Exwick Cemetery was opened in 1877 on a rolling hillside of deep red soils, amidst open fields – as a garden cemetery. Lying beyond the built-up Cowick Street area, it was designed with public health in mind; a key challenge at that time. It offered a Church of England and a Nonconformist chapel, side-by-side, and of similar design, approached by a carriage drive between an avenue of trees. The original grounds were quite compact, and planted with exotic nursery trees. Repeated extensions took it across the fields and up the steep hillside towards Redhills. In recent times, a portion has been left to develop as woodland; and the whole is surrounded by modern housing development.
Today the grounds of Exwick cemetery include several 150-year old trees, including a magnificent Cedar of Lebanon and an entrance avenue of Arborvitae; together with more recent plantings of Copper Beech, Ginkgo, Tulip Tree and White Poplar. A boundary oak – of considerable age and girth – is a rare survivor from the fields and hedgerows that characterised this part of Exeter in days gone by.
There are memorials in memory of F.J. Widgery (artist and Mayor of Exeter); to Frank Shooter (who saved many lives at the Head Weir Bathing Place in the days when people regularly swam in the River Exe; to the families of St. Thomas’ plant nurseries – and to many others.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT (EX4 2BW)
Catch the ‘E’ bus (which starts in Sidwell Street, then on to and through St Thomas) from where it runs along Buddle Lane. Stop where it turns left into Redhills (just past the traffic light junction with Exwick Road). From that bus stop, it’s a 300m walk along Exwick Road to the cemetery entrance.
There are also a few car parking spaces along the road available on Exwick Road, on the left side if you drive from the city centre and just before the entrance to the cemetery.