On 7 January 1841 the Flying Post reported that the Directors of the Bristol and Exeter Railway intended to make the terminus of their important undertaking in two fields adjacent to the Red Cow Turnpike. Exeter waited in anticipation for railway mania to reach the city, and the chosen site at Pennyroyal consisted of eighteen acres of meadow belonging to Mr W. M. Praed and farmed by Mrs Drew, dairywoman. The City Council refused permission for the line to enter the city boundary, so the station had to be built outside it. A second field, Taddyford Meadow, owned by the Worshipful Company of Tuckers and Shearers, was purchased to provide the approach. The local firm Hoopers constructed the station to the design of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
On 1 May 1844 the Bristol line finally reached Exeter. The Directors’ Special, the “City of Exeter”, steamed into the terminus after a five‑hour journey from Paddington. A grand gala for nine hundred invited guests was held in the goods warehouse, with Brunel, the Mayor and other dignitaries in attendance. Two bands played, and a separate marquee was provided for the ladies. Thousands of people crowded around the station, and a refreshment booth was set up in the meadow. The Directors’ Special was not the first train to use the station; at 7am the first scheduled service to Bristol and Bath departed, followed by the 8.15am service to Paddington. Seven departures ran that day, with the mail train leaving at 10.15pm. Serious consideration was given to naming the station Red Cow, but St David’s Station was chosen. Both platforms were placed on the east side of the track to avoid passengers crossing the line. Within days advertisements appeared for horses and coaches for sale due to the extension of the railway, including the Telegraph coach and a four‑horse harness offered in St Sidwell’s.
The South Devon Railway opened on 30 May 1846, running towards Plymouth and requiring a new carriage shed at the southern end of the station. Designed from the start for the atmospheric system, passengers had to change at St David’s to continue their journey with a separate company. A pumping house for the atmospheric railway was built at the southern end of the station complex and remained into the late twentieth century, although rebuilt as a water tower after the atmospheric system ceased operation after only twelve months. It was replaced by a modern signal box in 1985.
The Exeter and Crediton Railway opened on 12 May 1851 as a branch from the line near Cowley Bridge, running into St David’s. In February 1862 the Bristol and Exeter Railway was forced to accommodate standard gauge alongside its broad gauge track when the extension from the London and South Western Railway curved down from Queen Street Station, crossed Bonhay Road and entered St David’s from the south.
Kelly’s Directory recorded that Giuseppe Garibaldi, the father of modern Italy, passed through the station on 25 May 1864, where he was received with great demonstration on the new platform by the citizens.
The arrival of the London and South Western Railway at Queen Street Station in 1860 prompted the Bristol and Exeter Railway to improve St David’s. The present station opened on 1 June 1864 at a cost of £29,760 for the station and £20,000 for additional works. Designed by Francis Fox and dressed with Bath stone, it had a single‑span pitched roof 360 feet by 132 feet covering three tracks and platforms, making it the largest in the country. The main entrance façade had twenty‑six ornamental urns along its top edge. By 1895 the station handled between 12,500 and 22,000 passengers per month.
Further enlargement and rebuilding took place in 1912–14 when Fox’s roof was removed and replaced with the present individual awning‑style roofing over the platforms at a cost of £33,325. Two through lines were added to accommodate increased traffic, making six through lines, five platforms and one bay platform. In July 1914, 28,755 passengers passed through the station. A makeover in 1938 added eleven feet to the width of the station frontage, the GWR logo, and extra offices.
The Great Western Hotel probably dates from 1844 or shortly after. In 1876 it was known as the Railway Hotel and in 1923 became the Trust House Hotel. A hostel for refreshment room staff was built in 1938 at the bottom of St David’s Hill opposite the Jolly Porter, in the same style as the station master’s house; it is now occupied by Atkins Law.
A notable moment in publishing history occurred at St David’s in the early 1930s when Allen Lane, a director of Bodley Head, found himself on the platform after visiting Agatha Christie in Paignton. Unable to find a modern book at the station bookstall—only magazines and Victorian novels—he conceived the idea of producing cheap, quality paperbacks. Penguin Books was the result, with the first titles sold in the summer of 1935.
The legacy of broad gauge can still be observed in the generous spacing between the platforms at St David’s and the wide tunnels and bridges along the line, built to accommodate Brunel’s seven‑foot gauge. His railway shortened the London to Exeter journey time from 32½ hours by stagecoach in 1800 to just three hours by 1900, transforming travel and communication for the city.
Image from William Dawson entitled "From the Viaduct in St Thomas to the Exeter Railway Station. View North of the Line"
