A Walking Tour of Exeter's Hidden Gems: The Things Most People Miss

The City You Walk Past Every Day

Most people who live in Exeter walk the same routes: High Street to Princesshay, Sidwell Street to the bus station, Fore Street down to the Quay. These are perfectly fine routes, but they miss nearly everything that makes Exeter extraordinary.

Tucked behind the main streets, up narrow alleys, and through overlooked gardens, there is an Exeter that most residents — let alone visitors — never discover. A street so narrow you can touch both walls at once. The oldest public park in England. A medieval guild hall where wool traders have met since 1471. The gatehouse of a Norman castle built on the orders of William the Conqueror. An iron bridge cast in Wales and shipped to Devon by canal in the 1830s.

This is a self-guided walking tour of those hidden gems. It takes roughly two and a half to three hours at a comfortable pace, with stops. You could rush it in ninety minutes, but the point is not to rush. The point is to see the city properly, perhaps for the first time.

If you are new to Exeter, this walk is the best possible introduction to the city's character. And if you've lived here for years, you may be surprised by what you've been walking past. It pairs beautifully with our guide to Gandy Street and the Cathedral Quarter, which covers the social side of the same area in more detail.

The Route at a Glance

The walk forms a rough loop through central Exeter. Start at the cathedral, head north through the old city, loop west past the castle ruins, and finish back at the waterfront. The full route covers about two and a half miles.

Estimated timings:

• Parliament Street: 5 minutes from start
• Mol's Coffee House: 5 minutes
• Northernhay Gardens and Rougemont Castle: 20 minutes
• The City Wall Walk: 20 minutes
• The Iron Bridge: 10 minutes
• Tucker's Hall: 15 minutes
• St Nicholas Priory: 15 minutes
• The Quay: 20 minutes

Allow extra time for lingering, reading plaques, and sitting in gardens. This is Exeter — there is no need to hurry.

Stop 1: Parliament Street — The Narrowest Street in Britain

Start at the High Street, near the junction with Waterbeer Street.

You've almost certainly walked past Parliament Street without noticing it. That's the whole point — it's so narrow it barely registers as a street at all. Look for a gap between the shopfronts on the north side of the High Street, marked by a plaque, and you'll find a 50-metre alleyway that narrows to just 25 inches at its slimmest point — and widens to a whole 45.

Parliament Street has been here since the 14th century, when it was known as Small Lane. In medieval times, residents used it for rather less savoury purposes — chamber pots were emptied into this enclosed passageway, which gives you some sense of medieval urban hygiene. It was renamed Parliament Alley after the 1832 Reform Bill, reportedly as a satirical dig at the government, and became Parliament Street around 1850 — though the exact connection between a narrow lane and parliamentary reform remains delightfully unclear.

Is it the narrowest street in the world? Exeter has long claimed so, but the Guinness Book of World Records gives that title to Spreuerhofstrasse in Reutlingen, Germany, which narrows to just 31 centimetres. Parliament Street is, however, the narrowest street in Britain — a title it holds unchallenged.

Walk through it. You'll need to turn sideways at the narrowest point if anyone is coming the other way.

Stop 2: Mol's Coffee House — Tudor Timber and Elizabethan Legend

Walk to Cathedral Close. Time from Parliament Street: about 5 minutes.

On the corner of Cathedral Close, facing the great west front of Exeter Cathedral, stands Mol's Coffee House — a striking timber-framed building dated 1596. With its ornate carved frontage and jettied upper floors, it's one of the finest surviving Tudor buildings in Exeter — though the distinctive Dutch curly gable and the third storey are Victorian additions, not Elizabethan. The site's earlier use was ecclesiastical: the cathedral authorities built here to house the annuellars, priests who carried out the last wishes of the cathedral's benefactors, a practice swept away at the Reformation.

The popular story is that Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh met here to discuss their voyages and plan England's defence against the Spanish Armada. It's a wonderful tale, and it is not true. The historian Todd Gray has shown it was largely concocted by a Mr Worth, who ran a gallery from the premises in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and had every reason to want visitors. The dates give it away: Drake was dying off the coast of Panama in 1596, the year this building was going up, and there is no evidence he ever visited Exeter at all. What is documented is quieter but real — in November 1588, negotiations over Exeter's contribution of ships for the Armada fleet were conducted at this address, through its occupant John Dyer.

What is genuine is the coffee house. It opened as Mol's in 1726 and was run by women throughout its life, until it closed in 1829. The first of them was Mary Wildy, who took out the lease in June 1726 — "Mol" being a common diminutive of Mary at the time. In that sense, its history of bringing people together over a drink is authentic, even if its Elizabethan sea captains are not.

Take a moment to admire the cathedral from here. The west front, with its rows of carved figures, is one of the finest examples of medieval sculpture in England.

Stop 3: Northernhay Gardens — England's Oldest Public Park

Walk north up Castle Street, past the Guildhall Shopping Centre. Time from Cathedral Close: about 10 minutes.

Northernhay Gardens, tucked behind Rougemont Castle on the northern edge of the old city, were first laid out in 1612 as a public pleasure walk for Exeter residents. That makes them, on the description the city and most guides use, the oldest public open space in England — older than London's St James's Park.

The site has an even longer history. The Romans quarried stone here for the city walls, and you can still see a stretch of Roman wall within the gardens, along with a rare surviving length of Saxon town wall. In 1642, during the Civil War, the gardens were destroyed when defensive ditches were dug outside the city walls. After the Restoration in 1664, the city replanted them with hundreds of young elms, laid gravel paths, and installed seats for the use of elderly residents.

The gardens were re-landscaped in 1860 and between then and 1895 received an impressive group of Victorian monuments. Today they are Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. On a weekday morning, you might have them almost to yourself — a pocket of genuine tranquillity five minutes from the High Street.

Stop 4: Rougemont Castle — William the Conqueror's Fortress

The castle entrance is immediately adjacent to Northernhay Gardens. Time: included in the gardens visit.

Rougemont Castle was begun on William the Conqueror's orders in or shortly after 1068, immediately following the city's rebellion against him and the siege that ended it, under the supervision of Baldwin de Meules, its first custodian. The name comes from the red stone (rouge mont) of the hill on which it stands — the same rich Devon sandstone you see throughout the city.

The large Norman gatehouse is the main surviving feature, and it is remarkable — the earliest Norman structure of its kind in the country, carrying what is thought to be the oldest non-ecclesiastical Norman arch anywhere. Look carefully at its construction: the long-and-short quoins and triangular-headed windows are elements of Anglo-Saxon architecture, and the building methods are clearly Saxon, which is why it is thought English masons built it on Norman orders. It is one of the earliest examples of the Normans using local craftsmen rather than importing their own.

The castle housed the county assize court for centuries, and in August 1682 three women from Bideford — Temperance Lloyd, Susanna Edwards, and Mary Trembles — were tried here for witchcraft. They were hanged at Heavitree, just outside the city, on 25 August 1682. Theirs is the last clearly documented witchcraft case in England to end in execution; Alice Molland, condemned at Exeter three years later, is often named as the very last, though there is no record confirming her sentence was carried out. It is one of Exeter's most sobering chapters.

Stop 5: The City Wall Walk

Follow the walls south from Northernhay towards Southernhay. Time: about 20 minutes for this section.

Exeter's city walls are nearly 2,000 years old and remarkably well preserved. About 72 per cent of the original circuit — some 1,705 metres — still survives, making it one of the best-preserved Roman and medieval wall circuits in England, and you can follow much of it on foot using the City Wall Trail.

The trail passes nine colourful information panels explaining the history of each section. The Roman sections are best viewed along the eastern side, near Southernhay, where you can see the original purple-grey volcanic stone from Rougemont alongside the rich red Heavitree sandstone used in later repairs. The walls have been rebuilt and reinforced during the Saxon, medieval, and Civil War periods, creating a layered archaeological record that you can read like a timeline.

From the walls near Southernhay, you get a clear view of how the post-war rebuilding changed the city. The contrast between the ancient stonework and the 1950s buildings behind it tells the story of the Blitz more powerfully than any museum display.

The free City Wall Trail leaflet can be downloaded from the city council's website, or picked up from the Visitor Information Centre at the Custom House on the Quay — which, on this route, means collecting it at the end rather than the start. Or simply follow the walls: they're hard to lose once you know what to look for.

Stop 6: The Iron Bridge

Continue west towards North Street. Time from the walls: about 10 minutes.

Spanning the steep-sided Longbrook Valley between St David's Down and the old city, the Iron Bridge is one of Exeter's most impressive and least appreciated structures. Built in 1834-35, it was commissioned to solve a practical problem: anyone entering Exeter from North Devon faced a punishing climb up to the North Gate.

The bridge was cast at the Russell and Brown ironworks at Blaina in Monmouthshire, shipped aboard the Atlas from Newport and up the Exeter Ship Canal — appropriately enough — to be unloaded at the canal basin and assembled on site. It runs some 800 feet on six forty-foot arches. The ironwork alone came to around £3,500, but the accounts to January 1836 put the whole scheme, including approach roads and the compulsory purchase of properties, at £10,461 14s 8½d — a very significant sum at the time.

Stand on the bridge and look down into the valley below. It's a vivid reminder that Exeter's geography is far more dramatic than the flat city centre suggests. The Iron Bridge turned a difficult journey into an easy crossing and opened up north Devon trade routes to the city.

Stop 7: Tucker's Hall — The Medieval Guild Hall

Head south down Fore Street. Tucker's Hall is on the left, roughly halfway down. Time from the Iron Bridge: about 10 minutes.

Tucker's Hall is one of Exeter's genuine hidden treasures, and most people walk past it every day without a second glance. Behind an unassuming frontage on Fore Street lies the medieval guild hall of the Incorporation of Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen — the cloth workers who made Exeter wealthy.

The guild was given this plot of land in 1471 by William and Cecilia Bowden, and the hall has been in continuous use ever since. In 1620, the guild obtained a Royal Charter from James I that reduced the city's control over their affairs, and by the 1700s its members were known as the "Golden Tuckers" because their wealth from the wool trade allowed them to buy the most expensive items at market. They were noted for wearing green baize aprons with red strings — a distinctive uniform that marked them out in the streets.

Inside, the hall has a magnificent oak-panelled interior — the panelling dates from 1630-34 — under a wagon roof. It is at 140 Fore Street and admission is free, though a contribution towards the building's upkeep is welcome. The hall lists Thursday and Saturday mornings, 10.30am to 1pm, with Tuesday mornings added over the summer, and it takes part in Heritage Open Days in September. Opening is run by volunteers and the hours are short and liable to change, so check tuckershall.org.uk or ring 01392 302109 before you build a walk around it — the mornings-only pattern means this stop wants an early start.

The guild still exists today, mainly administering ancient charities and providing relief for members' families. It's a direct, living link to the wool trade that shaped Exeter's Quay and made the city one of the richest in England.

Stop 8: St Nicholas Priory — The Oldest Building in Exeter

Continue down Fore Street and turn right onto Mint Lane (or approach from Bartholomew Street West). Time from Tucker's Hall: about 5 minutes.

St Nicholas Priory is the oldest building in Exeter, founded as a Benedictine monastery in 1087 — just twenty-one years after the Norman Conquest. The original monastery was established by monks sent from Battle Abbey after William the Conqueror laid siege to Exeter in 1068.

For over 500 years, monks worshipped, studied, served the poor, and offered hospitality here. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, the church and chapter house were demolished, but the domestic buildings were left intact. Between 1575 and 1602, the surviving ranges were converted into an impressive Elizabethan town house by the wealthy Hurst family.

Today, the Priory is a museum furnished as it would have appeared in 1602, with replica furniture and the bright colours that were fashionable in the Elizabethan period. Entry is free on Sundays (1pm to 4pm) and Mondays (10am to 4pm), and private guided tours can be booked on other days — see nicholaspriory.com.

Stop 9: The Quay — End Your Walk Where the City Gathers

Continue down to the bottom of Fore Street and follow the signs to Exeter Quay. Time from St Nicholas Priory: about 10 minutes.

Your walk ends at Exeter Quay, the city's historic waterfront and its most popular social space. After two and a half hours of exploring narrow streets, hidden gardens, and medieval buildings, this is the place to sit down with a drink, a meal, or simply a view of the water.

The Quay has its own deep history — the Exeter Ship Canal that runs alongside it was built in the 1560s and was the first pound-lock canal in Britain. The Custom House, built in 1680-81 and the oldest purpose-built custom house in England, reopened after restoration in March 2025 as the city's Custom House Visitor Centre. Entry is free, and it tells the story of Exeter's trading past through interactive displays and artefacts. It opens daily 10am to 5pm from April to October, and Thursday to Sunday 11am to 4pm through the winter.

But the Quay's greatest virtue today is social. It's where Exeter comes together. Order a dustbin-lid pizza at On the Waterfront, grab a pint at the Prospect Inn, or hire a kayak from Saddles & Paddles and paddle down to the Double Locks pub. If the weather is kind, the waterfront seating here is some of the finest in Devon.

For more on the Quay's restaurants and what makes them worth visiting, have a look at our guide to the best restaurants in Exeter.

Making This Walk Social

This walking tour works brilliantly as a group activity. It doesn't require booking, it's entirely free (unless you choose to eat or drink along the way), and it gives you something to talk about that goes beyond small talk. There is nothing quite like standing in a 25-inch-wide medieval alley or inside a 550-year-old guild hall for sparking genuine conversation.

If you prefer a guided experience, the Red Coat Guided Tours run free daily walks covering many of these sites and others — free for individuals, that is; organised groups book ahead and are charged. The guides are volunteers who know the city deeply, and the walks are a wonderful way to meet other people who are curious about where they live. Tours run daily through the year apart from Christmas Day and Boxing Day, departing from Cathedral Green or the Custom House on the Quay, and last approximately 90 minutes. Particularly good are the "Forgotten Exeter" walks, which explore the hidden curiosities in the north-west corner of the city: the Monday walk at 11.30am finishes at St Nicholas Priory, and the Thursday walk at 11am at Tucker's Hall — a neat way to get inside two of the stops on this route. Neither is accessible to wheelchairs or mobility scooters. There are also specialist walks covering the Blitz history, the woollen cloth trade, and the City Wall circuit.

Beyond the Centre: The Green Circle

If this walk leaves you wanting more, the Exeter Green Circle is a twelve-mile circular route that connects the city's parks, valley paths, and green spaces through seven different wards. Relaunched in September 2025, it links up with railway stations at St Davids, Marsh Barton, and Polsloe Bridge, making it easy to dip in and out. The Ludwell Valley section follows the Riverside Valley Park past the historic Ship Canal, while the Mincinglake section passes through butterfly-rich meadows that were once a landfill site. It's a completely different perspective on Exeter — less history, more nature — and it works brilliantly as a longer walking route for socialising.

For those who want to combine history with food, this walk can be extended to include a detour to Magdalen Road in St Leonard's — a fifteen-minute walk east from the Cathedral — where some of the best bakeries and coffee shops in the city await. Or head south from the Quay along the canal towpath towards Topsham, where the food and drink scene is one of Devon's finest.

Heritage Open Days

If you time your visit for mid-September, Heritage Open Days opens up buildings across the city that are normally closed to the public. Tucker's Hall, the Guildhall, the Underground Passages, and dozens of other historic sites throw open their doors for free. It's the best weekend of the year for this kind of exploration, and the atmosphere — curious people wandering between ancient buildings — is wonderfully sociable.

Exeter is a city that rewards the curious. The hidden gems are not hidden because they're inaccessible — they're hidden because most people never think to look. Now you know where they are, and the city will never look quite the same.

For more ideas on exploring the city and its surroundings, see our guides to the best free things to do in Exeter, day trips from Exeter, and the best neighbourhoods to base yourself in.