The first stone bridge across the Exe at Exeter was completed about 1238, by Nicholas and his son, Walter Gervase, who was four times Mayor of the city and who died in 1259. They raised the money through a public subscription - Walter went to friends and wealthy and influential citizens requesting funds for the new crossing. He raised enough to not only build the bridge, but to purchase properties whose income provided money for maintenance.

The bridge was in fact started as far back as 1190. Built from volcanic stone quarried from Northernhay, near the castle, it had 18 arches and was about 229 m (750 ft) long. it had  a chapel at each end, and was probably the third stone bridge to be completed in England, the first being London Bridge. Because the bridge was narrow, there were recesses over each pier for pedestrians to wait, while a cart or animals crossed. Indeed, farmers would have driven herds of cattle across the bridge to market. As was common at this time, there were houses built over the bridge. A church dedicated to St Edmund's was built over two of its arches at the eastern end, and one to St Thomas at the western end. it was replaced in 1778.

When the road system around the west side of Exeter was remodelled in the 1960s and 1970s, the ancient street that ran from the medieval Exe Bridge to the the site of the West Gate, was dug up and some houses were removed. St Edmund's Church had been extensively remodelled in 1832 and the roadway widened in 1854. The contractors discovered the remains of eight arches at the eastern end of the old medieval bridge. Archeologists were called in and it was excavated, the Victorian tower of St Edmunds saved, and both opened to the public in the middle of a busy road system.

It is now the oldest surviving medieval stone bridge in England, but no longer functions as a bridge as the surviving arches are on the river bank.