploration and celebration of Heavitree Stone!
Topsham Parish Church is in an amazing location, overlooking the Exe estuary. The views are fantastic, especially at sunset at the end of a sunny summer day when everything is calm and still. Only the tower survives from the medieval building. Most of the church was rebuilt in 1874-76 after being destroyed by fire. This … Read more
St Loye (Eloy in French or Eligius in Latin) lived in 6-7th century in what is now France. He is the patron saint of goldsmiths, other metal workers, horses, farriers and vets, and most importantly miners! St Loye’s is the only known chapel dedicated to him in Devon or Cornwall. The first documentary evidence for … Read more
St Katherine’s Priory in Polsloe was founded as a Benedictine nunnery before 1159 and was dissolved in 1539. It lies about 2km outside Exeter’s medieval City Walls, and is now an oasis of green surrounded by suburbia. A nunnery was a settlement built to sustain a community of religious women, and St Katherine’s is significant … Read more
It was difficult to find a J for the trail, so bear with us! Please let us know if you can think of any alternatives. There is a small amount of Heavitree Stone at the corner of Union Road and Stoke Hill. It appears as rubble in a low wall on the street and a … Read more
The Iron Bridge was built in 1834 by Russell and Brown of Worcester out of cast iron. It has six arches, each spanning 40 feet (12 metres), and it carries a roadway 24 feet (7 metres) wide. Including the masonry approaches, the overall length is 800 feet (244 metres). It acts as a viaduct across … Read more
You might easily miss Hope Road. Its entrance at the corner of Butts Road and Wonford Street is very narrow, and at its exit into Hoker Road it looks like a service road. But it’s full of character and quirks such as Hope Hall, the former Baptist church, near the bottom; a lovely row of … Read more
There has been a guildhall on the site in Exeter High Street since the 12th century, but nothing of the original remains. The latest parts of the building to survive date from the late 15th century. It is now made up of: an Elizabethan block, projecting into the High Street; the medieval main hall; and … Read more
East Wonford Hill and Heavitree Fore Street are the final stretch of the Roman road leading into Exeter. There is plentiful Heavitree Stone to be found here in the old walling along the road. Starting just after the junction with Rifford Road, there are long stretches on the right and left up to St Loyes … Read more
Somewhat marooned now in the middle of traffic flow, the Old Exe Bridge is one of the best-preserved examples of a major medieval stone bridge in England. It was built in around 1200, and consisted of 17 or 18 arches spanning about 180m. About 87m is still visible: just over eight arches are fully exposed … Read more
The Devon and Exeter Institution was founded in 1813 at No.7 Cathedral Close. Before that, from 1662-1813, it was the town house of the Courtenays, the Earls of Devonshire. The back of the house is Tudor – 16th century or earlier – but very little is known of the history of the fabric of No.7 … Read more