The ward of Alphington has a population of 8,250 according to the 2001 census, making it the third largest in Exeter, with the village itself accounting for about a quarter of this figure.
[1] It is surrounded on two sides by countryside, with the Marsh Barton trading estate to the east and Exeter City to the north.
[3] It is sculpted from local Beer stone, and a fibreglass replica cast is currently (January 2016) in storage at Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
Mile End Cottage, on the main road through the village, is the house that Charles Dickens rented for his parents in 1839.
It is still possible to see the abutments of the bridge that used to carry the railway-line over Church Road, and also smaller scale masonry remains at the previous overbridge in Ide Lane.