West Street

Before the city wall was breached, by removing the medieval church of All-Hallows-on-the-Walls (not to be confused with its later, demolished, namesake in Bartholomew Yard) to build New Bridge Street in 1770, traffic had to turn left at the bottom of Fore Street and travel down West Street to leave the city by the West Gate. The lower end of West Street used to run, inside the city wall, as far as the Quay Hill, at the rear of the Customs House. Now it ends where it merges with Western Way. The top end is narrow and parts have changed little in the last 100 years.

The Ragged School

It was in 1850 that ragged schools were first founded to 'elevate the condition of the poor and ignored children'. However, Exeter failed to introduce ragged schools, and continued to suffer ragged children on the streets as the charitable provision for educating poor children was inadequate. It was in 1869 that the first ragged schools were founded in the city. West Street was the host for such a school which, in 1870, had 60 boys and youths between the ages of 7 and 19 on its role.

Historic Buildings

The modern lower end of West Street has three buildings of real note. No 11 and 13, next to Stepcote Hill, are 15th-century buildings, with shops on the ground floor, the principal living room over and surmounted by the solar room. The tower of St Mary Minor Church (see Churches and High Schools - St Mary Minor) dating from about 1150, has the Matthew the Miller clock made in 1619-21 on its front - wait for it to perform on the hour. The building in West Street next to the remains of the old North Gate, started life in the 15th-century as the Merchant House in Frog Street. In 1961, it was moved to its present position at the bottom of West Street for a road widening scheme. See the House that Moved photo essay.

Numbers 11 and 13(12) West Street are a well known tourist attractions at the bottom of Stepcote Hill. The trades of the occupants in 1897 along with the next three buildings were:

Source: Various sources including a leaflet Exeter City Wall by the Devon Archaeological Society, Victorian Exeter by Robert Newton.