Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/937

Rh EXETER. EXETEIt. by ancient writers, is a place of remote antiquity, and is spoken of by Ptolemy and Antoninus as the capital of the Damnvnian Britons, from whom it was captured by the Romans, and made a station called Isca JDamno- niomm. 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 hero 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 obedi- ence 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 nourish 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 appel- lation, 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 X. of the city. In the Domesday Survey it is described as possessing immu- nity 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 Perkiu 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 inha- bitants 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 1 588 a gaol fever broke out here, which carried off the judge, 8 justices, 11 jurors, and others who attended the Western Assizes. At the commence- ment 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 Pcnruddock was beheaded at the castle by Cromwell. After the Restoration, the manu- facture 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 ship- ping 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 ex- tensive than the municipal, the former comprising the parish of St. Leonard's, and parts of St. Thomas, Heavi- tree, 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 alder- men, 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 new 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 renova- tion, 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 cathe- dral, 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 Warle- wast, 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 stylo, 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