EXETER

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)]

"EXETER, comprises the parishes of St. Thomas, Heavitree, Cathedral, and others, itis a city, seaport, municipal, and parliamentary borough, being the county town of the county of Devon, and a shire of itself, but locally situated in the hundred of Wonford, South Devon, 193¾ miles W.S.W. of London by the Great Western and Bristol and Exeter railways, on which it has a station, and 173 by road. It is also the terminus of the London and South-Western, North Devon and South Devon railways.

The situation of this city is commanding and picturesque; it occupies a flat ridge, or eminence, on the left bank of the river Exe, about 10 miles N.W. from its outlet into the English Channel, and is approached on the W. by, a handsome stone bridge over that river. By means of a ship-canal 5 miles in length and 15 feet deep, vessels of 400 tons can now reach the city. A large floating basin has also been recently formed-extreme length 917 feet, width 1102 feet, at the entrance 90 feet, and depth 18 feet.

Exeter, which is variously named Caer-Isc, Caer-Rydh, Caer-wise, Isca, Exonia, and Uxela, by ancient writers, is a place of remote antiquity, and is spoken of by Ptolemy and Antoninus as the capital of the Damnonian Britons, from whom it was captured by the Romans, and made a station called Isca Damnoniorum. Its importance is attested by the number of coins, small bronze statues, penates, tesselated pavements, and other Roman remains, which have been found in the immediate vicinity or under the old walls, portions of which still remain. The Second Augustan Legion was for long stationed here; it is said to have been besieged by Vespasian. In the 6th century it was taken by the Saxons and Angles, and in the reign of Alfred the Great was surprised by the Danes, who wintered here in 867. It was several times taken and retaken during this reign, and was subsequently occupied by the Cornish Britons, who paid a merely nominal obedience to the Saxon kings; it was retaken by Athelstan, who walled it round, made it a mint town, and founded the abbey in 932. It continued to flourish for above half a century, and at one time had so many religious foundations that the Saxons called it Monktown; its general name, however, was Exan-ceastre, or the "Castle on the Exe," whence Excester, its present local appellation, and Exonia, or Exeter.

In 1003 it was taken by Swein the Dane, and the monks were forced to fly; but were restored by Canute, who confirmed their privileges in 1019. Upon the union of the bishoprics of St. Germans and Crediton, the see was fixed at Exeter, and the monks were supplanted by secular canons at the instigation of Bishop Leofric. However, the chapter of this cathedral was not limited to a dean and twenty-four prebendaries till Bishop Briwere's time, 1225. After the assumption of the crown by Harold the city was occupied by Githa, his mother, and sustained a siege of eighteen days in 1067 by William the Conqueror, who rebuilt the castle of Rougemont, the ruins of which stand on a high eminence to the N. of the city.

In the Domesday Survey it is described as possessing immunity from taxes, and great privileges, which are said to have been confirmed by Henry I., who granted the first charter. In the reign of Stephen its fortifications were strengthened, and the castle held by Baldwin de Rivers, Earl of Devon, for the Empress Maud, who sustained in it a siege of more than two months, when the city and cathedral were much damaged. It was visited by Edward I. in 1285 and 1297, by Edward the Black Prince in 1371, by Henry VI. in 1451, Edward IV. in 1469, and by Richard III. in 1483.

In the 12th year of Henry VII.'s reign it was besieged by Perkin Warbeck, who assembled an army of above 6,000 men; but the citizens, aided by the Earl of Devon and other nobles, compelled him to retreat, and when the king shortly after visited the town, he presented the mayor with the sword he then wore, to be carried on public occasions. In 1501 the Princess Catherine passed through the city on her way to be married to Prince Arthur. In 1537 Henry VIII. made Exeter a county of itself. In the reign of Edward VI. the introduction of the reformed Liturgy was opposed by the peasantry of Devon and Cornwall, who surrounded the city, reducing the inhabitants to the greatest extremities, in compensation for which the king bestowed on the citizens the manor of Exe Island. Queen Elizabeth conferred on the city the title of "semper fidelis." In her reign the canal was commenced. In 1588 a gaol fever broke out here, which carried off the judge, 8 justices, 11 jurors, and others who attended the Western Assizes. At the commencement of the Great Rebellion, Exeter inclined to the royal interest, but soon fell, and was garrisoned for the parliament. It was then besieged by Prince Maurice, who took it in 1643, after a siege of eight months, and made it the headquarters of the royal army in the W. While staying here, the Queen of Charles I. gave birth to the Princess Henrietta, afterwards Duchess of Orleans.

In 1646, after a blockade of two months, it surrendered to Sir Thomas Fairfax, the parliamentary general. Colonel Penruddock was beheaded at the castle by Cromwell. After the Restoration, the manufacture of woollen goods, which had been introduced during the reign of Elizabeth by the numerous foreign clothworkers who settled here, received an additional stimulus, and in 1676 nearly the whole of the citizens were engaged in this branch of trade, which continued to thrive till the wars of Napoleon closed the continental ports to English manufactures.

The cotton and shawl manufacture, at one time also considerable, has entirely ceased, but a good traffic is carried on in the shipping trade. There are paper-mills, tanneries, foundries, breweries, corn-mills, malt-kilns, &c.; and a large number of wholesale warehouses for the sale of every kind of merchandise. There is here likewise an assay office for gold and silver wares, Exeter having been appointed one of the mint towns by William III.

It was one of the earliest towns to return representatives to parliament, and has continued to send two members since the reign of Edward I. Under the Reform, Act the limits of the parliamentary borough are more extensive than the municipal, the former comprising the parish of St. Leonard's, and parts of St. Thomas, Heavitree, Topsham, and Alphington, in addition to the twenty parishes included within the county of the city. The population of the former, in 1861, was 41,749, of the latter, 33,738; their relative numbers at the previous census of 1851 were 40,688 and 32,818, showing a steady increase in the decennial period. The town under the new Corporations Act is divided into six wards, instead of four as anciently, and is governed by a mayor, 12 aldermen, and 36 councillors, with the style of "mayor, bailiffs, and commonalty of the city of Exeter." It has a revenue of about £8,250, and includes an area of 1,800 acres, or within the now borough, 4,600. The corporation hold a court of quarter sessions, and the assizes are held by the judges of the Western Circuit twice a year for the county of the city at the guildhall, and twice a year for the county at the sessions-house. A County Court is held in the city. Petty sessions are held before the magistrates of the county every Friday at the sessions-house, and one of the city magistrates sits daily at the guildhall.

The city of Exeter, which is nearly 3 miles in circuit, consists of 5,381 inhabited houses, distributed into 18 parishes, and 2 parochial chapelries, with the extra-parochial precincts of the Cathedral Close and Bedford Chapel. The two principal streets intersect each other at right angles, and from them a number of smaller streets diverge, the latter extremely narrow, consisting chiefly of old houses, many of which, though now occupied by the poorest classes, bear evidence of having been formerly tenanted by wealthy persons.

Though still presenting many indications of antiquity, the city has during the last quarter of a century been undergoing a process of renovation, and can now boast of as handsome squares, terraces, streets, and houses, all of modern erection, as any other in the kingdom. It is well paved, lighted with gas, amply supplied with water, and remarkably clean. Baths and washhouses were opened in 1852.

The chief ornament of the city is its cathedral, a noble edifice of high antiquity, though the exact date of its erection is uncertain. The original cathedral was probably commenced in 1050, when Leofric, Bishop of Devonshire and Cornwall, settled both those sees at Exeter, and was completed by Warlewast, the Norman bishop. But this building was almost entirely destroyed in 1138 by King Stephen, during the siege of Exeter, and in 1280 the present structure was commenced, in the pointed style, the choir being finished in 1318 by Bishop Stapleton, and the nave in 1327 by Bishop Grandison, who put up the fine screen on the W. front. It is built principally of Beer stone, Purbeck being used for the columns. The building, dedicated to St. Peter, is cruciform, 408 feet in length from E. to W., including St. Mary's Chapel, and consists of a nave with two side aisles, two short transepts, formed out of the two massive Norman towers, each 130 feet in height, a choir of the same width as the nave, and 128 feet in length, ten chapels or oratories, and a chapter-house. The W. front is richly decorated with a profusion of niches and elegantly carved figures of evangelists, kings &c.

The interior is magnificent: the vaulted stone roof of the nave, which contains the minstrels' gallery, is supported by clustered columns, surmounted by fine pointed arches, as is also that of the choir, which is separated from the nave by a screen of exquisite workmanship. The episcopal throne in the choir is of black oak, elaborately carved; it was erected towards the close of the 15th century, and rises to the height of 52 feet. The monuments are numerous, including one to the famous Humphrey de Bohun, several to the Courtenays, one a canopied brass of 1455, also a brass of a priest, 1413, a monument to General Simcoe by Flaxman, one to Northcote by Chantrey, &c. The chapter-house is in keeping with the cathedral, and has a handsome oak roof. In it are preserved the original Exon Domesday Book, King Stephen's Norman charter, granted in 1136, written on parchment 10½ inches by 4½ with part of the seal attached: also the cathedral library, containing about 8,000 volumes. The organ is one of the largest in Europe, having pipes nearly 23 feet in height, and 4 feet in circumference. The bell in the N. tower, called the "Peter Bell," weighs 12,500 lbs., second only to the Great Tom of Oxford; in the same tower is a large clock of antique workmanship; and in the S. tower is a peal of 11 bells, being one of the heaviest peals in the kingdom, the tenor weighing 2,000 lbs.

The modern edifices worthy of notice are the guildhall, in Highstreet, a massive structure, erected in 1464, it contains portraits of the Princess Henrietta and General Monk, by Lely; sessions-house, theatre, royal subscription-rooms, for balls and concerts, built in 1820, county gaol, by Blackburn, city prison, bridewell, cavalry and artillery barracks, Custom House, situated in the Quay, six banks, West of England Insurance Office, savings-bank, athenaeum, Devon and Exeter Institution, founded in 1813, for the promotion of arts, literary and mechanics' institutes, museum connected with the Polytechnic Institution, founded in 1847, the iron bridge to St. David's Hill, the new bridge in Fore-street, the bishop's palace, built by Bishop Courtenay, the deanery, on the site of an ancient nunnery, Devon and Exeter Hospital, founded by Dean Clark, and a lunatic asylum. In Queen-street is situated the district bankruptcy court for the counties of Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, and West Somerset; it is a handsome building, completed in 1850, and also accommodates the business of the post-office and stamp-office.

The city possesses two spacious covered markets, recently erected, at a cost of £88,220, under the provisions of an Act of Parliament. The eastern market, situated in Queen-street, is of the Doric order, built chiefly of granite and Bath stone, and is appropriated to butchers' meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables. The western market is in Fore-street, and is occupied mainly by butchers' stalls and corn and seed factors; over the front entrance is a large room appropriated to the Government School of Art. A new park has recently been enclosed and planted, called Victoria Park, formerly known as Berry Meadow.

There are twentyfour churches and episcopal chapels in the city and suburbs, but none of them remarkable for architectural elegance or antiquity. The livings of the sixteen parishes within the walls are all rectories,* varying in value from £18 to £212. The livings of all the churches without the walls are perpetual curacies There are two Independent chapels, two Baptist, a Presbyterian, and several other places of worship for Methodists and Unitarians, a Friends' meeting-house, a Roman Catholic chapel, and a synagogue.

The charitable institutions of various kinds are numerous; they comprise the Devon and Exeter Hospital, for the sick and indigent, opened in 1747, containing 200 beds, supported partly by endowment; a dispensary, deaf and dumb institution, eye infirmary, penitentiary, lying-in charity, humane society, strangers' friend society, besides a number of minor charities, and endowed almshouses for about 120 aged poor. The income of the various charities amounts to several thousand pounds.

There are numerous public schools, endowed, National, and charity, besides a school of art, two schools for training domestic servants, and thirteen seminaries devoted to infant training. The free grammar school in High-street was founded by the citizens in the reign of Charles I.; it occupies the buildings of St. John's Hospital, founded in 1239 as an Austin priory, and was enlarged and a new front erected in 1853. It has sixteen exhibitions to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and was once under the mastership of Lempriere, the lexicographer. The other great educational endowment is Hele's Foundation, derived from the rents of large estates in Devonshire, left in trust by E. Hele in 1632 to the Maynards, to appropriate them to "some godly purposes and charitable uses." These for above 200 years were administered by the descendants of Sir J. Maynard, without being accountable in any manner for their application, but since the late proceedings in Chancery they have been vested in the crown, which, on application of the citizens, has distributed it in the following manner, viz. £1,500 for building a boys' school, with an endowment of £300 a year for its continual maintenance; £1,000 for building a training school, with £200 a year for its maintenance; £400 for an infants' school, with £100 a year for its maintenance; £400 for a girls' school, with £150 a year for its maintenance. Besides these are the blue-coat school, Exeter British school, and above fifty day schools. In the city are published the Exeter Flying Post, Western Times, Exeter and Plymouth Gazette.

The chief antiquities are the ruins of the castle of Rougemont, built by William the Conqueror on the site of a much earlier fortress (some say of Julius Caesar), the seat of the West Saxon kings: and the ancient Saxon gateway, which still remains, covered with ivy. Near it were discovered, in 1778, Roman penates, urns, coins, &c. Parts of the city walls, which were half a mile by three-eighths, still remain, and afford very fine views of the surrounding country. In the vicinity are traces of camps and of Roman roads, leading to Totnes, Stratton, Molland, and Collumpton, the last forming a portion of the famous Port Way.

Exeter diocese, composed of the old sees of Crediton and St. Germans, is in the province of Canterbury; it extends over the counties of Devon and Cornwall, and the Scilly Islands, including the archdeaconries of Exeter, Barnstaple, Totnes, and Cornwall, subdivided into 23 deaneries and 588 benefices, of which 42 are in the patronage of the bishop. Among the prelates who occupied this see were Coverdale, Hall, Ward, Trelawney, and Blackburn. The chapter consists of a dean, chancellor, the 4 archdeacons, subdean, precentor, 7 canons, and 17 prebendaries. Exeter is the seat of a Poor-law Union and superintendent registry, co-extensive with the city, and the head of a new County Court and excise districts, which take several of the adjoining parishes.

Amongst the illustrious persons born in the city may be mentioned Cardinal Langton, archbishops Iscanus and Baldwin, Sir T. Bodley, founder of the library at Oxford, Sir S. Baskerville, the physician, Lock and Jackson, musicians, Hopkins and Yalden, the poets, D'Urfey, the wit, Hudson, the master of Reynolds, Walker, the defender of Londonderry, and Joanna Southcote. The Cecil family takes the titles of earl and marquis from this place.

Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday are market days, but a daily market is held for fish, fruit, &c. Fairs are held on the third Wednesday in February and May, on the last Wednesday in July, and on the second Wednesday in December. Races take place in July on Haldon Hill, the new racecourse being a circle of one mile."

Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003