Sidney Heath

“ 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 massiveness of the Cathedral, if one would realize, not the fancies of the artist and the [Pg 8] 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. ”

“ 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 circumvallation 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Gothic arches of the nave, large and beautiful, rest upon massive clustered piers of Purbeck marble. The development of these piers as the building progressed westwards is clearly seen. Between the Lady Chapel and the choir is a pier of four shafts, then one of eight, which eventually develops into one of sixteen shafts, repeated throughout the length of the nave. ”

“ Within the thickness of the wall is a little chapel dedicated to St. Radegund, in which Bishop Grandisson prepared his tomb.
The north side of the Cathedral can be viewed in its entirety from any part of the well-kept lawns, beneath which lie the bones of the citizens of seven centuries, but no stones mark their resting places. The most noticeable feature on this north side is the sturdy Norman tower, corresponding to its fellow on the south side, the original purposes of which are still a matter of much discussion among antiquaries. ”

“ On the right of the castle yard is a little path leading to the top of the walls, whence a comprehensive view of the city and the neighbourhood can be obtained. Looking straight across the valley, beyond the county jail, one can see the site of the [Pg 27] ancient camp of the Danes, against whom Athelstan built his fortifications, now occupied by the reservoir. At the foot of the wall are the Northernhay Gardens, a favourite resort with youthful Exonians. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It must be remembered that although nearly the whole of the architectural merit of the Cathedral lies in the interior, and particularly in the magnificent stone vaulting of the roof, which is the high-water mark of vaulting on a large scale in England, there are several portions of the exterior that are worth noting. Externally the great defect of the building is the low elevation of the body, and the want of a central tower to counteract the heavy effect produced by solid square towers at each transept. ”

“ 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". ”

“ On the north side of the choir aisle is St. Andrew's Chapel, corresponding with that of St. James on the south. By the north wall is the large sixteenth-century monument of Sir Gawain Carew, his wife, and his nephew, Sir Peter Carew (1571) . The effigy of the last-named is cross-legged, and so late an example of this disposition of the lower limbs supports the now generally accepted archæological fact that the cross-legged attitude had no particular reference to the romantic wars of the Crusades. ”

“ Anne's Day, 26 July, has been observed regularly by the inmates of the charity since its foundation.
Retracing our steps to the beginning of High Street, and proceeding up Castle Street, we reach the highest [Pg 26] point of the city, the Red Mount, crowned by the gateway and ruined towers of an ancient castle. The fortress formed a part of the fortifications erected by Athelstan, and the Red Tower, with its triangular-headed window, may be confidently assigned to the Saxon era. During the Norman period the castle was rebuilt by Brian de Molis. ”

“ The poverty of Devonshire 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 massive wall flanked by towers, he built a castle on the Red Mount, now known as Rougemont Castle. ”

“ 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 Cæsar (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. ”

“ 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 said traditionally to have been built by Gytha, Harold's mother, in order that masses might be said for the souls of her son and Earl Godwin. William I gave the church to the monks of Battle Abbey, in whose possession it remained until the Reformation. More than a century later St. Olave's was lent to the French Huguenot refugees, many of whom settled in Exeter where they established an important woollen industry. The present church bears few indications of antiquity, beyond some Norman arches and a little early carving in the tower. ”

“ 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 Devonshire and Cornwall, and who named their capital Caer-uisc, the city of the waters. [Pg 6]
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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ On the highest ground of the park is the Belvidere, erected in 1773, a triangular tower with a small hexagonal turret at each corner. It is 60 feet high, and from the summit the view comprises the city of Exeter, the broad estuary of [Pg 63] the Exe, the village of Lympstone, and the little town of Topsham, where the spars of the ships appear to mingle with the trees on the river's banks. Looking inland we may see the well-wooded country stretching away in a succession of hills and combes, until the view is bounded by the stone-capped heights of Dartmoor in the far distance. ”

“ Many of the old streets in this quarter of the city are worth visiting, [Pg 28] for in the narrow thoroughfares are some interesting old houses. In St. Mary Arches Street is the church of the same name, shut in by houses. It is one of the old parish churches of Exeter, and one that takes part of its name from the fine Norman pillars and arcade of the nave, which is the oldest in the city. In the south aisle is a chantry containing the altar tomb of Thomas Andrews, mayor in 1505 and 1510 ”

“ On each side is a military figure, their morions crowned with feathers, javelins held in their right hands, and small hammers in their left hands, with which they alternately strike the quarter hours on two small bells at their feet. ”

“ The Cathedral itself was first constituted a parish by being placed under the charge of a single dignitary, the dean, by Bishop Briwere, in 1225.
Four years after he ascended the throne in 1042, Edward the Confessor gave the united bishopric of Crediton and Cornwall to his chaplain, Leofric, who, observing that Crediton was an open town, difficult to fortify against the Danish raiders, obtained from Pope Leo IX permission to remove the episcopal see to Exeter, when the Benedictine minster of St. Mary and St. Peter became the cathedral church of the diocese. ”