page_title: Heavitree
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Heavitree / History
caption_attribution_description: English: St Michael &amp; All Angels church, Heavitree (4) The curse of the converging verticals. This view of 1065081 is from Church Street, down below the churchyard.
context_page_description: Heavitree is a historic village and parish situated formerly outside the walls of the City of Exeter in Devon, England, and is today an eastern suburb of that city. It was formerly the first significant village outside the city on the road to London. It was the birthplace of Thomas Bodley, and Richard Hooker, and until 1818 was a site for executions.
context_section_description: The name appears in Domesday Book as Hevetrowa or Hevetrove, and in a document of c.1130 as Hefatriwe. Its derivation is uncertain, but because of the known execution site at Livery Dole, it is thought most likely to derive from heafod–treow (old English for "head tree"), which refers to a tree on which the heads of criminals were placed, though an alternative explanation put forward by W. G. Hoskins is that it was a meeting place for the hundred court.
  The last executions for witchcraft in England took place at Heavitree in 1682, when the "Bideford Witches" Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles, and Susanna Edwards were executed. (Local folklore used to associate the name with the aftermath of the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, when Judge Jeffreys supposedly ran out of gibbets.) The last execution to take place here was in 1818, when Samuel Holmyard was hanged at the Magdalen Drop for passing a forged one pound note.
  In the hundred years from 1801 to 1901, the population of Heavitree grew from 833 to 7,529, reflecting its assimilation into the expanding city of Exeter. It first became an independent Urban District, but became a part of the city in 1913. Part of the historic district is still one of the wards for elections to the City Council.
  The expanding population necessitated the rebuilding of the small medieval church and the church of St Michael and All Angels was built in 1844–46 to the design of architect David Mackintosh. Its most imposing feature is the west tower, built in 1890 to the design of E. Harbottle. In 2002, a yew tree in the churchyard was included among the "50 Great British Trees" to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. However, it is unlikely that this is the actual tree from which Heavitree gets its name.
  The Heavitree Brewery was a local brewer, located in Heavitree; its history can be traced back to 1790.  It was the last brewery in Exeter to cease production, continuing until 1970, the brewery buildings were demolished in 1980.  The name continues in use as the owner of a chain of pubs in South West England, and Heavitree Brewery PLC continues as a quoted company with its address in Exeter.  There is also a linked charitable trust.
caption: The church of St Michael and All Angels
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