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Summary

The Exeter Inn comprises a four-bay, two storey building fronting Litchdon Street with a rear wing extending from the north-west end. The building has been heavily modified including a later addition with cart entrance to the south-east but on sylistic evidence has been thought to date from between about 1575 and 1600. Dendrochronological analysis of roof timbers in the front range provided a precise felling date of winter 1601/2 indicating construction in 1601 or soon thereafter. A similar date was achieved from a roof timber in the rear wing but as this particular timber showed evidence of reuse it is difficult to say if this wing is contemporary. Excavation in the yard to the rear of the inn revealed a series of intercutting pits all containing kiln waste. A great quantity of pottery and associated material was recovered dating to the 16th century.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1385204: EXETER INN

Other References/Statuses

• Old Listed Building Ref: 485666

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• PUBLIC HOUSE (Built, XVII - 1602 AD to 1602 AD) + Sci.Date

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1855-1895, Towns 1855-95 1:500 (Cartographic). SDV348147.

'Exeter Inn' marked.

Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon + South West Archaeology, 2011, Barnstaple Exeter Inn: Community Excavation (Report - Interim). SDV351293.

A four-day community excavation over an area approximately 5.0 by 6.0 metres to the rear of the Exeter Inn recorded three intercutting pits, all of which contained kiln waste. A substantial amount of pottery and associated material (at least 750kg) was recovered, dating to circa 1500. An 18th or 19th century wall cutting through the three pits was also recorded.

Moir, A., 2012, Dendrochronological Analysis of Oak Timbers from the Exeter Inn, 12 & 13 Litchdon Street, Barnstaple, Devon, England (Report - Scientific). SDV351294.

The Exeter Inn lies on Litchdon Street, originally the main route into Barnstaple from the south. The front south-west-facing range is a four-bay, two-storey, end-chimney house, with roughcast walls. The building has a brick chimney at the south-east end. The slated roof is gabled. The roof has upper and lower purlins, the collars are notch lapjointed to the principal rafters. A rear wing extends from the north-west end. The Inn itself has beenheavily modified, including a later addition with cart entrance to the south-east, but from stylistic evidence, was previously thought to date from between c.1575 and 1600.
A total of eleven core samples were taken from roof timbers, all of which were confirmed as oak. Four of the eleven samples taken from the Exeter Inn match together to form an 81-year site chronology called BRNST-E1, which is dated to span AD 1521 to AD 1601. All the timbers dated are purlins. The Front Range provides two precise felling dates in the winter of AD 1601/2, together with a compatible felling-date range from one other timber, indicating that construction occurred in AD 1602, or soon after. The Rear Wing produces a single precise felling date in the Winter AD 1600/1. However, as this timber shows evidence of re-use it remains unclear whether the Rear Wing is coeval. Six samples from the principal rafters cross-match well together, but these timbers fail to date, most likely
due to them being from a separate source that was subject to management.
Cross-matching against individual buildings and area reference chronologies is sufficiently high to indicate that the dated timbers probably came from local sources.

Google, 2013, Google Streetview (Website). SDV350787.

Shown boarded-up.

Southwest Archaeology, 2013, Greater Barnstaple Area Project Database, Mapping Area 874, 2009 (Un-published). SDV351581.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

English Heritage, 2013, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV350785.

Exeter Inn, 12 and 13 Lichdon Street. (Formerly Listed as: Litchdon Street, Exeter Inn).
Public house. Probably C17 or earlier, remodelled early C19; right-hand section probably an early C19 addition. Solid roughcast walls. Slated roof, hipped to right. Red brick chimneys on right end walls of original building and addition. 2 storeys. 6-window range. Main building 4-window range with side doorway off-centre to right. Windows have 8-paned sashes, except for 3rd upper-storey window from left, which is blind. Addition has cart-entrance with double plank doors to left; window with 2-paned sashes in centre, 6-panelled door to right, the top 2 panels now glazed, the bottom panels replaced by vertical planking. Upper storey has 2-light C20 metal casements with 8 panes per light.
Interior not inspected.

Morris, B., 2017, The Missing Link - the Exeter Inn, Barnstable: North Devon Pottery in the 16th century, 273 (Article in Serial). SDV364161.

Dendrochronological analysis of roof timbers indicates that the Exeter Inn is one of the oldest surviving buildings on Litchdon Street. Although now much altered, it was originally built as a three room cross passage house in 1602. It was formerly known as the Half Moon, being recorded as such in 1780. It is marked as the Exeter Inn on the town plan of 1843. This and later mapping show a number of buildings in the yard to the rear of the inn which presumably included the extensive brewing houses and stabling for 50 horses mentioned in an advertisement for the Inn in the North Devon Journal in 1870. The buildings survived until the 1950s. Foundations and cobble floors were revealed during fieldwork to the rear of the inn.
Evaluation and excavation in 2010-11 and 2015 also revealed six very large intercutting pits, each 3-4m across and 1-2m deep, together with a number of smaller pits, filled with pottery waste. More than 50,000 sherds were recovered from the pits, mostly dated to the 16th century, with some potentially from the late 15th century or earlier. The large pits though appear to have been dug as quarry pits for building in cob. It was noted that the cob boundary wall between the Exeter Inn and the former Brannam's pottery is packed with pottery sherds.
The implication is that the Exeter Inn was built after the pits went out of use.

Allan, J. + Griffiths, N. + Mills, A., 2020, Some Recent Finds of North Devon Pottery, 214, 230 (Article in Serial). SDV364780.

More than 50,000 sherds of 16th-century kiln waste were recovered during work by South-West Archaeology to the rear of the inn.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV5417 - POT (XV to XVI - 1450 AD to 1550 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV4622 - Archaeological Significance of Litchdon Street Potteries, Barnstaple
• EDV5565 - Survey of Penrose Almshouses, Barnstaple
• EDV6151 - Dendrochronological Analysis, Exeter Inn, Litchdon Street (Ref: EXEI/04/12)
• EDV6150 - Community Excavation at the Exeter Inn, Litchdon Street, Barnstaple

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