South Street

This is the street that led from the Carfax at the top to the old South Gate, which was demolished in 1819. It was formerly called South Gate Street. From the Sacred Heart Church at Bear Street to Kalendar Lane was known as Bell Hill, while at the top was Cook Row or the Shambles, and was presumably a place to eat. There is a reference on Roques map to the whole of South Street from Cooks Row down being named Bolehylle-strete or Bolehill, which probably corrupted to the Bell Hill, already mentioned. Bolehill may originate from the name of the hill dropping from the Cathedral down Palace Gate, dating from the 13th century.

One of Exeter's three wool markets was situated in the Shambles. South Gate Street was the main route into the city from London and the east, and was much narrower than the present thoroughfare. South Street was badly damaged in the 1942 blitz, and rebuilt between 1954 and 1961.

Although largely rebuilt after the Second World War, some of the buildings at the bottom of South Street date from the mid 15th century, including the White Hart Inn. The shop to the right of the White Hart was the butchers, Reynolds and Sons, then a computer store called Minerva, and now a gallery. It dates back to the early 17th-century and houses two plaster ceilings with pomegranate, lilly and tulip designs. This was the only block of buildings in South Street, apart from the Sacred Heart Church, George's Meeting House (now a Wetherspoon's pub) and the White Ensign Club (Holy Trinity Church) to escape the bombing of May 1942.

Further up South Street, on the corner of Coombe Street, facing Palace Gate, is a modern building of no architectural merit that was constructed for the Commercial Union Insurance Company. It is largely remembered for the time in the early 1960's, when Exeter's first computer was installed by lifting it on a crane and dropping it through a hole in the roof.

Source: Various sources including Exeter Architecture by Hugh Meller and a Redcoat guide.