Wynard's Chapel, c1815, Exeter

Watercolour painting of Wynard's Chapel, c1815, Exeter

In pencil at bottom right of plate: from a sketch by late John Harris Esqr

 Wynard & Wynards Chapel today form part of a quiet courtyard of nine properties which were originally built as alms houses and are Grade II* Listed. Set behind oak doors in the heart of Exeter, the alms houses were founded in 1436 by William Wynard who was the Recorder of Exeter between 1404-1442. He also founded the attached Wynards Chapel of the Holy Trinity and Maison Dieu in order to house a priest and twelve infirm or poor men. After being badly damaged in the Civil War, Wynards was later rebuilt in the 17th Century. Constructed mainly of Heavitree stone, the buildings are set around a spacious cobbled courtyard with a timber period well house in the centre. The alms houses were restored in 1863 by Edward Ashworth, the Exeter architect and artist. The famous Exeter ecclesiastical sculptor Harry Hems was also involved in the project. The alms houses and chapel became redundant in the 1960s and only narrowly escaped demolition. Exeter City Council took control of the buildings in1970 and they were converted for use by charitable organisations until being sold off by the council in 2001 to be developed as residential dwellings.

This watercolour, by Edward Ashworth, shows the outside of Wynard's Chapel as it would have looked in 1815 and is an important historical record of the building. John Harris credited at the foot of the plate (1782-1855) was elected surgeon to the Devon and Exeter Hospital in 1815 and lived and worked in Southernhay until his death in 1855. He would have been very familiar with Wynard's alms houses and Wynard's Chapel.

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