The White Hart Hotel

There is reason to believe that the White Hart was the house of the recorder (1418-1442) of Exeter, William Wynard. He endowed the property to Wynard's Hospital to be a source of funds and it became the Blue Boar Inn. The Blue Boar was the heraldic badge of Richard, Duke of York (1411-1460), father of Edward IV (reigned 1471-1483).

After Wynard, it became the White Hart Inn. The inn is located at the bottom of South Street, just inside the city wall and close to the position of the South Gate, which was demolished in 1819. The South Gate was for many hundreds of years the main route in and out of the city, so the White Hart was well placed to stable pack animals and horses along with their carriages. The name represents Richard II's (reigned 1377-1399) heraldic symbol. A white hart was very rare and reserved for only the king to hunt. Additionally, it has been speculated that it was also a pun on his name - Rich Hart. In 1393, King Richard passed an act making it compulsory for inns and taverns to have a sign hanging outside so that the official 'ale taster' could easily locate them. Probably checking to make sure they have paid the right duty on the ale!

Richard Izacke documented an accident at the White Hart in 1648. The inn had an old well that had long been neglected. The White Hart's owner Roger Cheek employed Paul Penrose to climb down the well to repair it. At the bottom, Penrose suddenly fell dead - a second workman named William Johnson was called to go down and investigate. After also descending the well, Johnson too fell dead. The burial records of St Sidwell's Church record that William Will was buried on 28th June 1649 having died of a damp of the well, at the sign of the "White Hart" in South Gate Street. Allowing for errors with the name, and the Julian and Gregorian calendars, he is probably one of the victims.

A friend of the men, wishing to help his workmates, also descended the well and almost died himself. Those on the surface pulled the man back up, and he rolled around in agony, to be revived with water and oil. When he came round, he said that there was a strong smell that hindered his breathing. Some said that it was a Cockatrice that caused the deaths, but most agreed that it was the Damp or some sort of gas. Note - a Cockatrice is a legendary creature that is part lizard, part rooster.

Some of the landlords and proprietors of the White Hart in the 19th and 20th-centuries can be listed as:

The modern inn has 60 bedrooms and has welcomed such luminaries as the exciting Monty Pythons Flying Circus team when they were filming in Exeter and Steve 'Interesting' Davis the snooker player.