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The Blue Boar Inn is mentioned by Dymond (1880) as standing in Magdalen Street, adjoining
the Eye Infirmiary. Hooker also mentions it as "the signe of the bore", this will
have been around 1530.
The original Magdalen St Infirmiary was built in 1813 having moved from Holloway St. The present building that used to be the West Of England Eye Infirmiary (Hotel Barcelona) was rebuilt on this site in 1901. It is a fair bet that the Blue Boar Inn was demolished in the late C19th. The Exeter club of the Woolstaplers Society met at the Blue Boars Head around 1785. These people attempted to control every wool-sorter in the City and were sticklers for the rules of the union. The master woolstaplers met to discuss developments in Swale's Tavern at around this time. No idea at all about Swale's Tavern. The EFP confirms that these inns were the same. The paper also states that the Head became the Inn after 1820. There were "for sale" notices in 1793 and the lanlord was fined for serving after hours in 1823 and 1827 when George Jury ran the inn. White's Devon Directory (1850) lists the place at 10 Magdalen Street with Thomas Bromell resident. Pigot (1823) lists G. Jury at the Blue Boar's Head. Stuart Callon Copyright ©2002 |