colour scheme
Timeline
Georgian City
From the 1760s, Exeter people believed, until the early 19th century, ‘a spirit of improvement’ spread across the city. The previous generations had witnessed a great growth in population, and the old walled area was densely crowded with houses. The old medieval streets still served the Georgian city, and were unable to cope with the rise in wheeled vehicles, whilst problems of sanitation encouraged the spread of disease among the poor.
In 1750 Exeter still ranked among the leading English cities and was still the centre of one of the country’s most important industrial areas. By the 1830s the Devon woollen industry had almost vanished, overtaken by the industrial towns of the Midlands and the North with their great mills and factories. The years 1750-1830 saw a great change in the character of the city, and its growing popularity as a fashionable county town brought much late Georgian building.
The South Gate of Exeter
Joanna Southcott’s quilt
Butchers Row in the 1830s
Slum dwelling below the city wall
Collecting water from the Exe
Reconstruction drawing showing the operation of the Catacombs
Water pipes
The South Street Conduit
Seal of the Exeter Improvement Commissioners
The silver medal awarded to Thomas Plane (reverse)
The award to Mary Russell at Exeter (obverse)
The medal won by Henry Lambert at the Topsham Academy (obverse)
Medal awarded by Mulling’s school to John Hookins (reverse)
The Exeter Atheneum medal (obverse)
Quicke’s Academy
Hayman’s engraving of the interior of Eastgate
Exeter from Exwick
Exeter from Exwick: the Frances Towne watercolour
Exeter from Exwick
Donn’s map of Exeter
Donn’s map of the Exeter area
Exeter in 1835
The Theatre in Bedford Circus
William Peckitt’s Great West Window at Exeter Cathedral
The Cathedral Cloisters before clearance
The Cathedral Cloisters after clearance
Cathedral Close before improvements
View of Cathedral Close
Miles Coverdale medal (obverse)
Miles Coverdale medal (reverse)
St David’s Church
Exeter’s first Roman Catholic church
The Joanna Southcott beakers
Southernhay
A Coade stone keystone (obverse)
Doorcase from Bamfylde Street
Turner’s view of Exeter
Mount Radford
Cowley Place
Selsdons House, Mont le Grand
No 2, Bicton Place, Heavitree
A woolcomb
The second Exe Bridge foundation plate (obverse)
The silver medal awarded to Thomas Plane (obverse)
The award to Mary Russell at Exeter (reverse)
The medal won by Henry Lambert at the Topsham Academy (reverse)
Medal awarded by Mulling’s school to John Hookins (obverse)
The Exeter Atheneum medal (reverse)
A Coade stone keystone (reverse)
The Admiral Duckworth medal (reverse)
The Bedford Chapel
Bedford Circus
The Admiral Duckworth medal (obverse)
The new Exe Bridge
Aerial view of Exe Bridges
The second Exe Bridge foundation plate (reverse)
The Iron Bridge
View down the High Street following the demolition of East Gate
Market day in High Street
The Fish and Vegetable Market
The Higher Market
The façade of the Higher Market
The rear of the Higher Market
Charles Fowler’s view of the Lower Market
Charles Fowler’s plan of the Lower Market
The bronze medal of the Lower Market
The Guildhall and High Street
A felon taken to his death in 1818
The Exeter Gaol
Heavitree police truncheons
Set of fire buckets from the Conduit
The Dean and Chapter’s fire engine
The collapse of the wool trade
Head Weir Mills
Lower Mills
A china–seller’s shop stock from Goldsmith Street
A china–seller’s shop stock from Goldsmith Street
A one pound note of the General Bank, Exeter
A five pound note of the Devonshire Bank
Exeter from Trew’s Weir
The Exe below Trew’s Weir
A paddle steamer on the Exe
An engraved beaker
A ticket for the Exeter turnpike
The interior of the Cathedral quire before Scott’s restoration
The early development of the Malthouse from the 1780s
The area of Cricklepit Mill in the 18th century
Badge of a West of England fireman
Near the Friars Walk, Exeter
Exeter in 1820
View of Exeter from St Leonard’s churchyard
Reconstruction of Higher Barracks
Reconstruction of the main block of Higher Barracks
Parliamentary Act for providing a new water supply for Exeter, 1833
View of an Exeter coal measure of 1799 (front)
View of an Exeter coal measure of 1799 (back)
The seal of John Bull, Archdeacon of Barnstaple
South Somerset ware cup
Plymouth porcelain sauceboat
West of England fire–mark
West of England fire insurance plaque
A set of scales and coin–weights made in Exeter
Detail of the boxed weights and scales
Two Italian oil–jars
John White Abbott: ‘Near the Quay 1803’
Fire insurance plaque
Porter’s badge
Exeter Sail Cloth stamp
Holland stamping block
Sealing wax ladle
Kennaway’s stamping block
Drug jars
Stoneware pottery from Germany
Lottery ticket
A love token
