Exeter Part 1

Exeter.

by Sidney Heath.

THE CITY

Just as the five cities of Colchester, Lincoln, York, Gloucester, and St. Albans, stand on the sites and in some fragmentary measure bear the names of five Roman munic.i.p.alities, so Isca Dumnoniorum, now Exeter, appears to have been a cantonal capital developed out of one of the great market centres of the Celtic tribes, and as such it was the most westerly of the larger Romano-British towns. The legendary history of the place, both temporal and ecclesiastical, goes far back to the days when, for a late posterity, it is difficult to separate fact from fable.

It is, however, quite established that here was the capital of the Dumnonii, the British tribe whose dominions included both Devons.h.i.+re and Cornwall, and who named their capital _Caer-uisc_, the city of the waters.

With the coming of the Saxons, the river, the Roman Isca, became the Exa, and the city was called Exanceaster, modified in due course to Exeter.

In point of position, on a mound rising from the river, it was a splendid site for a fortress in the days of hand-to-hand warfare, and the military value of the site lends support to the statement of some writers that the Romans utilized the British fortifications and built a castle. In few places of its size can one see so clearly the extent of the old walled town, while the disposition and formation of its outer ring of houses, on the lower slopes of the mound, show very clearly the limits of the mural circ.u.mvallation before the city burst asunder its tight-fitting belt of stone, within which, for the safety of its populace, it had been imprisoned for centuries.

Climb the higher parts for a bird's-eye view of the city, and the scene is entrancing. We look down upon the calm-flowing Exe threading its way through the valley till it debouches at Exmouth; on the riverside beneath us is the quay, with coasting schooners and barges moored alongside, and sundry bales of merchandise heaped upon the wharf, as though the people were playing at commerce to remind the world at large that Exeter was once an important port, although some ten miles from the river's mouth.

But the Exe, in a quiet way, has much to boast of in the nature of beauty and romance, particularly where it flows past the wooded grounds of Powderham Castle, the Devons.h.i.+re seat of the great Courtenay family.

Truly there is much to redeem modern Exeter and make it interesting over and above its historical atmosphere. Yet with comparatively few vestiges of age the city has an historical past. In both a religious and a military sense she has played a part in the annals of England, and more than one ancient doc.u.ment in the Library of the Dean and Chapter bears testimony to her honour, her valour, and her glory.

It is a city which has the impress of many ages and many minds stamped upon it. Here each influence--military from the Roman legions, ecclesiastical from the Saxon prelates, feudal from the Norman lords--has sunk deeply into the land, and has affected the general plan of the numerous buildings, as it has moulded the slowly succeeding phases of the civic and the religious life. It is no mere dream of the early ages, no sentimental reverie of mediaevalism. It is enough to go through the streets, noting the remnants of the ancient walls, the brutal strength of the surviving fragment of the castle, the sheltered position of the tidal basin, the many churches dedicated to the honour of Saxon saints, the proud beauty and ma.s.siveness of the Cathedral, if one would realize, not the fancies of the artist and the poet, but the hard facts of history that made the ancient days so great, and which have caused our own days to be so full of their memories.

As compared with the sister counties of Cornwall and Dorset, Devons.h.i.+re is not particularly well represented in memorials of the Roman occupation, although an immense number of Roman coins have been unearthed at various times. Coins, however, unless found with definite structural remains, indicate presence rather than a settled occupation, for large quant.i.ties of the Roman coinage must have continued in circulation long after the last of the legions of imperial Rome had departed from British sh.o.r.es. The few Roman antiquities of Exeter that have been found are important in a comparative sense, although they contrast poorly in structural character with those of our other Romano-British towns. It has been held that not only were the foundations of the city walls Roman, but part of the existing remains of Rougemont Castle have also been a.s.signed to this period.

Mr. L. Davidson was of opinion that the old church tower of St. Mary Major (now removed) exhibited traces of Roman work, and foundations presumed to be Roman were noted by him as having been found at the corner of Castle Street and High Street, in St. Mary Arches Street, Bedford Circus, Market Street, South Street, and Mint Lane.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE QUAY]

In 1836 more definite structural remains were found in High Street, consisting of a family sepulchral vault, 7 feet square, arched over, and containing five coa.r.s.e cinerary urns arranged in niches around its interior. This was discovered behind the "Three Tuns" inn, and during the same year at a great depth below the site of the County Bank, a low-arched chamber was found in which were a quant.i.ty of bones of men and animals.

No Exonian find, however, exceeds in interest the discovery, in 1833, of a bath and tesselated pavement behind the Deanery walls in South Street.

The walls were of Heavitree stone and brick, and the original pavement was of black-and-white tesserae set in concrete. The a.s.sociated remains of a thirteenth-century encaustic-tile pavement indicates the use of the old Roman bath a thousand years or so after it had been made. Several other tesselated pavements are recorded as having been found in Pancras Lane, on the site of Bedford Circus, and on the north side of the Cathedral near the Speke Chapel. In 1836 a small bronze figure of Julius Caesar (now in the British Museum) about three inches in height, was dug up during the removal of some walls in the Westgate quarter of the city.

The only recorded find of a military weapon is the bronze hilt of a dagger unearthed in South Street in 1833. This is of more than pa.s.sing interest, as it bears the name of its owner--E. MEFITI. [=E]O.

FRI[=S].--which has been read thus: "Servii or Marcii Mefiti Tribuni Equitum Frisiorum"--Servius or Mercius Mefitus, tribune of the Frisians.

The antiquary Leland mentions two Roman inscriptions as built into the city wall near Southernhay, but they are gone, and besides the inscribed dagger we have only a seal of Severius Pompeyus, and sundry graffiti or funereal pottery, in the way of literary relics of Roman Exeter. The poverty of Devons.h.i.+re in memorials of the Roman period is shown by the fact that, outside Exeter, there are not a dozen places in the county which have yielded Roman vestigia other than coins.

In 926 the Britons were driven from Exeter by Athelstan, who banished them into Cornwall, and fixed the River Tamar as their boundary.

Athelstan was one of the greatest benefactors the city has had; for, in addition to increasing the fortifications by means of a ma.s.sive wall flanked by towers, he built a castle on the Red Mount, now known as Rougemont Castle. Although very little of this now remains, a portion of the ruins is generally known as "Athelstan's Tower", and has a window with a triangular head, which is certainly of Saxon style and date. In 932 Athelstan rebuilt the Monastery of Our Lady and St. Peter, staffing it with monks of the Benedictine Order, and presenting them with the reputed relics of St. Sidwell, a saint who is still somewhat of a puzzle to ecclesiologists. A few years later the monastery was plundered by the Danes, when the monks beat a hasty retreat, but returned in 968 on the entreaty of King Edgar. A mint was shortly established here, wherein the first coins were struck naming Athelstan "King of England".

The Danes made continuous raids in the neighbourhood, but were decisively defeated by the West Countrymen in 1001, at Pinhoe, a few miles from Exeter. From that time until the treacherous ma.s.sacre of the Danes in Wess.e.x upon St. Brice's Day in 1002 by Ethelred, this part of the country was comparatively free from their inroads; but Gunhilda, the sister of Swegen, King of Denmark, being among the slain, this king came to avenge her death. He sailed up the Exe, burning and plundering the villages on its banks, and for four years his army marched in every direction across Wess.e.x, and was at length induced to withdraw on being paid a _wergeld_ (war tax) which was first levied on Exeter.

After the Battle of Hastings, Gytha, the mother of Harold, took refuge in Exeter, and Leofric, the bishop, offered to render homage to William as Royal suzerain; but the Conqueror would have no half-hearted submission, so Exeter closed its gates to the Normans. It held out for eighteen days, when the military science of the Normans, and particularly the skill they showed in undermining the walls, caused it to surrender. The resistance won the besiegers' respect and brought unusually good terms from so ruthless a victor as William. The lives of the garrison were spared, Gytha was allowed to seek safety by sea, and it has been said that the victorious troops were withdrawn from the city gates to prevent them from claiming the licentious privileges so generally granted to their followers by the Norman kings.

As is fitting for its county town, the first entry in the Devons.h.i.+re Domesday deals with Exeter, in which city, it is recorded, the king had 285 houses rendering customary dues. The generally debased character of the coinage of the time led to various expedients being adopted by the Exchequer for securing approximately accurate payment of a specified sum of money. Among other things the entries in Domesday state that in the total--

"This (city of Exeter) renders 18 pounds per annum. Of these Baldwin the Sheriff has six pounds by weight and a.s.say, and Colvin has of them 12 pounds by tale for the service of Queen Eadgyth".

This entry is significant, for one pound or twenty s.h.i.+llings meant one pound or twelve ounces troy of silver; and when money was payable by weight twenty s.h.i.+llings were not taken as the equivalent of one pound unless they fully weighed one pound. In this instance it is observable that the portion of the customary dues rendered for the 285 houses, which went to the Exchequer, was collected by the sheriff under the strictest rules of weight and a.s.say, whereas the portion allotted to the widow of Edward the Confessor was received by the tale only. The authorities took care that the sheriff collected the full amount due to the Crown, but did not trouble themselves about the ex-queen's share.

It has been affirmed that it was by the Normans that the fairs of England were moulded into the shape with which we are most familiar. At Exeter, in 1276, in reply to a writ of _quo warranto_, it was satisfactorily shown that the rights of the city, its fee-farm rent and its farms, dated from pre-Conquest days. The privileges and emoluments attached to fairs in large towns were very great. During the time allotted to them the citizens were often debarred from selling anything, whereas strangers could vend their wares during the fair, but at no other period of the year. In Cossin's _Reminiscences of Exeter_ (1877) we are told how "at Exeter, on the occasion of the Lammas Fair, a procession yet perambulates the city, one man bearing a pole with a gigantic stuffed glove at the top of it, the latter being subsequently hung out at the Guildhall".

Many of England's reigning sovereigns have visited the city, among them being Edward IV and Richard III. Henry VII came thither on 7 October, 1497, on the suppression of Perkin Warbeck's rebellion, when that rebel had attempted to capture the city. The rebels were brought before the king, bareheaded and with halters round their necks, and after they had pleaded for mercy Henry pardoned them. On his departure, the king presented the civic authorities with a sword and cap of maintenance, both of which are still carried before the Mayor and Corporation on occasions of state.

The citizens of Exeter have always been noted for their stanch loyalty to the reigning house, with the consequence that many rights and privileges have been granted to it. The city motto, _Semper Fidelis_, was conferred by Queen Elizabeth in recognition of the contributions, both of men and money, made to the fleet that vanquished the Spanish Armada. That the motto was merited is evident when we recall the fact that, with the exception of Frobisher and Cavendish, practically the whole of the leading seamen who chased the Spanish s.h.i.+ps along the Channel were born in the land of the Tamar, the Tavy, and the Dart.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GUILDHALL PORCH]

During the early part of the Civil War the citizens were divided in their sympathies, some supporting the Parliament and others the King; but the city soon fell into the hands of the former. In 1643, however, Sir Ralph Hopton, the famous Royalist general, marched on Exeter with a force made all the more formidable for siege purposes by the cannon he had previously captured at Halton. The immediate capture of the city by the Royalist forces was expected, the _Mercurius Aulius_ of 1 June, 1643, remarking that: "if the old observation be of any credit, that cats and mice doe commonly forsake a ruinous and decaying house, that Citie (Exeter) is not like to continue long in the Rebels' hands". The proud and rebellious city was a.s.saulted and captured by the Royalist forces under Prince Maurice on 4 September, 1643, after a siege lasting sixteen days, and a full account of its fall appeared in the issue of the _Mercurius Aulius_ of 8 September.

In May, 1644, Queen Henrietta Maria took up her abode in the city, at Bedford House, where, on 16 June of the same year, the Princess Henrietta was born. In the following month Charles I came to see his little daughter, and again in September, when he appointed Thomas Fuller, Vicar of Broadwindsor, in Dorset, as chaplain to the princess.

The queen, who had retired to Exeter as a safe place for her confinement, soon afterwards had to leave there suddenly on the approach of a Parliamentary army in command of the Earl of Ess.e.x. Her Majesty's easiest way to France was by sea, and to prevent this Cromwell had sent a fleet to Torbay to intercept her, should she attempt to leave England by that route. Finding this road closed, she made for Falmouth, from which port she got safely away.

During the siege by Fairfax the inhabitants of the city suffered considerably, owing to the food supplies being intercepted. One day a flight of larks came into the town, "which were", says Fuller, "as welcome as quails in the wilderness". The birds were so numerous that, notwithstanding the prevailing famine, they were sold for twopence a dozen. "Of this miraculous event", wrote Fuller, "I was not only an eye but a mouth witness."

The city capitulated on 13 April, 1646, among the conditions of surrender being that the Cathedral should be spared, and the garrison accorded the honours of war.

After the landing of William of Orange at Brixham, in 1688, he marched through the county to Exeter and entered the city by its western gate.

He proceeded direct to the Cathedral and took his seat in the bishop's throne with his chaplain Burnet near him. A few of the prebendaries and choristers attended the service, but when Burnet began to read the Prince's Declaration, after the singing of the Te Deum, they hurriedly departed. The bishop, Thomas Lamplugh, had proceeded to James on hearing that the Dutch had landed, and was rewarded with the Archbishopric of York. He afterwards a.s.sisted at William III's coronation. The Dean of Exeter had also left the city, and the Deanery was prepared for the Prince's reception. George III was the last English sovereign to stay in Exeter, and he also resided at the Deanery.

Although the Cathedral is the main attraction modern Exeter has to offer to the tourist, a walk through the historic old city will reveal the fact that, in addition to some highly interesting old churches, it possesses a not inconsiderable number of ancient buildings. At the same time there has been an appalling amount of destruction, some of it apparently of an unnecessary kind, as the recent dismantling of the beautiful old courtyard in the rear of Bampfylde House, the city residence of the Poltimore family.

The visitor who arrives at Exeter either by the Great Western or the South-Western Railway, the station of the latter being the more central of the two, can soon reach the busy and picturesque High Street by way of Queen Street, one of the broadest thoroughfares in the city. The most interesting building in High Street, and one that, in this respect, ranks next to the Cathedral, is the Guildhall, with a portico projecting over the pavement. It is probably one of the oldest munic.i.p.al buildings in the country, for in 1330 we find that the Guildhall was in a ruinous condition, and it was then rebuilt. Again, in 1464, it was built up anew in a more commodious and efficient manner, while the building as we see it to-day, with its facade, is the result of still further alterations in 1592. The entrance porch is separated from the inner hall by a ma.s.sive oak doorway, and the hall itself, 60 feet long and 25 feet wide, is panelled throughout in oak, with a frieze consisting of s.h.i.+elds charged with the arms of former mayors, aldermen, recorders, and of the city companies. Curious brackets, of figures bearing staves, support the roof. The judge's chair is of carved oak, and bears the name and date of the donor: "Christopher Ball, Esq., 1697". On the walls hang six large portraits, among them those of George III and General Monk, the latter by Sir Peter Lely, and over this picture hang the colours of the 4th Devons, a regiment raised in the city by the general in 1681.

Another portrait here by Lely is of the Princess Henrietta, concerning which the old records state that: "In 1671 the King (Charles II), in order to keep his promise made the last year when he visited this city in person, and as a signal testimony of his love towards the same, was pleased to send hither the effigy or portraiture, at length and richly framed of his dear sister, the d.u.c.h.ess of Orleans (lately deceased), a princess born within this city, and for beauty was esteemed to be one of the fairest in Christendom; which said picture being placed in a fair case of timber, richly adorned with gold, is erected in the open guildhall of the said city, there to remain as a perpetual monument of his majesty's high favour towards this his truly ancient, loyal, and honourable city of Exeter".

The upper room is known as the "Mayor's Parlour", where are many more portraits, and the city sword and cap of maintenance. The scabbard of the sword, which is the one presented by Edward IV, is still draped in c.r.a.pe, as it used to be for the processions on "King Charles Martyr's"

Day (30 Jan.). The cap of maintenance presented to the city, together with his sword, by Henry VII, was sent up to London to be repaired, the cost for "sarcanet, damask, and pin lace" amounting to four guineas. The original cap still remains within its covering, and it appears to consist of two pieces of black felt sewn together. During the fifteenth century the Chapel of St. George and St. John was built over the Guildhall, with an apartment above for the priest who served it, the chapel being probably connected with a religious guild.

The junction of North and South Streets with Fore and High Streets was formerly known as the Carfoix, or Carfax (_quatre voyes_, i.e. four ways), where at one time many executions took place. Here also stood the ancient conduit which supplied the city with water, but this was removed to South Street in 1779. At the corner, looking down Fore Street, was a fine fourteenth-century life-size figure of St. Peter, holding a model of a church in his right hand and a book in his left, his feet trampling on a demon. This has been removed from its original position and placed high up in a niche over a shop close by. On the opposite side of High Street is St. Petrock's Church, at one time almost hidden from sight by the adjacent buildings. It is a curious little church, of which portions have been a.s.signed to the Saxon period. The parish of St. Petrock is in the centre of the city, and was one of the oldest and most important, being one of the nineteen churches to which William I ordered the provost to pay a silver penny yearly. The church was enlarged on the south side during the fifteenth century, and in the following century the Jesus aisle was added, when Thomas Chard, acting as Bishop Oldham's suffragan, reconsecrated the church. The chancel is now towards the east in what was once an aisle, the original chancel being where the north aisle is now, with the consequence that the interior of the church has a very curious appearance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MOL'S COFFEE HOUSE]

Farther up High Street, on the same side, are some picturesque houses with Elizabethan gables, the interiors of many of them adorned with fine specimens of oak carving in situ. The building now occupied by Messrs.

Green as a drapery establishment was at one time the "New Inn", and it is mentioned in this capacity so early as 1456 in a lease relating to the building, in which it is referred to as "le Newe Inne". In 1554 the cloth mart was established here, and early in the seventeenth century the New Inn Hall was used as the exchange where the cloth merchants met to transact their business. The house was rebuilt towards the close of the century, and the Apollo Room was added as a banqueting hall for the judges on circuit. This is now used as a showroom, but it still retains its elaborate plaster ceiling bearing the date 1695, and the original oak panelling. The frieze consists of a series of wreaths upholding s.h.i.+elds charged with the armorial bearings of many county families, together with the royal arms and those of the city.

Farther up the street is the church of St. Stephen, mentioned in Domesday. The original church was destroyed by the Commonwealth in 1658, and rebuilt in 1664. Stephen's Bow, the adjacent archway, was always a part of the church, and above it rises the tower; beneath the church is an ancient crypt. A turning to the right close by leads to Bedford Circus, with a statue of the Earl of Devon at the entrance. In the thirteenth century a Dominican Convent was founded in this part of the city, and occupied the southern portion of the circus, together with Chapel Street and the adjoining mews. In 1558 the convent was dissolved, and Bedford House, the West-Country residence of the Dukes of Bedford, was erected. Here Henrietta Maria held her Court, and here the little princess was born. The Dukes of Bedford ceased to use this residence in the eighteenth century, and in 1773 it fell into the builders' hands, when the eastern side of the circus was built, the western side not being begun until 1826. The place to-day possesses no attractive features, and only the memories of its past history remain. The earlier excavations brought to light a great number of skulls, bones, and fragments of sculpture; while during the later building operations, especially those conducted on the site of the conventual church, a large number of carved stones were unearthed which had evidently formed part of the Dominican house. Some of these fragments were richly ornamented with painting and gilding. Another discovery was the life-size stone head of an effigy with a hood of closely set ring mail. This is now preserved in the Cathedral cloisters.

Returning to High Street, Bampfylde Street lies a little higher up. A great portion of this street is occupied by the front of Bampfylde House, built by Sir Amyas Bampfylde at the end of the sixteenth century.

In later years this became the town house of the Poltimore family.

Although shamefully modernized the house has retained a few interesting features. In the hall is seen a narrow window filled with old gla.s.s on which armorial bearings are displayed, while the broad staircase leads to a fine apartment panelled in oak, and having an elaborate plaster ceiling. The mantelpiece is a good piece of work and bears the arms of the Poltimores in its centre. There are one or two other good rooms and some deep cupboards, and one very small apartment is said to be a genuine eighteenth-century powdering closet. The beautiful old courtyard at the back will no longer be recognized by those who knew it a few years ago. It has been "restored".

The Church of St. Lawrence is situated on the north side of High Street, and dates from 1202. It was sold during the Commonwealth, and bought by the paris.h.i.+oners for 100. On the south side, and slightly farther up, is St. John's Hospital, situated near to where the old East Gate formerly stood. The hospital was founded circa 1225 by Gilbert and John Long. Bishop Grandisson was a great benefactor to it, as, in addition to increasing the number of inmates and clergy, he added "a master of grammar and twelve scholars". The foundation was suppressed in 1540, but in 1620 its restoration was planned by Hugh Crossing and carried out after his death by his widow. The inst.i.tution was refounded in 1629--when only the school was revived--and is now known as the "Blue Boys' School". The playground is partly bounded by a piece of the old city wall, whence one can look down on the Southernhay Gardens and obtain a good impression of the strength of the ancient fortifications.

The seal of St. John's Hospital is an interesting one of thirteenth-century date on which is depicted the exterior of St. John's Chapel, which is shown as having a s.h.i.+ngled roof and gable crosses; also an external arcade of three semicircular arches. Another interesting seal of the same century is that of the Hospital of St. Alexius, founded in 1170. This foundation, and the hospital of the bishops, formerly on the site of the present Vicars' College, were afterwards united with the Hospital of St. John at the East Gate. The seal shows the hospital with gable crosses, an arcaded clerestory, and three quatrefoil openings in its wall; beneath is an arcade of six arches.

High Street merges into Sidwell Street. St. Sidwell's was one of the nineteen old city parishes although without the walls. The site of St.

Sidwell's Church is said to be on the spot where a saint of this name suffered martyrdom. She is one of those half-mythical British saints, said by tradition to have been beheaded by a scythe whilst praying beside a well. A church is said to have been built in her honour so early as 749. The present building has undergone repeated restorations, but some ancient pillars still remain with sculptured capitals, and there is also a representation of St. Sidwell, or Sidwella, whose attributes are a well and a scythe. To the monastery he had founded Athelstan presented some reputed relics of the saint.

At the top of Sidwell Street is St. Anne's Almshouse, one of the most interesting foundations in the city. It was originally a hermitage, but little is known about it until 1418, when it was "newly constructed", and in 1561 Oliver and George Mainwaring founded a hospital for eight poor people. The chapel is a small building that has retained its piscina and two niches for holding figures. The almshouse was fortified by Fairfax during the Civil War, and for many years the chapel was in a ruinous condition, but it was restored early in the nineteenth century.