March 2007 - Southernhay West.

Southernhay is bordered with fine Georgian townhouses and tastefully designed modern offices, this is the heart of Exeter's commercial area with banks, insurance companies, solicitors and regional company headquarters. It was known as Southernhay as far back as 1265. It follows the line of the great town ditch, just outside the city wall that was known as Crulditch. This comes from the word, crull, meaning 'curly', as the ditch followed the curve of the city wall. Southernhay itself, means the 'southern enclosure'.

The Bank of England opened several provincial banks in towns across the country, after there had been a failure of several country banks in 1825. They opened their Exeter branch at 18 Southernhay on 17th December 1827. The front door had a steel plate behind, and removable bars to further strengthen it, and the basement had a strengthened vault installed. The bank lost money and was relocated to Plymouth on the 30th April 1834, making it the shortest lived, provincial Bank of England in the country.