Mincinglake Road

Derived from the Anglo Saxon word moenchin, meaning nun. The stream of the same name ran past St Katherine's Priory. The nuns dammed the stream further up the valley to create a fish lake, hence the nuns lake. The Mincinglake rises above Mincinglake Bridge on Stoke Hill and enters the Exe at Northbrook Park, where it is named the Northbrook. It was referred to as the Wynford in 937, possibly derived from the Celtic word for Fair Stream. However, Wynford may be derived from the English word for flight or battle - its has been suggested that a ford near the bridge could have been the site of a battle between the Romans and British population, although there is no actual evidence for such an event. Wynford lent its name to almost all the lands around Exeter called Wonford. The Stoke Hill estate, of which Mincinglake Road is part, was commenced in 1950 to replace the housing lost to bombing in 1942. It would not be completed until 1958.

The Mincinglake stream is known as the 'Panny' by many locals, a name that may go back hundreds of years. Andre Brice's Mobiad of 1770 mentions a place named the 'Iron-dish' – "The Burial-Yard of Heavitree-Gallows belongs to our Company of Taylors to take care of, for which a Bit of Land was bequeath'd to 'em. Once a Year they walk out in a Body to visit it, when on the Bridge, at a Place call'd Iron-Dish they tarry some Time, treating each Passerby with a Mug of Ale." Thisbridge was the Heavitree Bridge at the bottom of Wonford Hill. The stream becomes the Northbrook when it crosses under the Topsham Road.