Extract from "Through England on a Side Saddle"

by Celia Fiennes, 1695

From: Early Tours in Devon and Cornwall

(Edited by R. Pearse Chope, 1918)

Exeter is a town very well built, the streets are well pitched, spacious noble streets, and a vast trade is carried on. As Norwitch is for "coapes, callamanco, and damaske," so this is for serges. There is an incredible quantity of them made and sold in the town. [1] Their market day is Friday, which supplies with all things like a fair almost; the markets for meat, fowl, fish, garden things, and the dairy produce take up three whole streets besides the large market house set on stone pillars, which runs a great length, on which they lay their packs of serges. Just by it is another walk within pillars, which is for the yarn. The whole town and country is employed for at least twenty miles round in spinning, weaving, dressing and scouring, fulling, and drying of the serges. It turns the most money in a week of any thing in England. One week with another there is £10,000 paid in ready money, sometimes £15,000. The weavers bring in their serges, and must have their money, which they employ to provide them yarn to go to work again. There is also a square court with penthouses round, where the malters are with malt and oatmeal, but the serge is the chief manufacture. There is a prodigious quantity of their serges they never bring into the market, but are in hired rooms which are noted for it, for it would be impossible to have it all together. The carriers I met going with it, as thick, all entering into town with their loaded horses; they bring them all just from the loom, and so they are put into the fulling-mills, but first they will clean and scour their rooms with them, which, by the way, gives no pleasing perfume to a room, the oil and grease, and I should think it would rather foul a room than cleanse it, because of the oils, but I perceive it is otherwise esteemed by them, which will send to their acquaintances that are tuckers the days the serges come in for a roll to clean their house - this I was an eye-witness of. Then they lay them in soak in urine, then they soap them and so put them into the fulling-mills, and so work them in the mills dry till they are thick enough; then they turn water into them, and so scour them. The mill does draw out and gather in the serges. It is a pretty diversion to see it - a sort of huge notched timbers like great teeth. One would think it should injure the serges, but it does not. The mills draw in with such a great violence that, if one stands near it and it catch a bit of your garments, it would be ready to draw in the person even in a trice. When they are thus scoured, they dry them in racks strained out, which are as thick set one by another as will permit the dresses to pass between, and huge large fields occupied this way almost all round the town, which is to the river side; then, when dry, they pick out all knots, then fold them with a paper between every fold, and so set them on an iron plate and screw down the press on them, which has another iron plate on the top, under which is a furnace of fire of coals--this is the hot press. Then they fold them exceeding exact, and then press them in a cold press. Some they dye, but the most are sent up for London white.

I saw the several vats they were a-dyeing in of black, yellow, blue, and green, which two last colours are dipped in the same vat, - that which makes it differ is what they were dipped in before, which makes them either green or blue. They hang the serges on a great beam or great pole on the top of the vat, and so keep turning it from one to another - as one turns it off into the vat, the other rolls it out of it; so they do it backwards and forwards till it is tinged deep enough of the colour. Their furnace that keeps their dye-pans boiling is all under that room made of coal fires. There was in a room by itself a vat for the scarlet, that being a very changeable dye, no waste must be allowed in that; indeed, I think they make as fine a colour as their "bowdies" are in London. These rollers I spake of, two men do continually roll on and off the pieces of serge till dipped enough. The length of these pieces is or should hold out 26 yards.

This city does exceedingly resemble London, for besides these buildings I mentioned for the several markets, there is an Exchange full of shops like our Exchanges are, only it is but one walk along as was the Exchange at Salisbury House in the Strand; there is also a very large space railed in by the Cathedral with walks round it, which is called the Exchange for Merchants, that constantly meet twice a day, just as they do in London. There are seventeen churches in the city, and four in the suburbs. There is some remains of the Castle walls; they make use of the rooms which are inside for the Assizes; there are the two bars, besides being large rooms with seats and places convenient and jury room. Here is a large walk at the entrance between rows of pillars. There is, besides this, just at the market-place a Guildhall, the entrance of which is a large place set on stone pillars, beyond which are the rooms for the session or any town affairs to be adjusted. Behind this building there is a vast cistern, which holds upwards of 600 hogsheads of water, which supplies by pipes the whole city; this cistern is replenished from the river, which is on purpose turned into a little channel by itself to turn a mill, and fills the engine that casts the water into the trunks which convey it to this cistern.[2] The water engine is like those at Islington and Darby, as I have seen, and is what now they make use of in divers places either to supply them with water or to drain a marsh or overplus of water.

The river X is a fine stream; they have made several bays or weirs above the bridge, which cast the water into many channels for the convenience of turning all their mills, by which means they have composed a little island, for at the end it again returns into its own united channel. These weirs make great falls in the water, it comes with great violence; here they catch the salmon as they leap, with spears. The first of these bays is a very great one; there is one below the bridge which must be taken away when the navigation is complete, for they will need all their water to fill it to a depth to carry the ships, for just by the bridge is the quay designed, or that which now is already [3] they will enlarge to that place. Just by this quay is the custom house, [3] an open space below with rows of pillars, which they lay in goods just as they are unladen out of the ships in case of wet. Just by are several little rooms for land waiters, &c., then you ascend up a handsome pair of stairs into a large room full of desks and little partitions for the writers and accountants - it was full of books and files of paper. By it are two other rooms, which are used in the same way when there is a great deal of business. There are several good conduits to supply the city with water besides that cistern; there is also a very fine market cross.

The Cathedral at Exeter is preserved in its outside adornments beyond most I have seen, there remaining more of the fine carved work in stone, the figures and niches full and in proportion, though, indeed, I cannot say it has that great curiosity in work and variety as the great Church at Wells. It is a lofty building in the inside, the largest pair of organs I have ever seen, with fine carving of wood, which runs up a great height and made a magnificent appearance. The choir is very neat, but the Bishop's seat or throne was exceeding and very high, and the carving very fine and took up a great compass full of all variety of figures, something like the work over the Archbishop's throne in St. Paul's, London, but this was larger if not so curious. There were several good monuments and effigies of Bishops; there was one of a judge and his lady that was very curious, their garments embroidered all marble and gilt and painted. [4] There was a very large good library, in which was a press that had an anatomy of a woman.~ The tower is 167 steps up, on which I had a view of the whole town, which is generally well built. I saw the Bishop's palace and garden. There is a long walk as well as broad, enclosed with rows of lofty trees which make it shady and very pleasant, which went along by the ditch and bank on which the town wall stands.

There are five gates to the town; there is also another long walk within shady trees on the other side of the town, which leads to the grounds where the drying frames are set up for the serges.

[1] "The late made stuff of serges, or perpetuanos, is now (1630) in great use and request with us, wherewith the market at Exeter is abundantly furnished of all sorts and prices; fine, coarse, broad, narrow; the number will hardly be credited." (Westcote, View of Devon, 60. )

[2] 1694. - The utility of having the water from the river Exe conveyed to the houses of this city being taken into consideration by the chamber, an act of Parliament was procured, and an engine for that purpose erected (at the head of the new leat) on a very ingenious model; which, notwithstanding the elevated situation of the city, plentifully supplies (by the help of wooden pipes) such inhabitants who, on payment of an annual rent, are desirous of being furnished therewith. (Jenkins, Exeter, 193.)

[3] 1675. - The quay and adjoining island were levelled and encompassed with a strong wall, alongside which ships may lie with great conveniency, either to discharge or take in their cargoes. A new custom-house was built on the quay, with convenient offices and cellars for storing goods. (Jenkins, Exeter, 179. )

[4] Sir John Doddridge and his wife

Transcribed by Brian Randell, 6 Jan. 1997