The Arts Society Honiton

06/09/2026

A little bit of Honiton history 🍺

By 1530 there were 57 pubs in Honiton. At the peak, 100 licensed premises. Even by 1913 there were still 22 — one for every 145 people in the town.

Names included The Pressing Iron, The Chopping Knife and The Green Dragon. The earliest recorded inn was The Angel, in 1509 — now Costa Coffee.

Five are still serving today. Can you name them without looking?
The answers, and a great deal more, are on our free Honiton Heritage Trail: https://qrco.de/bgpFAi

22/08/2026

Around fifty members and guests joined us for our Summer Social at Honiton Museum — a lace making demonstration, the lace and Honiton Pottery displays, and of course the hippopotamus remains found when the town was bypassed in the 1960s.

We were delighted to welcome our Mayor, Serena Sexton Honiton Town Council, and town crier Caroline Kolek, who prepared a special cry to launch our Honiton Town Heritage Trail during the evening. Our thanks also to Pauline and Michael Stewart, the national and local leads for Arts Society Heritage Trails, for joining us.

We are pleased to have been able to donate the profits from the event to Allhallows Museum Museum.

The trail is free for anyone to use — residents and visitors alike: https://qrco.de/bgpFAi

The Arts Society Honiton meets at the Beehive Honiton from October to June. Our lectures are chosen to cover all aspects of the arts and are given by carefully selected lecturers chosen for their expertise and presentation ability.

10/08/2026

🚶 Have you walked our Honiton Heritage Trail yet?

It's a free, self-guided walk through 800 years of Honiton's history — the wide Georgian High Street rebuilt after the great fires, the inns that changed horses on the London to Exeter Road, the lace, the pottery, and the Hot Pennies.

Start at the Millennium Town Sculpture in Lace Walk and go from there. The trail comes in four short sections, so you can do the lot in an afternoon or take one at a time over a few weeks — whatever suits.

Everything is on your phone — no app to download, nothing to print. Just tap the link below or scan the QR code:

https://qrco.de/bgpFAi

Created by David and Janet Ward of The Arts Society Honiton, and dedicated to the memory of Dr Robin Essame.

30/01/2022

03/03/2018

Tuesday 13th March 2pm at the Beehive Honiton. Geri Parlby will be talking about a less well known side of William Morris, about his links to local copper and arsenic mines and how his toxic green wall papers are said to have poisoned thousands of people across England

10/12/2017

Come and join us for an hour of festive entertainment on Tuesday 12th December at the beehive Honiton. Harpist Sarah Deere Jones will bring alive the spirit of a medieval Christmas with carols, readings and music played on a medieval harp

14/11/2017

Members arriving at the Beehive today for a lecture on 20th century British Sculpture. The lecture by Dr Justine Hopkins was well received by a large audience

09/11/2017

Are you sitting comfortably? The next meeting of the Honiton Decorative and Fine Arts Society is on 20th century Sculpture. Come to the Beehive,Honiton on Tuesday 14th November to hear Justine Hopkins. She has promised to have us all enthralled by this subject.

02/10/2017

The Newcomers visit to Fursdon House on September 29th was a great success and marks the start of an exciting new programme of events for this season. Don't miss the first lecture 2pm Tuesday 10th October at the Beehive Honiton " The Cult of Gloriana"

04/06/2017

Thanks to Whitton's antiques for a very successful quiz night. Don't forget the next HDFAS meeting on June 13th 2pm at the Beehive. "Les Parisiennes"