Before 1835 the parish of St.Michael's was out of the city boundaries and jurisdiction. Both the Talbot and the Hare and Hounds in College Street were widely used for country business, all the amenities of the town but officially beyond its limits.
The Talbot is still with us, one of the eldest taverns in the county, frequently mentioned in 16th-century records as playing an important part in local history. Because it was outside the municipal limits it was frequently used as a convenient place of meeting by county justices. One notable incident occurred there shortly after the Revolution of 1688 when in view of an expected French landing in Devonshire Jacobite suspects were examined at the inn. In 1745, when young Charles Stuart was marching on London, the county justices were again busy, for the city and county had many Jacobite sympathizers. But the Jacobites contented themselves with drinking the health of the 'King over the water and confusion to the Whigs'.