Exeter Free Cottages

John Dinham was born at Kenton in 1788 and became a successful tea merchant. Dinham founded the Exeter Free cottages, built on land he had purchased at St David’s in 1860. He was personally responsible for the building of thirty-two houses, assisted by public subscriptions, while eight were funded by John Scanes. The cottages were completed for the sum of £12,846, which included the cost of the land.

The cottages were designed in Tudor style by the city surveyor George Cumming and were to be “comfortable homes for decayed tradespeople”. They remain little altered today.

Information from ‘Exeter’s Almhouses’ by Jane Passmore, 2010, published by M.J. Passmore

Acknowledgments: Exeter Archaeology