Exetours XE Heavitree

XE. Heavitree

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Leaving Exeter through the site of the East Gate, turn right down Paris Street. At the roundabout take the Heavitree Road exit. On Heavitree Road north side is Lower Summerlands, a brick Regency terrace constructed in 1814 by William Hooper. Just past Waitrose is the Exeter Workhouse children's home  built by R. M. Challice in 1913, and handed over by Board of Guardians was requisitioned in November 1914 to become VA Hospital No. 3, one of eight military hospitals established in Exeter. On the south side of Heavitree Road opposite Waitrose is St Lukes campus built  1853-54 by John Hayward as the Exeter Diocesan Training School, one of earliest colleges of education in England. Just beyond turn right into Baring Crescent and elegant development of houses by John Brown dating from. Turn left along Magdalen Road, the old Roman road leading from South Gate. Turn left along Barrack Road and left again back along Heavitree Road. On the north side near the corner with Grendon Road is Uplands built 1838-44 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and Moffat for Magdalene Charity. In Grendon Road are the Grendon almshouses (1880 by Robert Best) and Atwill Almshouses (1892 also by Robert Best). Turn left along Polsloe Road to admire the imposing dwellings in Mont le Grand (1840/1) now a conservation area and Regents Park (1843 and later) never completed. Return to the crossroads and at the corner ot is worth going up the drive to glimpse Southlands  built 1834 by William Hooper and named after the owner of the land, Col. Samuel South. Cross over and turn left along Magdalen Road to view Livery Dole. The chapel was first mentioned in 1439. The triangle of land was the site of executions, notably Thomas Benet the reformer in 1531. The almshouses were completed in 1594 by Sir Thomas Denys, and rebuilt 1849 by Lord Rolle. On the other side of Fore Street is the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church dating from the 1930s. Follow Church Terrace to Church Lane and cross it to enter the grounds of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Immediately to the right is a plane tree that was grown from a seedling brought over from the island of Kos, the site of the tree where Hippocrates first taught medicine. It stands in front of the RILD building (Research, Innovation, Learning and Development) opened in 2014. On the other side of the road is the red brick bulk of Exeter School, 1880, architect William Butterfield best know for Keble College, Oxford. Return to cross the churchyard to Heavitree church, rebuilt in 1844 with the tower added in 1887. Tree Council in celebration of the golden jubilee of Elizabeth II designated the Heavitree Yew one of 50 Great British Trees. It is over 500 years old. To the right along Church Street is a plaque on the site of Heavitree House a rambling Elizabethan mansion acquired in 1834 by Richard Ford, author of the celebrated Handbook for travellers in Spain. He rebuilt it in Gothic style and created Moorish terraces and gardens in the extensive grounds. It was demolished in 1949. Returning along Church Street you pass on the left the site of Heavitree Brewery, demolished in the 1980s. Fore Street is the main street at the centre of historic Heavitree, the wide main street from London, once with a line of buildings down the middle. To the left looms the Congregational Church built 1902 by Frederick J. Commin. On the north side of Fore Street in Regent Square, whose grand name belies its more modest status as workmen's dwellings dating from 1883. Sivell Place on the other side of the street, dating from the 1830s is a more elegant development. It is near the controversial Voice of Heavitree Arch (2008 by Michael Fairfax) with quotes from Heavitree born Richard Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity. Continue down Fore Street to Duck's Almshouses, rebuilt in 1853, then cross Fore Street to enter Heavitree Pleasure Ground opened in 1906 by the Heavitree Urban District Council. Originally designed by Veitch Nurseryman F. W. Meyer. Follow the wall of red Heavitree stone on your left, past the end of Roseland Crescent, veering left to cross Hamlin Lane and follow Hanover Road. At the gate turn in to the Higher Cemetery. Opened in 1866, the site has been expanded at least three times. It was landscaped by Veitch and some 70,000 people are buried here, with over 12,000 memorials, including the Theatre Fire monument. The fire on 5 September 1887, claimed 186 victims. Many of the dead could not be identified, so a mass grave was dug for their interment. A large memorial cross was carved by Harry Hems. In the north-east corner the Commonwealth War Graves also include Polish Air Force and German burials side by side. A path leads west to the World War 1 graves by the chapel of 1866 by Devon architect Ashworth. The monument to casualties who died in Exeter includes Major George Stoker 1854-1920 of the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was the younger brother of Bram Stoker, who served in the Zulu Wars and was heavily involved in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-88. He spent a lot of this in Romania and Bulgaria. After the war George went to live with Bram who helped him write his memoirs of the conflict. Bram was inspired by his brother’s accounts of the of the area and these sowed the seeds for Dracula in which Exeter features, perhaps as a tribute to Sabine Baring-Gould’s A book of Werewolves, and his vampire story Margery of Quether. In front of you at the exit gate is Saint Mark's Church (1934-37 by Ernest F Hooper). Turn left and left again along Ladysmith Road to Ladysmith School. The original school catering for ages 5-12, built on the current infants school site, was at first named Heavitree Council School and opened in 1908. Just before the school, turn right along Pretoria Road to Sampson's Lane. John Sampson ran the brickworks off Polsloe Road during the late 19th century. He moved to a house on the corner of Polsloe Road and Sampson’s Lane, next to his brick works, named Melrose. Turn right along Polsloe Road the first left down Clifton Hill, a conservation area where numbers 5-14, dating from the 1840s are listed buildings. At the foot of Clifton Hill by the recreation ground turn left along Clifton Road. This passes through Newtown developed from the 1830s to 1880 as the first working class estate in Exeter. At the end of the street to the left is St Matthews Church (1881-90 Fulford and Harvey) and to the right the Clifton Arms, a period place for refreshment to end the walk close to Paris Street.