Old houses on city wall from Commercial Road, c1860, Exeter

Watercolour painting of old houses on City Wall from Commercial Road, c1860, Exeter

This painting shows a rear-view of the houses on Commercial Road, drawn from the Shilhay industrial area of Exeter. The backs of these houses looked onto the iron foundries of Exeter, the timber yards, leats, mills, piggeries, tanneries, rackfields and the river Exe. The houses are built on the cliff above the river and the roofs of houses built against the retaining wall can be seen. The pencil sketch below the coloured picture suggests the course of the river below. Records of a butcher, grocer and general store in this road suggest that there was a thriving local community. This was an impoverished area outside the City Wall but the medieval houses were of great historical interest. Until 1850 this road was known as City Road and the change of name gives an indication of the activity in this area. Much of the road was demolished in the 1960’s. As with much of Townsend’s work he leaves a valuable record of this lost part of Exeter.

This is a watercolour on paper c1860.

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George Townsend

Prints and Drawings