History of Exeter

After the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century, nothing is known of Exeter for about 270 years, until around 680 when a document about St Boniface reports that he was educated at the Abbey in Exeter.

Celtic & Saxon times

The Saxons arrived in Exeter after defeating the Britons at the Battle of Peonnum in Somerset in 658. It is likely that amongst the ruins of the Roman city there was plenty of room for both peoples, and the Saxons allowed the Britons to continue to live in their own quarter of the city under their own laws. This was almost certainly in the same area as the ancient British settlement – in the locality of the present-day Bartholomew Street. Until 1637 this street was known as Britayne in memory of the fact that it was once the British quarter.

In 876 Exeter (then known as Escanceaster) was attacked and briefly captured by the Danes. Alfred the Great drove them out the next summer, and in the following years made Exeter one of the four burhs in Devon, repairing the Roman city walls in the process. In 893 the city held off another siege by the Danes.

In about 928 King Athelstan caused the walls to be thoroughly repaired and at the same time drove out the Britons from the city. It is not known whether or not these Britons had lived in the city continuously since Roman times – they may have been immigrants from the countryside when Alfred made the city a burh. According to William of Malmesbury, they were sent beyond the River Tamar, thereby fixing that river as the boundary of Devon, although Athelstan may have been restoring an old