Self-guided Walking Tour of Exeter (2025)

This is the start of the Exeter Ship Canal. It first opened to shipping in 1566 and was the first canal to be built in Britain since Roman times. It was also the first canal in England to use the pound lock.

The Quay House was re-built in 1680-1 at the height of Exeter’s woollen cloth industry. The building was used to store cloth and other goods before they were loaded and transported down the canal. It also had an overhanging roof, which enabled cargos to load and unload out of the rain.

Today the history and development of Exeter’s Quayside is brought to life with lively displays, illustrations and artefacts. There is also the opportunity to see “Exeter – 2,000 years of history,” an exciting audio-visual presentation highlighting Exeter’s history from Roman times to the present day. The Quay House Visitor Centre provides tourist information, Quayside treasure hunts, an accommodation booking service and a gift shop selling local pottery, replica maps and a wide range of local interest books.

Just beyond along the canal are the olds warehouses the which today are used by crafts and antiques shops to sell their wares  and places to eat and drink. After the decline of the woollen cloth industry this area of the Quay was still busy with the storage and transportation of grain, wine and oil.

This area you are now in was called Exe Island, it was once the very heart of the Devon cloth industry packed with mills, fulling stocks, cloth drying sheds and racks. You can imagine the noisy activity of workers with heavy hammers pounding the newly dyed cloth. The fulling mills were powered by water via man-made channels called ‘leats’.

Cricklepit Mill was one of many in Exeter, including three on the Quay, but most have gone or are in a bad state of repair. Cricklepit Mill now offers a small visitor centre and wildlife garden where we run a range of events and activities for the general public.

This is where the first bridge across the River Exe was built in 1200. During the boom years of the woollen cloth trade, packhorses and horse drawn carts trying to get in and out of town would regularly get held up on the narrow bridge.

Members of the Cloth Workers Guild met here to make decisions about their trade. They would discuss such things as quality standards and apprenticeships. You can see the tools of their trade in the ironwork on the gate.

Part of this historic building was home to two of the city’s most prominent wool merchants. The Priory was built almost a thousand years ago as a Benedictine monastery and was partly destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.

For over 800 years the Mayor and Council have regulated the affairs of Exeter from the impressive Guildhall. The homes, shops and offices of wealthy merchants were also built in this area. You can
still see the beautiful timber fronts.

The site of Northernhay Gardens was quarried in Roman times for stone from which to build the adjacent city walls. Walking through the gardens is a good way of seeing the walls.

King Athelstan also built a castle on the highest ground inside the wall, on the Red Mount, now known as the Norman, Rougemont Castle. It is thought that the only part of his castle to survive is a part of the ruins known as “Athelstan’s Tower”.

Although not strictly part of the wall, the castle was an important part of the city’s defences. Built in 1068 following the Norman siege of Exeter, it established a foothold of control for the Normans over the previously rebellious citizens of Exeter. This gatehouse is the oldest standing castle building in Britain.

The displays in the museum reveal Devon and Exeter’s rich history and global connections. Exotic animals, birds and insects delight children and the World Cultures galleries display stunning items from all over the world.

North Gate: This was the site of one of the smallest of the city’s four main gates. It was burnt down during the Perkin Warbeck Rebellion of 1497 and also damaged during the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549.

Cross the traffic lights and go straight ahead into Bartholomew Street East. Keeping the railings on your right, walk straight down the path to Bartholomew Terrace.

Snayle Tower:  On the corner of Bartholomew Terrace in front of you once stood a large semi-circular tower that dominated the defences to the west of the city. It offered an excellent observation point for the many sieges of the city particularly during the English Civil War.

Continue to the end of Bartholomew Street West. Cross Fore Street, walking down the hill to the end of West Street. 

West Gate: This gate was the main entrance to the city from Plymouth and Cornwall and was a particularly busy place at the height of the woollen cloth trade.

Cross Western Way at the pedestrian crossing. Turn left and walk uphill to the first turning on your right (Lower Coombe Street) and proceed onto cobbled Quay Hill, at the bottom you will be at  Water Gate.

Water Gate: This gate was added to the city wall circuit for commercial rather than defensive reasons. During the 16th and 17th centuries this area was involved in the woollen cloth industry, be it finishing the cloth on Exe Island or exporting the cloth from the Quay.

Continue on the footpath up the hill to Western Way.From here either cross Western Way via the Yaroslavl Bridge, or to your right over the pedestrian crossing. The next board is located on the other side of South Street. Here you will find out about the South Gate.

From here either cross Western Way via the Yaroslavl Bridge, or to your right over the pedestrian crossing. The next board is located on the other side of South Street. Here you will find out about the East Gate.

South Gate: This was the most impressive of all the city gates. This stretch of wall was very vulnerable from attack, so a number of smaller towers were built.

Follow the footpath alongside the city wall to Cathedral Close, turn right on to Southernhay. At Southernhay turn left then continue behind Broadwalk House to discover more about the East Gate.

East Gate: Being the principal entry point to the city, this gate played a vital defensive role during the many sieges of Exeter, especially during the Perkin Warbeck rebellion.

The Cathedral is the jewel in Exeter’s crown. Exeter became a major ecclesiastic centre in the Middle Ages, not only was there a Cathedral, but within the city there were 32 parish churches, and around the area there were 7 monastic houses.

The cathedral area has been used as a place of worship since the 4th Century and eventually a Saxon Abbey was built. The Abbey became a Cathedral in 1050. From 1114 a new Cathedral was constructed, and in the 13th and 14th centuries the Cathedral was rebuilt in the Decorated Gothic architectural style.

If you walk anti clockwise around the cathedral you will come to St Petrock’s (Exeter) Ltd, and the Gates to the Close For over 500 years entry to the Cathedral Precinct would have been controlled by seven gates. The gates were erected following the murder of a member of the Cathedral clergy.