Lucky Lane

This lane runs parallel to, and behind Colleton Crescent. It is probably a corruption of Larkbeare Lane. Some early maps of Exeter show it named Graves Street, which may refer to a possible graveyard belonging to the Greyfriars, who resided in the area from 1303, when they relocated from Little Britayne, now the Bartholomew Street area. Jenkins wrote in 1806 of the land to the rear of the gardens of Colleton Crescent "...erected convenient mews and coach-houses, and another street parallel to Holloway Street, to be named Graves's-street." When the mews were constructed, human remains were found when excavating the foundations. The mews houses were in fact built facing the Friars, with a rear entrance into Lucky Lane. The Lamp Committee voted 17 to 16, to erect a lamp in Lucky Lane in 1864.

This area is in the middle of Friernhay which before the construction of Colleton Crescent and adjacent development, was packed with rack fields to dry the wool produced by the fulling mills. It came into the possession of the Colleton family at the beginning of the 19th century, allowing its' development.