Tuckers Hall was built and has been owned by the Guild of Weavers, Tuckers and Shearmen since 1471, but the earliest record of a Guild of Clothworkers in Exeter is 1459, when a dispute with the Cordwainers as to antiquity and precedence is recorded.
In 1471 the Exeter Guild of Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen was given a plot of land here in Fore Street by William and Cecilia Bowden. The Bowdens’ gift lay half way between the city’s historic centre and its manufacturing district, known as Shilhay or Exe Island. The Guild regulated the woollen cloth trade in Exeter, which made the city (and Devon) wealthy and a centre for international trade. The woollen cloth trade thrived from the 1430s until the end of the 18th century; at times making Exeter the third richest city in the country.
By the mid-1800s Exeter’s woollen cloth industry had declined, the Incorporation’s membership had fallen and Tuckers Hall was in poor shape. In 1853 a survey of the building made a worrying discovery: the front wall was leaning 28cm (11 inches) from the perpendicular and was in danger of collapsing.
In 1931 the modern world came to Tuckers Hall with the introduction of electricity, while part of the old world was re-discovered when medieval wall paintings were found hidden beneath the oak panelling of the upper chamber.
Throughout the remainder of the 1900s, Tuckers Hall fought off a series of threats ranging from death watch beetle, dry rot and fire, to the Blitz of May 1942.