Exeter

A lively ad thriving city with a majestic Norman cathedral, many fine old buildings, and a wealth of excellent museums, Exeter’s history stretches back for more than two millennia. Its present High Street was already in place some 200 years or more before the Romans arrived, part of an ancient ridgeway striking across the West Country. The inhabitants then were the Celtish tribe of the Dumnonii and it was they who named the river Eisca, a river abounding in fish.

The Romans made Isca their southwestern stronghold, surrounding it with a massive defensive wall. Most of that has disappeared, but a spectacular caldarium, or Roman Bath House, was uncovered in the Cathedral Close in 1971. It was later grassed over but a model of it can be seen in the cathedral.

In the Dark Ages following the Roman withdrawal, the city was a major ecclesiastical centre, and in AD670 King Cenwealh founded an abbey on the site of the present cathedral. That, along with the rest of Exeter, was ransacked by the Vikings in the 9th century. They occupied the city twice before King Alfred finally saw them off.

The Normans were next on the scene, although it wasn’t until 20 years after the Battle of Hastings that William the Conqueror finally took possession of the city after a siege that lasted 18 days. He ordered the construction of Rougemont Castle, the gatehouse and tower of which still stand at the top of Castle Street.

During the following century, the Normans began building St Peter’s Cathedral, a work not completed until 1206. Half a century later, however, everything except the two sturdy towers was demolished and the present cathedral took shape. These years saw the development of the Decorated style, and Exeter is a sublime example of this appealing form of church architecture. In the 300-foot-long nave, stone piers rise 60 feet and then fan out into sweeping arches. Equally impressive is the west front, a staggering display of more than 60 sculptures, carved between 1327 and 1369. They depict a curious mix of Biblical characters, soldiers, priests and a royal flush of Saxon and Norman kings.

Other treasures include an intricately-carved choir screen from about 1320, an astronomical clock built in 1376, which is one of the oldest timepieces in the world, a minstrels’ gallery with a wonderful sculpted band of heavenly musicians, a monumental organ, and a colossal throne with a canopy 59 feet high, carved in wood for Bishop Stapledon in 1316.

Another strange carving can be found beneath the misericord seats in the choir stalls where, amongst other carvings, there is one of an elephant. However, as the carver had no model to work from he has given the animal tusks that look like clubs and rather eccentric feet. It has been suggested that the carving was based on the first elephant to come to Britain as a gift for Henry III in 1253. The carver had probably heard stories of the creature and made up the rest.

In 1941 much of the old part of the city was destroyed by a German air raid and, although the cathedral survived, it was badly damaged. When restoration work began in 1943, a collection of wax models was discovered hidden in a cavity. Including representations of human and animal limbs, the complete figure of a woman and a horse’s head, they are thought to have been brought here by pilgrims who would place their wax models on the tomb of Bishop Edmund Lacy. By placing a model of an injured or withered limb on the tomb the pilgrims believed that they would be cured of their affliction.

Such is the grandeur of the cathedral that other ecclesiastical buildings in Exeter tend to get overlooked. But it’s well worth seeking out St Nicholas’ Priory, an exceptional example of a small Norman priory. The Priory re-opened to the public in April 2008 after a two-year programme of conservation work. Adorned with quality replica furniture, and painted in the bright colours of the period, the Priory is now presented as the 1602 home of the wealthy Hurst family. Visitors can experience Tudor life including Elizabethan music, costume, food, games and stories, and view the original Priory cellar with its chunky Norman pillars, the 15th-century kitchens, and the parlour with its original Tudor plaster ceiling. The church of St Mary Steps also repays a visit just to see its beautifully-preserved Norman font, and its ancient ‘Matthew the Miller’ tower clock, named after a medieval miller noted for his undeviating punctuality. The church is currently only open for services. It stands in Stepcote Hill, a narrow cobbled and stepped thoroughfare, which until as late as 1778 was the main road into Exeter from the west.

The remarkable Guildhall in the High Street has been in use as a Town Hall ever since it was built in 1330, making it one of the oldest municipal buildings in the country. Its great hall was remodelled around 1450, and the Elizabethans added a striking, if rather fussy, portico, but the interior is still redolent of the Middle Ages.

Another interesting medieval building is The Tucker’s Hall in Fore Street, built in 1471 for the Company of Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen. Inside there is some exceptional carved panelling, a collection of rare silver, and a huge pair of fulling shears weighing over 25lb and almost four feet long. Nearby Parliament Street claims to be the world’s narrowest street, just 25 inches wide at one point.

Exeter’s one-time importance as a port is reflected in the dignified Custom House, built in 1681, and now the centrepiece of Exeter Historic Quayside, a fascinating complex of old warehouses, craft shops and cafés. There are riverside walks, river trips, Canadian canoes and cycles for hire, and a passenger ferry across the river to the Piazza Terracina, which explores five centuries of Exeter’s trading connections around the world. The museum contains an extraordinary collection of boats, amongst them an Arab dhow, a reed boat from Lake Titicaca in South America, and a vintage steam launch. A special attraction of the museum is that visitors are positively encouraged to step aboard and explore in detail the many craft on show.

Outstanding amongst the city’s excellent museums is the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, but it is currently undergoing a multi-million pound development and will not re-open until 2011. Other museums in the city include the Devonshire Regiment Museum (regimental history); the Rougemont House Museum near the castle, which has a copious collection of costumes and lace; and the Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture on the university campus, which follows the development of visual media from the late 1600s to the present day.

One of the city’s most unusual attractions lies beneath its streets: the maze of Underground Passages (see panel below) constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries as service tunnels for the pipes bringing water from springs beyond the city walls. A guided tour of the stone-vaulted caverns is an experience to remember.

Although Exeter is linked to the sea by the River Exe, a 13th-century Countess of Devon, with a grudge against the city, built a weir across the river so that boats could sail no further upstream than Topsham. Some 300 years passed before action was taken by the city and the world’s first ship canal was constructed to bypass the weir. Originally only three feet deep, this was changed to 14 feet over the years, and the Exeter Ship Canal continued to be used until the 1970s. However, the M5 motorway, which crosses the canal on a fixed height bridge too low to allow big ships to pass, finally achieved what the Countess of Devon began so many centuries ago.

Exeter University campus is set on a hill overlooking the city, and the grounds, laid out by Robert Veitch in the 1860s, offer superb views of the tors of Dartmoor. The landscape boasts many rare trees and shrubs, and the University has followed Veitch’s example by creating many new plantings, including areas devoted entirely to Australasian plants. Exeter University Sculpture Walk comprises 24 sculptures, including works by Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, set out both in the splendid grounds and within the university buildings.

To the southwest of the city lies the Devon and Exeter Racecourse, one of the most scenic in the country and one that is considered to be Britain’s favourite course.