St David's Church

There has been a daughter church of Heavitree at St David's, since the late Anglo Saxon period. A deed of Bishop Henry Marshall of 1194, mentions, among others, St David's Church. Jenkins in his History of Exeter wrote of St David's Church in 1805:

"The church, which is situated on the summit of a hill, (called in ancient records St. David's Dune) is small and irregular, consisting of a nave and one aisle, without a chancel; the communion table being situated in the eastern angle of the nave. The whole of the building is remarkably low, as is the tower, which is square, containing four small untunable bells; the church is light, well seated, and kept-in good repair. The present edifice cannot lay claim to great antiquity, as it was built in the fifteenth century."

The next church was built, in a Wren influenced, Greek Doric style by James Green. Green was familiar with Telford's, St Mary Magdalen Church, in Bridgenorth, and it is likely he was influenced by its design. The foundation stone was laid on 4th June 1816. There is a brass plaque in the modern church that was taken from Green's church, that lists the many benifactors to the project. 'Iron Sam' Kingdon was one such, who was also a church warden at the time. His foundry Kingdon and Sons (Garton and King) provided some of the iron work for the church. The main text on the plaque reads:

'This first stone of the new church was laid by John William Williams Esq of Duryard(?) Lodge in this parish North(?) of Exeter on the 4th day of June 1816 the birthday of his Majesty George the Third and in the 56th year of his reign undertaken at the end of a war of 90(?) years in which Armies and Navy of Great Britain and her allies under Divine Providence were Victorious and by the ever memorable Battle of Waterloo the Downfall of Bonaparte the ruler of France was accomplished and the repose of Europe Re-established'

The octagonal tower was capped by a dome, giving it the nickname 'the pepperbox church' because of the resemblance of its tower to a Georgian silver pepper shaker. James Green, also built Elmfield House, now the Imperial Hotel, just close by and was employed as the County Surveyor. Green's church was burnt down in 1890, and in June 1897, when the remaining structure was being demolished, a copper plate was found embedded in a wall near the entrance. The plate listed the names of the committee responsible for its construction, and was placed there by Green in 1816.

The present building was commissioned by the vicar, the Rev C J Valpy French, and designed by W D Caroe. Constructed of limestone, on the same footprint as the old church, the building work was completed by 1900. The cramped site forced Caroe to use internal buttressing, which he pierced to form aisles on each side. Half the £18,000 cost was funded by the Thornton West family. Sir John Betjeman wrote that it was "the finest example of Victorian church architecture in the south west".

Thomas Glass (1709-1786), an influential Exeter Physician, who wrote of the disease of smallpox in 1767, is buried in St David's Churchyard. Other notable graves are "Iron Sam" Kingdon, Kent Kingdon, Henry Frederick Willey and Paul Collings. The yard was closed by Order in Council in March 1981, and put into the care of the City Parks Department. Some of the old gravestones have been moved to the side to make it easier to mow the grass. The green in the front of the church, on the corner of Hele Road and New North Road, was briefly used for allotments during the Second World War - when the enthusiastic gardeners started digging up skulls and leg bones, it was decided to close it and return it to grass.

Situated on the main road to North Devon, St David's was a poor impoverished area after the Normans invaded because the Saxon inhabitants of the city were driven out to this area. The building of the Ironbridge in 1832 and coming of the railway in 1845, saw a spate of private building along St David's Hill and the area became more prosperous.

The St David's Church 1914-1919 Roll of Honour