[2] Clyst St Mary contains Westpoint Arena and Showground, the Crealy Adventure Park, the Cat and Fiddle Training Ground for Exeter City F.C.

The village of Clyst St Mary itself has three main areas: Additionally the parish includes various outlying farms and hamlets.

Historically, the village was recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Bishop's Cliste' and is best known for its late 12th-century bridge across the River Clyst, long the main route between Exeter and London.

Rebuilt in 1310, it is the oldest bridge in Devon and for over seven hundred years constituted part of the main road connection between Exeter and London.

Clyst St Mary was the site of one of the decisive battles in the 1549 Prayer Book Rebellion, when West Country resistance to the Protestant Reformation was quashed.

After a ferocious battle Russell's troops gained the advantage leaving a thousand Cornish and Devonians dead and many more taken prisoner, 900 of whom were massacred later that day at Clyst Heath.