The Tudor House - Exe Island

This old house is one of the last of the old buildings to survive on Exe Island, in Tudor Street. There is some dispute about when it was built - some insist that it dates from Tudor times and some documentation suggests it was built in, or about 1660.

The original deeds of the house give the true age, for they state that it was built by Isaac Burche, a maltster, who died in 1683. However, the house passed on to the Gubbs in the 1670's, before Burche died. The centre coat of arms relate to the Gubbs family, while the right hand arms are those of the Leach family. The left hand coat of arms may be those of the Northmore family, owners in the 18th century.

In the mid 18th Century, Thomas Smith and his sisters who owned the house were forced to sell it through debt. The new owner had a daughter who married Robert Trewman, the founder of Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, and the house eventually came into his possession. Trewman's grandson sold the house in 1861 and it then began its slow decline.

In 1964, the building was being used as an electrical repair shop. It was in a very bad condition - Bill Lovell purchased it for £700 and spent the next 11 years and a further £60,000, restoring the building. Almost bankrupted, he offered the house to Exeter City Council in 1975, who refused it. It was sold on the open market for £60,000. Bill was recognised for his work by winning a Civic Trust Award.

It has a timber front with oversailing storeys and locally manufactured brick for the side walls. The slates on the front and roof come from Delabole, in Cornwall; up until 1820 the whole of the front was covered in slate. There is a single newell post that rises through the four floors. It is said that there is a musket-ball embedded on one of the beams.