The Form and Growth of the City Modern City

In 1900 Exeter still occupied less than a third of the area of the modern city. Some parts of the city still contained very poor homes; public housing schemes cleared these away in the 1920s and 30s. New estates were built on the outskirts of the city, swallowing up the old villages of Alphington, Exwick, Whipton, Heavitree and Pinhoe. In May 1942 bombing raids left many historic buildings and homes destroyed. Over the next few decades much of the city was hastily rebuilt, leaving modern Exeter with its distinctive mix of new and historic buildings.