A community-commissioned exploration and celebration of Heavitree Stone!
St Thomas the Apostle Church is just off Cowick Street. Have a look inside, walk around the building, and find the memorial to Grace Darling, who, as far as we know, had no connection whatsoever to Exeter! In 1549, after the Prayer Book Rebellion was put down, Robert Welshe, the vicar, was gruesomely executed, hauled … Read more
St Michael and All Angels’ Church has been rebuilt a number of times. It is one of the oldest Christian sites in Exeter. There has been a church here since at least 1152, and possibly a sacred site for even longer, judging by the age of the yew tree near the church door. This yew … Read more
Set right on the High Street, but somehow hidden in full view, there is a Heavitree Stone built church, St Stephen’s. Next to it is a low archway called St Stephen’s Bow. The story is that when King Henry VI visited Exeter in the mid 1400s and the Royal procession left the High Street to … Read more
Weave your way through Rougemont Gardens past the moat, across Gandy Street and through the old covered market into the Guildhall Shopping Centre. Here, set at an angle, incongruous in the midst of modern shops and restaurants, is St Pancras Church. A noticeboard tells of a cycle of neglect and restoration since it was built … Read more
The Church of St Martin of Tours, Exminster, was chosen to highlight the role the Exminster quarry played in the building of Exeter. A chapel is alleged to have been founded on the site before 909. The current church is mostly from the late 14th century, with nave and chancel and a west tower. The … Read more
St Petrock’s has been described as “among the most confusing of any church in the whole of England.” The first record of the church is in about 1200, and the site may well be older, but everything visible now is late medieval or later. The core plan of the church was a simple nave and … Read more
The Benedictine Priory of St Nicholas was founded in 1080-87, and its standing remains are among the oldest surviving medieval buildings in Exeter. Originally it followed the standard layout of a medieval monastery: a church on the south side and three ranges of two-storeyed buildings grouped around a square cloister. The west and north ranges … Read more
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
