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SituationUntil the construction of main road by-passes in the 20th century, Exeter was the lowest bridging point of the River Exe, and therefore developed as an administrative and route centre. The city's castle is built upon an outcrop of volcanic rock. From Saxon times until the 19th century, the diocese of Exeter covered the whole of the counties of Devon and Cornwall, and civil administration and services tended to follow the lines of the ecclesiastical. Exeter was also a port: the limit of tides of the River Exe lies below Exeter, and the small town of Topsham on the estuary (nowadays within the city limits) developed as a port for the city, but goods were transported to the city's quays in lighters. Eventually a ship canal was constructed so that ocean-going vessels could reach the city's quays, and this remained in regular use until ships increased in size with the development of steam power. It is still used for leisure boating. EconomyThe city provides strong industries and services to a sizable area. The Met Office, the main weather forecasting organisation for the United Kingdom and one of the most significant in the world, relocated from Bracknell in Berkshire to Exeter in early 2004. It is one of the three largest employers in the area (the others being the University of Exeter and Devon County Council), providing a welcome boost to the local economy. Exeter City Council are currently bidding for the city to become an Independent Unitary Authority. A status granted to nearby Plymouth and Torbay in 1998. An outline case was submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in May 2006. If successful, a new unitary city council could be up and running in Exeter by April 2009.
A NEF survey in 2005 rated Exeter as the worst example of a clone town in the UK, with only a single independent store in the city's High Street, and less diversity (in terms of different categories of shop) than any other town surveyed. However, Exeter has many independent shops off the High St, such as those in Gandy Street, which was reconstructed after bombing in 1942. Princesshay, which runs parallel to the High Street, was also home to a number of independent stores prior to redevelopment in 2005–2007. It is planned that a number of the new units will be let to local independent stores. HistoryRoman timesThe Latin name for Exeter, Isca Dumnoniorum ("Isca of the Dumnones"), suggests that the city was originally a Celtic oppidum, or town, on the banks on the River Exe prior to the foundation of the Roman city in about AD 50. Such early towns, or proto-cities, had been a feature of pre-Roman Gaul as described by Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico ("Commentaries on the Gallic Wars") and it is not improbable that they existed in neighbouring Great Britain as well. Isca is clearly a Celtic generic noun and the Romans felt the need to label the city Isca Dumnoniorum, or the Isca of the Dumnonii, in order to distinguish it from such settlements as Isca Augusta (modern Caerleon-on-Usk in Monmouthshire). Isca Dumnoniorum was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in England. Significant parts of the Roman wall remain, though the present visible structure was largely built on the orders of Alfred the Great to protect the far west of his kingdom following the Viking occupation of 876. Most of its route can be traced on foot. There is a substantial Roman baths complex that was excavated in the 1970s.[1] [2], but because of its proximity to the cathedral, it has not been practicable to retain the excavation for public view. Exeter was also the southern starting point for the Fosse Way Roman road. Saxon timesIn 876 Exeter (Exanceaster) was attacked and captured by the Danes. King Alfred drove them out the next year. In 894 the city stood off another siege by Danes. In 1067 the city rebelled against William the Conqueror who promptly marched West and laid siege. The city submitted only after 18 days. Part of the capitulation agreement was that all the nobles in the city would be confirmed in their positions as long as a castle was built. Medieval timesExeter was held against King Stephen by Baldwin de Redvers in 1140 and submitted only after a three month siege when the supplies of fresh water ran out. Tudor and Stuart timesImage:ExeterWestGatePlaque.jpg Plaque on St Mary Steps Church commemorating the old West Gate and some of the military campaigns in which it featured In 1537, the city was made a county corporate. In 1549 the city successfully withstood a month-long siege by the Prayer Book rebels. The Livery Dole Almshouses and Chapel at Heavitree were founded in March 1591 and finished in 1594. They can still be seen today in the street which bears the name Livery Dole. The city's motto, Semper fidelis, is traditionally held to have been suggested by Elizabeth I, in acknowledgement of the city's contribution of ships for the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Exeter was at first a Parliamentary town in the English Civil War in the largely Royalist South West, but it was captured by the Royalists on 4 September 1643 and it remained in their control until near the end of the war, being one of the final Royalist cities to fall into Parliamentary hands. Georgian and Victorian timesEarly in the English industrial revolution, Exeter's industry developed on the basis of locally available agricultural products and, since the city's location on a fast-flowing river gave it ready access to water power, an early industrial site developed on drained marshland to the west of the city, at Exe Island. However when steam power replaced water in the nineteenth century, Exeter was too far from sources of coal (or iron) to develop further. As a result the city declined in relative importance, and was spared the rapid nineteenth century development that changed many historic European cities. The first railway to arrive in Exeter was the Bristol and Exeter Railway that opened a station at St Davids, on the western edge, in 1844. The South Devon Railway Company extended the line westwards to Plymouth, opening their own smaller station at St Thomas, near the lower end of Fore Street. A more central station, that at Queen Street, was opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1860 when it opened its alternative route to London. Wartime and post-War timesExeter was bombed by the German Luftwaffe in the Second World War, when a total of 18 raids between 1940 and 1942 flattened much of the city centre. In 1942, as part of the Baedeker Blitz and specifically in response to the RAF bombing of Lubeck, forty acres (160,000 m²) of the city, particularly adjacent to its central High Street and Sidwell Street, were levelled by incendiary bombing. Many historic buildings were destroyed, and others, including the grand Cathedral of St Peter in the heart of the city, were damaged. Large areas of the city were rebuilt in the 1950s, when little attempt was made to preserve Exeter's ancient heritage. Damaged buildings were generally demolished rather than restored, and even the street plan was altered in an attempt to improve traffic circulation. The post-war buildings are generally perceived as being of little architectural merit, unlike many of those that they replaced, such as Bedford Circus and a section of the ancient city wall. Despite some local opposition, the city centre is currently undergoing another significant change with the redevelopment of the Princesshay shopping centre in a more modern style. The development, due to be completed in 2007, aims to ensure that Exeter can compete with other regional cities, such as Plymouth and Bristol. In order to enable people with limited mobility to enjoy this busy city, Exeter Community Transport Association provide shopmobility for use by anyone suffering from short or long-term mobility impairment to access to the city centre and shopping facilities, events and meetings with friends and company. Previously regarded as second only to Bath as an architectural site in southern England, since the 1942 bombing and subsequent reconstruction Exeter has been a city with some beautiful buildings rather than a beautiful city. As a result, although there is a significant tourist trade, Exeter is not dominated by tourism. Politics and administrationExeter forms a single parliamentary constituency. It is relatively marginal, and since World War II its Member of Parliament has usually been drawn from the governing party. At the United Kingdom general election, 1997, Ben Bradshaw was elected as MP for Exeter, and he retained the seat at the elections of 2001 and 2005. Exeter's city council is a district authority, and shares responsibility for local government with the Devon County Council. In recent years, the city council has been dominated by Labour Party and Liberal Democrat members. Since 2003, no party has had a majority on the council. The current Mayor is Cllr. Norman Shiel (Conservative by political affiliation), a former teacher of Classics at Exeter School. He was educated at The Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, and the University of Durham. Notable buildingsImage:Exeter Cathedral (West End) 300px.jpg
Among the notable buildings in Exeter are:
Many of these are built in the local dark red sandstone, which gives its name to the castle and the park that now surrounds it (Rougemont means red hill). Image:StepcoteHill.jpg Half-timbered houses in Stepcote Hill Northernhay Gardens located just outside the castle, is the oldest public open space in the whole of England, being originally laid out in 1612 as a pleasure walk for Exeter residents. Much of Northernhay gardens now represent Victorian design, with a beautiful display of trees, mature shrubs and bushes and plenty of flower beds. There are also many statues here, most importantly the War Memorial by John Angel and the Deerstalker by E.B. Stephens. The Volunteer Memorial from 1895, also in the gardens commemorates the formation of the 1st Rifle Volunteers in 1852. Other statues include John Dinham, Thomas Dyke Acland and Stafford Northcote (a local landowner who was a Victorian Chancellor of the Exchequer). CultureLiteratureImage:Riddle-pyramid-comp.jpeg The Riddles in the High St The Exeter Book, an original manuscript and one of the most important documents in Anglo-Saxon literature, is kept in the vaults of Exeter Cathedral. The Exeter Book dates back to the 10th century and is one of four manuscripts that between them contain virtually all the surviving poetry in Old English. It includes most of the more highly regarded shorter poems, some religious pieces, and a series of riddles, a handful of which are famously lewd. Some of the riddles are inscribed on a highly polished steel obelisk in the high street, placed on March 30, 2005. The Inquisitio Eliensis, the "Exon Domesday" (so called from the preservation of the volume at Exeter), is a volume of Domesday Book that contains the full details which the original returns supplied. The Crowner John Mysteries by Bernard Knight are a series of books set in 12th century Exeter. TheatreThe Northcott Theatre is located on the campus of the university and is one of relatively few provincial English theatres to maintain its own repertory company. Its annual open air Shakespeare performance in the grounds of Rougemont Castle is well regarded nationally. This theatre is the successor to the former Theatre Royal, Exeter. Image:Barnfieldtheatre.JPG Barnfield Theatre There are also two amateur theatre buildings with associated companies. The Barnfield Theatre, in the city centre, was converted in 1972 from The Barnfield Hall which was built towards the end of the 19th century by Exeter Literary Society. The theatre is a charity and is used as a venue for amateur and professional theatrical companies. In January 2007 it received £200,000, about the same as the original cost to build it, to refurbish its interior. Music
Museums and galleries
Newspapers
Twin townsExeter is twinned with:
The city also seeks to maintain a relationship with HMS Exeter. Education
Exeter is also home to the Royal West of England School for the Deaf Sports
TransportRoadThe M5 motorway to Bristol and Birmingham starts at Exeter, and connects at Bristol with the M4 to London. The older A30 road provides a more direct route to London via the A303 and M3. Going west, the A38 connects Exeter to Plymouth and South Cornwall, whilst the A30 continues to Okehampton and North Cornwall. Travel by car in the city is often difficult with regular jams centred on the Exe Bridges area. To address the problem, Devon County Council is considering the introduction of congestion charges [5].
RailThere are two main line railway routes from Exeter to London, the faster Great Western Main Line route via Taunton to London Paddington and the slower West of England Main Line via Salisbury to London Waterloo. Another main line, the Cross-Country Route, links Exeter with Bristol, Birmingham, the Midlands, Northern England, and Scotland. Many trains on all three lines continue westwards from Exeter, variously serving Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall. Local branch lines run to Paignton (see Riviera Line), Exmouth (see Avocet Line) and Barnstaple (see Tarka Line). There is also a summer weekend service to Okehampton for access to Dartmoor. Exeter is served by two main railway stations. Exeter St David's is served by all services, whilst Exeter Central is more convenient for the city centre but served only by local services and the main line route to London Waterloo. There are also six suburban stations, Topsham, St. James Park, Exeter St. Thomas, Polsloe Bridge, Pinhoe and Digby & Sowton, served only by local services. AirExeter International Airport lies east of the city and the local airline, previously called Jersey European and British European but now known as Flybe, is a significant local employer. The Airport offers a range of scheduled flights to UK and Irish regional airports and charter flights including a seasonal service to Toronto in Canada. Connections to international hubs began with Paris Charles de Gaulle in 2005 and later a daily service to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. BusExeter's main operator of local buses is Stagecoach Devon, which operates most of the services in the city. Dartline and Cooks Coaches are minor operators in the City. The High Street, pedestrianised except for bus and bicycle traffic, serves as the main hub for local buses. Country and express services operate from the city's bus station, in Paris Street, which intersects the High Street at its eastern end; some also call at Exeter St David's railway station for direct connection to train services. Country bus services, mostly operated by Stagecoach, run from Exeter to most places in East and North Devon, but some are very infrequent. Regional express services run to Plymouth, Torbay, Bude, and along the Jurassic Coast to Lyme Regis and Weymouth, some operated by Stagecoach and others by First Bus. National Express operates long distance routes, for example to Heathrow and London. Exeter CanalIn the 1200s, the Countess of Devon, Isabella de Fortibus, built a weir across the river to prevent trade in the city (the "Countess Weir" is still there today). In 1290, trade with Exeter's port was restored, only to be blocked by a new weir in 1317, built by the then Earl of Devon, who also built a quay at Topsham. Because of the blockages on the river, boats were forced to unload at Topsham and the earls were able to exact large tolls to transport goods to Exeter. In 1563, Exeter traders employed John Trew of Glamorgan to build a canal to bypass the weirs and rejoin the River Exe in the centre of the city where a quay would be built. The new canal had three locks with vertical gates — the first ever pound locks to be built in Britain. Over the following centuries, the canal was extended and deepened to allow greater numbers and sizes of vessels access to the city but demand for access declined with the end of the wool trade in the early nineteenth century. There were many notable failures to connect Exeter and the southwest to the national canal and rail networks: The Grand Western Canal linking Exeter to Bristol (1796) was never completed; The Bristol & Exeter Railway link to the canal basin was postponed in 1832 and 1844; The South Devon Railway ran services to the canal from 1867, but by this time the canal was too small to attract the sizeable oceangoing vessels. Use of the canal has declined gradually ever since. In 1972 the Esso Jersey left the canal basin, carrying oil to its terminal. This was the last commercial vessel to leave the canal and in 1997 the Countess Weir, a sludge tanker, ceased to operate on the canal, the final commercial vessel to do so. Districts of ExeterThe wards of the city for City Council purposes are listed below. Most of these correspond to traditional divisions of the city that would be recognised by local inhabitants. One or two, inevitably, are somewhat artificial creations:
Notable people from Exeter
See also
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