EPW041170 ENGLAND (1933). Exeter Cathedral and the city centre, Exeter, from the north-east, 1933

Church was All-Hallows-on-the-Wall, in Bartholemew Yard.

City Library 1930. Register office 1960 ish (when new library building nearby opened) until 2010. Then residential accommodation and estate agency.

St Mary Major. Demolished in the 1970s because it no longer had sufficient congregation to support it, after the people of the West Quarter were re-housed in the new housing estate at Burnthouse Lane. This particular building was less than a hundred years old. Sadly, the Victorians had demolished an ancient church building to make way for this one.

Sidwell Street

Paris Street

View west along High Street

View down High Street (generally west) showing Exeter Guildhall

View up Fore Street

Southernhay United Reformed Church

St Petrock's Church which survived the 1942 blitz. It was one of twenty-nine churches which William the Conqueror directed the City Provost to pay one silver penny out of the public taxes. In 1191, the simple chancel, nave and perhaps a bell tower was formally named St Petrock's by Bishop Marshall. Close to the centre of the city and the Guildhall, St Petrock's has had an important place in the lives of many city mayors. In 1286, St Petrock's became a superior postern entrance into Cathedral Yard and had to be shut at night – in other words, it was one of the seven gates to Cathedral Yard. The church was also used to support the poor and in 1411 a parishioner gave funds in his will for 100 poor persons in the parish be properly clothed. Two years later, in 1413 the nave was extended and a century later, it was further enlarged and named the 'Jesus Aisle" which is distinguished by a still existing row of columns. The bell tower was rebuilt and the church re-consecrated in 1513 by Thomas Chard acting as Suffragan Bishop for the elderly Bishop Oldham while the octagonal turret was added in 1737. With thanks to Exeter Memories

Deller's Restaurant

Lloyds Bank 1933

City Wall

City Wall

Southernhay West

The Hippodrome Theatre and Plaza Cinema. In 1908 the building was taken over by Fred Karno who commissioned an architect to convert it into an Edwardian music hall, named the Hippodrome. It was opened on 2 November 1908. The main auditorium could seat 700 with a balcony and gallery seating a further 380. Charlie Chaplin is said to have appeared there, before he went to Hollywood. It was also used as an early cinema, giving Chaplin the chance to return, but this time on celluloid. Marie Lloyd and Harry Tate were two others who trod the Hippodromes boards. The first night performance "...opened to overflowing houses with a variety programme that won general applause from all parts of the house." Hippodrome Theatre then Plaza Cinema The Hippodrome, with both live shows and cinema, was competing with the Theatre Royal, just a few dozen yards away on the other side of New London Square. The Hippodrome was sold in 1929 to a Mr Vickery, from Taunton, who closed it and engaged architects Messrs Lucas and Langfords of Exeter to redesign the theatre into a cinema only. Messrs R C Lee and Co Ltd undertook the renovation, which included a gold proscenium arch around the screen. On 6th February 1931, the Hippodrome, now named the Plaza Cinema opened its 875 seats as a talkie cinema, with Mr Lattimer as the manager. The King of Jazz which featured a young Bing Crosby and utilised the recently developed 2 strip Technicolor system was the first film to show at the Plaza. In 1936, the rival Savoy (renamed ABC) was built to replace the New London Inn, giving Exonians two cinemas within yards of each other. A sheet of flame This grand old building would not survive the blitz of 4 May 1942 and a hit from a single high explosive bomb destroyed it and created a conflagration in the buildings all around. "......caused by a bomb which fell on the Plaza Cinema almost entirely demolishing the building. This building was a converted theatre of the old type and a very bad fire risk; the explosion caused a sheet of flame which seemed to envelop the premises immediately." Neither of the Plaza's nearest rivals, the Savoy/ABC, and the Theatre Royal survived the 20th-century.

Southernhay United Reformed Church

Exeter Cathedral

Bedford Circus a classic Georgian terrace which like so much of the city was destroyed in the 1942 Blitz.

Longbrook Street

New North Road

London Inn Square London Inn Square has seen numerous interesting events. Many visitors crossed the square by foot or in a carriage to enter the inn or attend a ball or variety show at the Royal Public Rooms and the later Hippodrome and Plaza Cinema. Princess Victoria addressed a crowd from her carriage, while Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens and Jane Austin have all passed across the cobbles of the square. In 1935, the New London Inn was demolished to make way for the Savoy Cinema, which covered the same footprint as the old hotel. The only building to survive the bombing of May 1942 was the Savoy - the southern end of Northernhay Place was destroyed when the Plaza Cinema was hit by a single, high explosive bomb. The High Street, opposite and the end of Sidwell Street were also destroyed. With Acknowledgement to Exeter Memories

A very good view of St Mary Major Church demolished in the 1970's to improve the aspect of Exeter Cathedral nearby.

Cornish's department store on the corner of North Street and Fore Street. Still standing.

My grandfather was a carpenter and worked on the Gaumont which was built around 1932.

Gaumont Cinema. Identifiable by its huge painted sign on the roof.

The Theatre Royal

St Lawrence Church destroyed in the war.

A fantastic view down a heavily shadowed High Street with lots of properties destroyed in the Exeter blitz just nine years later!