Exeter

by Sidney Heath

Although the Close has not succeeded in retaining any of its gates it is interesting by reason of the few old houses that still surround it, whilst behind their gabled roofs rises the double-towered Cathedral, completing the picturesqueness of a really charming scene, of which the prevailing tone is a dark grey, stained and almost blackened by weathering and by age. In the fourteenth century the Close at Exeter was enclosed with walls, and until comparatively recent times it was built over. The well-kept Close is peculiar to England.

The Bishop's Palace dates from about 1381, and is supposed to have been either built or enlarged by Bishop Courtenay. It was in a very ruinous condition when Bishop Philpotts set to work to restore it, when many old fragments of masonry were let into the new work. The fine archway leading into the cloisters was put up at this time, and the large oriel window of the library came from another old house in Exeter. Within the hall of the Palace is an ancient chimney-piece erected about 1486, upon which are sculptured the Courtenay arms and badges, the arms of England, and the emblem of St. Anthony. During the Commonwealth the Palace came into the possession of a sugar baker, and the succeeding bishop was content to leave him undisturbed. The next occupant of the see, however, turned the sugar baker out of the house, which he occupied himself. Several traces of the sugar refinery were discovered when the Palace was restored by Bishop Philpotts. The Palace Gardens are very extensive, and are bounded on the south side by the remains of the city wall, upon which is now a pleasant walk. Near the centre of the wall is a curious building generally known as the Lollards' Prison, although whether it ever was used for this purpose is a matter of conjecture. One of the finest views of the Cathedral is that obtained from a corner of the lawn in the Palace Gardens.

THE EXE

THE EXE AT TOPSHAM

After leaving the peaceful atmosphere of the Cathedral the noise and distractions of the modern city grate upon us; the return to the twentieth-century commonplace after the fourteenth-century refinement is too sudden, there being no intermediate stage between the one and the other, between the gloom of the great church and the glare and feverish hurry of a prosperous city. This being so, we cannot do better than seek a measure of quietude and repose along the banks of the Exe, a river which, rising on Exmoor, gives name to Exeter, Exminster, and Exmouth. Although rising in Somerset, the river may fittingly be claimed as a Devonian one, as it enters the county a little below Dulverton, where it receives the waters of the Barle. At the beginning of its career the Exe flows through a country of great beauty and much romantic interest, which has been immortalized by R. D. Blackmore in Lorna Doone.

This land of Exmoor is a heathery plateau that rivals in everything but extent the sister moorland which gives birth to that prince of English rivers, the Dart.

Dartmoor is larger, wilder, and grander in the bold contours of its cloud-capped tors, but the wildness of Exmoor is blended with a sweet and gentle charm which is all its own. It presents us with a panorama of misty woods, gleaming water, and glowing heather; a combe-furrowed moorland clothed with scrub oaks and feathery larches. After leaving this forest shrine the Exe enters Devonshire, where, after flowing through richly wooded and fertile valleys, it sweeps past the ancient town of Tiverton, where it is swelled by the waters of the Loman. Three miles from Tiverton it reaches Bickley Bridge, beyond which it is the recipient of the Culm, the largest of all its tributaries. Along the greater part of its course to this point its silver streams thread their way between sloping hills crowned with hanging woods, and by scenery of the true Devonian order. At Cowley Bridge, two miles above Exeter, the river is joined by the Creedy, which, coming from the north-west, flows through and gives name to Creedy-ton, or Crediton. The course of the Exe, from its source on Exmoor to the sea at Exmouth, is estimated at about seventy miles. It is a pure pellucid stream until joined by the Creedy, which imparts to it a reddish colour from the soil through which the latter flows.

The importance of the river to Exeter, especially before the waterway was obstructed by Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Devon, cannot be overestimated, and in old books many of the now flourishing ports on the south coast are described as "creeks under Exeter". From ancient records it seems certain that an arm of the sea extended to the very walls of the city, and from the facility thus afforded to commerce, Exeter, at a very early period, became the great trading port of the West Country. Of the various trades carried on here those of the woollen and its allied industries were the most numerous. It was also one of those favoured English ports to which licences were granted in 1428 for the embarkation of devout persons and pilgrims who were visiting the great Continental shrines, and particularly that of St. James at Compostella. Before they were permitted to leave this country these mediæval devotees were required to swear a solemn oath that they would "not take with them anything prejudicial to England, nor to reveal any of its secrets, nor carry out with them any more gold or silver than what would be sufficient for their reasonable expense".

As civilization increased trade and commerce, both foreign and domestic, kept pace with the growth of the city, and in the reign of Elizabeth the wool merchants of the county and the woolstaplers of its capital had risen to fame and opulence. In the year 1560 Queen Elizabeth granted the traders of Exeter a charter of privileges, and letters patent were issued forming them into a company under the name of a "Socitie of Marchante Adventurers of the citie of Exeter". The possession of the charter induced the citizens to commence the spirited undertaking of cutting a canal to Topsham, a work that was begun in 1564, and which constitutes one of the earliest examples of canal navigation in the country. "But why", it may be asked, "did the need for cutting a canal arise when the river flowed up to the heart of the city?" The need arose in consequence of the obstruction of the natural waterway near Topsham, by Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Devon, with the result that no ships could proceed beyond Countess Weir, at Topsham, 4 miles below Exeter. The first obstruction was placed in the river by Isabella de Fortibus, about the year 1284, owing to a dispute she had with the merchants of the city concerning various dues. The merchants appealed to Henry III, who ordered the obstruction to be removed, but so powerful were the Earls of Devon in those days that no steps were taken to restore the navigation of the waterway. In 1312 the river was still further obstructed by Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon, the first member of the Courtenay family to hold the earldom. Tradition states that the motive for the earl's action was the displeasure he felt towards the mayor and citizens of Exeter on the following occasion. His steward was sent into the city to buy fish, and the bishop's steward having been sent for the same purpose, the two servants met in the market on a day when there were only three kettles of fish for sale. Each of the stewards wanted the whole of the supply, and after a quarrel the mayor was sent for to decide the issue, which he did by giving each of the stewards one basket and retaining the third for the use of the citizens. The mayor was in the service of the earl, who, hearing of the decision, visited the city and sent for the mayor. The latter summoned the citizens to meet him at the Guildhall, where he explained to them the cause of the earl's displeasure and requested them to accompany him. According to Tyacke, the Exeter historian, "being come to the Earl's house, the mayor was conducted to his lodging chamber and the door closed on him; and finding that none of his speeches would satisfy the Earl, who stormed at him, he took off an outer coat he then wore (it being the Earl's livery), and delivered it to him again; at which the Earl fell into a greater passion. The commons attending at the door, doubting the mayor's safety, knocked, and demanded their mayor. Being several times denied they attempted to break open the door, which the Earl apprehending and fearful of what might ensue, entreated the mayor to pacify the people, which was soon done, and they all peaceably returned. And though the Earl then, to avoid the fury of the people, seemed pacified, he could never afterwards show a good countenance to the city."