Exeter Local History Society

Exeter Local History Society members are hooked on history. If you share our fascination, why not join us? We have between 6 and 12 lecture meetings a year (details below), plus we occasionally have long-distance outings, and we cover an incredibly diverse range of subjects from Roman remains to post-WW2 redevelopment.

Our regular monthly meetings at Leonardo Hotel Exeter are usually held on the second Thursday of a month. Full details of future walks and talks are given below.

The charge for each meeting is normally £5 (free to members). The annual membership fee is £15 (£20 for joint membership). If you sample a meeting and decide to join, the £5 cost will be deducted from your first annual fee. Walks and visits normally cost £5 p.p. for members and visitors alike.

We also produce six newsletters a year — how about we email you the most recent as a free taster? To request a copy just email us at:

And do check out this website and see for yourself the great selection of subjects with which we entertain our members. Just click on "Past Events" to explore our programme! Click on "How To Join Us" for an application form. Please fill out this form if you wish to stay updated on our events and receive newsletters.

We hope we will see you soon at one of our many events!

Through the Windows of an Ordinary House: A History of England

 
with Dr Ian Mortimer on Thursday, 28 May 2026
at 7pm at Leonardo Hotel Exeter [Jurys Inn Exeter Hotel]

Our national history is a patchwork quilt of stories – the North in the Industrial Revolution, the London of Samuel Pepys’s diary, and so on. How would it look if it were written from one point of view? And what if that point of view were here in Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor?

Ian Mortimer has spent the last few years writing an experimental book, “Through the Windows of an Ordinary House - A History of England” showing how the national story differs hugely according to where you were living. He looks at how the history of England would have appeared to the people who lived in his house (and previous houses on the site) since Saxon times. It is hoped that the end result will be nothing less than ‘a glimpse of a thousand years’.

As a prelude to publication in September, this is an illustrated introduction to the house itself and the people who lived in it since the thirteenth century, together with a view of the origins of the settlement.

Tickets for this event can be secured by following the link below. The event registration is free for members of the Society; there is a very small (£5) fee for non-members.

A Thousand Years of Treasures

 
with Emma Laws on Thursday, 11 June 2026
at 7pm at Leonardo Hotel Exeter

Exeter Cathedral, founded in 1050 under Bishop Leofric, is not only an architectural masterpiece. It is also a home to a rich collection of manuscripts and historical artefacts.

Our speaker, Emma Laws, is a librarian at Exeter Cathedral's Library and Archives. In 2024, she gave us a talk on the Exeter Book, a famous collection of medieval poetry, which has been at Exeter Cathedral since Leofric, the first Bishop of Exeter.

In June, she will talk about the history of Exeter Cathedral's treasures from its foundation to the opening this year of the brand new Friends Cloister Gallery and Treasures Exhibition.

Tickets for this event can be secured by following the link below. The event registration is free for the members of the Society; there is a very small (£5) fee for non-members.

The Vikings in the West Country

 
with Derek Gore on Thursday, 9 July 2026
at 7pm at Leonardo Hotel Exeter

For a long time, it has been suggested that the Vikings largely ignored the South West despite mention of their activities in documentary sources.

Studies of the period in the last twenty years show that this is false. In addition to the written sources, small finds from this period, found largely by metal detectorists, research on names and place-names, and stone sculptures paint a different picture. The Vikings raided, traded, and to some extent settled in this area. They also maintained contacts between the peninsula and the Frankish Empire and Ireland in the period.

This talk by Derek Gore, an Exeter-based archaeologist, will try to give a more accurate picture by examining and illustrating all strands of evidence for Viking activities in this area.

Tickets for this event can be secured by following the link below. The event registration is free for the members of the Society; there is a very small (£5) fee for non-members.

A walk around Newtown

 
Led by Red Coat guide Jackie Holdstock on Thursday, 13 August 2026
at 2pm at Waitrose car park (near the cash machine)

Jackie, our knowledgeable Exeter Local History Society member (and Red Coat guide), will lead us on this summer walk around Newtown.

The image above is just one of the surprising features of the area, and it is likely that many of us will never have noticed it before!

Newtown is, in fact, one of the older parts of Exeter and consists of the area between Polsloe Road, Blackboy Road, part of Western Way, and the north of Magdalen Road.

We will not be covering the whole area, but Jackie will try to give us some of the history of Newtown, ending at the very newest building — St Sidwell’s Point at about 4.00 (to get tea and cake if you wish).

A limited number of tickets will be available (£5 for everyone). You can buy a ticket by following this link:

“Charlotte Burrow and her letters from Regency Exeter.”

 
with Christopher Lewin on Thursday, 10 September 2026
at 7pm at Leonardo Hotel Exeter [Jurys Inn Exeter Hotel]

Ten years ago, Christopher Lewin bought, on eBay, an unknown archive of letters written in the Regency period. The dealer was planning to sell them individually if the archive remained unsold, in which case the present story would never have emerged. The letters bring to light a fascinating correspondence from 1808 to 1811 between a young woman in Exeter and her friend in London. Their friendship gradually blossoms into romance, though with some bumps along the way.

In his voyage of discovery, Christopher Lewin found that the letters contain a considerable amount of information about the people Charlotte meets, and in particular about William Nation, merchant and banker, and his daughter Eliza, who live in Southernhay.

Charlotte and her sister become orphans and are left in the care of a guardian. At the age of sixteen Charlotte is sent to London, where she joins the household of the Reverend George Gregory and his wife. She becomes friendly with their son John. At the age of twenty-four, she visits Exeter for three prolonged visits, and corresponds with John Gregory, who remains in London.

Christopher Lewin writes “Shining through these letters is Charlotte’s forthright but compassionate and endearing personality. Her life turns out differently from that of Jane Austen, her contemporary from a somewhat similar background.

My book ‘Charlotte Burrow: A Real-Life Regency Romance’ will be published by Author Gate later this year. Readers will hopefully enjoy this true account, told in the participants’ own words while it progresses and quite distinct from the many existing fictional romances of the Regency period. The book contains some of the interesting new insights into Exeter’s social history which emerge from the letters and my talk will include additional information of this nature.”

Tickets for this event can be secured by following the link below. The event registration is free for the members of the Society; there is a very small (£5) fee for non-members.