Today, Livery Dole is a crossroads in the Heavitree area of the city of Exeter, Devon, England. It was originally a triangle of land between what is now Heavitree Road and Magdalen Road. The name first appears in a document of 1279 and probably derives from the Old English Leofhere, a man who owned the land, and dole, meaning a piece of land.[1]
At the point of the Livery Dole triangle, where a toll-house used to stand, is a Victorian lamp post bearing an inscription that reads "Charles George Gordon, 26th January 1885". This was placed in memory of the famous British General Gordon who was killed in the siege of Khartoum in 1885. He was a friend of Heavitree vicar, Prebendary Barnes who paid for the memorial.[2]
Beyond the lamp post is the Chapel of St. Clare, built of red Heavitree stone between 1418 and 1439, originally as a chantry to pray for the souls of the executed (see below).[3] The adjacent almshouses were founded in March 1591, completed in 1594 by Sir Thomas Denys,[1] rebuilt in 1849, and extended in 1980.[4]
There were two places in Livery Dole that were used for executions. Until 1531, people were burned at the stake near the modern day junction of Magdalen Road and Barrack Road. From then until 1818, a site known as Magdalen Drop was used for hanging—this was near College Avenue.[5]
The last person to be executed at Livery Dole was Samuel Holmyard who was hanged at the Magdalen Drop in 1818 for passing a forged City Bank one pound note,[5] but the most notable execution was the burning at the stake of Protestant martyr Thomas Benet for his religious beliefs in 1531. Burning furze was pushed into his face when he refused to deny his heresy of nailing a message on Exeter Cathedral's west door proclaiming the pope to be an anti-christ and rejecting his supremacy in religious affairs.[6]
IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THOMAS BENET, M.A. WHO SUFFERED AT LIVERY DOLE, A.D. 1531, FOR DENYING THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE, AND OF AGNES PREST WHO SUFFERED ON SOUTHERNHAY A.D. 1557, FOR REFUSING TO ACCEPT THE DOCTRINE OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
'FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH'.
Two monuments were later erected to Benet's memory, one at the Almshouses at Livery Dole and another, a pillar of Dartmoor granite, in nearby Denmark Road. This monument was designed by Harry Hems and erected in 1909 with money raised through public subscription. It also commemorates the death of Agnes Prest who was burnt at the stake in Southernhay in 1557, also for heresy. Two plaques on the obelisk depict Benet banging on the door of the Cathedral and Prest at the stake.[6]
According to Charles Worthy, in his History of the Suburbs of Exeter (1892), the iron ring which was placed around the victim's bodies and the chain which attached them to the stake were found in 1851 during rebuilding work on the almshouses.[7]