The Dean and Chapter of Exeter in 1394–5 built a house on this site in which John Shillingford, a notable mayor, resided from 1423 to 1458. From 1543 to 1554 John Bodley, merchant, lived there and it is accepted that it was the birthplace of his son, Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, who was born in Exeter on 2nd March 1544.

The plaque was vandalised in 2017 and Exeter Civic Society replaced it with updated