The parish was devastated in the English Civil War (1642 – 1646) when the Royalist defenders of Exeter cleared vast areas outside the city walls in preparation for a siege. They levelled Sidwell Street to the ground, leaving St Sidwell’s church alone in a sea of rubble in the area between the East Gate and St Anne’s chapel. The Parliamentarians destroyed the guildhall in St Sidwell’s, during their own bout of devastation in 1643. During the Civil War local legend has it that George Cheeke saved the bells of Allhallows church on Goldsmith Street from being smelted down for cannon
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