South Gate, c.1850, Exeter

Drawing of the South Gate, c.1850, Exeter

This drawing is a view of the South Gate in the Exeter City Wall, viewed from inside the walls. The South Gate was the main gate into the city since Roman times. Holy Trinity Church is seen adjoining the priest’s lodgings above the arch. The arch is rounded in the Romanesque style. Beyond the arch can be seen, close by, another arch pointed in the Gothic style. This is a separate arch over the road between the two great towers of the South Gate and within the rooms of the gateway arch was the debtors’ prison of Exeter. It is obvious from this drawing that the porch of the church and the archway itself caused the street to become constricted and unsuitable for traffic. As a result the old church was demolished in 1819 when the South gate and the priest’s house were also removed. It was the last of the City gates to go.

A foundation stone for a replacement Holy Trinity church was laid in 1819 but by 1968 the church was closed and the premises taken by the White Ensign Club which is there to this day. In the pavement on the other side of South Street near this point is a pattern laid out in bricks which shows the footprint of one side of the old South Gate - the original square Roman tower and the rounded tower which was added in the 15th century.

This image is a pencil drawing on paper c.1850. It must be a copy of an earlier image of the gateway as these buildings had been demolished by the time Townsend made this drawing.

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George Townsend

Prints and Drawings