All Hallows, Goldsmith Street, and All Hallows Church, 1847, Exeter

A drawing of a shop and house in front of All Hallows Church, Goldsmith Street, Exeter (higher) and the church itself (lower) by Edward Ashworth (1814-1896)

All Hallows Church stood on the narrow entrance into Goldsmith Street until 1905. It's small nave and chancel dated from 1380, although the building may have existed to some extent before this. Frances Rose-Troup has also noted that the Church "was not in 1389 a true parish church but a capella curata, merely a chapel with a cure of souls" (Lost Chapels of Exeter, 16). In the eighteenth century it fell into disuse, and between 1807 and 1822 services were held in the nearby St. Stephen's. Some restoration took place in the 1880s. In February 1904 the church was purchased by the Council with the aim of demolition. The narrow passageway beside the church, busy with carts and wagons heading for the market, was proving dangerous, and at least one fatality had occurred. The last service was held on 10 December 1905, and almost a hundred human remains were disinterred from the vaults and reburied in the Higher Cemetery, at the Council's cost. A re-internment monument was erected at the same time.

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