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Timeline
Medicine and Health
Medicine and Health Prehistory
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Medicine and Health Roman Fortress
The Roman army brought many new ideas about healthcare and medicine. Their bath-house in Exeter is one of the earliest known examples in Britain. It shows that the standard of hygiene and physical health brought by the soldiers was far above anything achieved over the next thousand years. The hospital of the Roman fortress, which will have been a large aisled building, has not been discovered, but such a building was a normal component of a fortress at this time.
Medicine and Health Roman Town
The new ideas of hygiene and health continued in the Roman town. A public bath-house was built in the centre of the town, and several wells for sourcing clean water have been discovered during excavations in the modern city.
Medicine and Health Dark Age Town
No evidence has been discovered yet in Exeter relating to medicine and health in the Dark Age town.
Medicine and Health Saxon Town
Excavations have revealed that people in the Saxon town lived in conditions which would today be regarded as insanitary, with water supplies contaminated by pits of rubbish and human waste. Despite these conditions objects such as bone combs found in the city suggest that people tried to look after their appearance and health.
Medicine and Health Norman Town
For many of Exeter's residents sanitary conditions in the Norman town had not improved. Some progress had been made in the religious houses like St Nicholas Priory.
Medicine and Health Medieval City
Like all medieval towns Exeter contained several hospitals but treatments were usually more spiritual than medical. Analysis of skeletons from the city shows that more than half the population died before reaching adult age. Perhaps the greatest achievement in healthcare was the creation of a dedicated water supply to the Cathedral, and later the city, via a network of underground passages.
Medicine and Health Tudor City
Improvements in medical ideas and practice are reflected in the archaeological record from the Tudor city. Finds of stills for distilling potions, flasks used in examining patients' urine and jars to hold wet and dry drugs show an increased interest in diagnosing and treating patients.
Medicine and Health Civil War
No evidence has been discovered yet in Exeter relating to medicine and health in the Civil War.
Medicine and Health Golden Age
Exeter played an interesting part in the growth of modern medicine with the establishment of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, the second English hospital in the modern sense to be established outside London.
Medicine and Health Georgian City
Improvements in the city's health were slow to develop in Georgian times. The great majority of citizens still lacked a clean water supply or anything approaching proper sanitation. The squalor of poor people's lives is strikingly recorded in a series of engravings of the city. The devastating outbreak of cholera which killed many in the 1830s was recorded by Dr Thomas Shapter, a heroic figure. Although he did not understand the source of the disease, his mapping of its occurrence was very innovative.
Medicine and Health Victorian City
Great improvements were made to public health in Victorian Exeter including improvements to the water supply and new public facilities for bathing. Many improvements were funded by private donation from Exeter's wealthier citizens.
Medicine and Health Modern City
The modern city has seen many improvements to health and medicine, including the building of new hospitals.
View of the bath–house caldarium
View of the Roman bath–house
View of the hypocaust system in the bath–house
Wire–frame model of the bath–house superimposed over a photograph of the excavation
The museum model of the bath–house
Fragment of mosaic
Fragments of antefixes
Fragments of window glass
Fragment of a basin from the bath–house
Antefixes on a roof
Restored plan of the baths
Fragments of mosaic
A late Saxon bone comb
Photograph of the town baths during excavation
A timber–lined well
Reconstruction of the lavabo at St Nicholas Priory
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
An ampulla mould
Wynard’s Almshouses
Glass
A glass alembic
Excavation in Trichay Street in 1972
Plan of the moated site at the Gardeners Arms, Wonford
An Elizabethan pharmacy jar from Paul Street
The Cathedral Close cemetery
An imported medicine jar from Beauvais
The Apothecaries Hall
Dr William Musgrave
The Devon and Exeter Hospital
A panel from William Musgrave’s tomb
Improvements in drinking water
Opposition to paying for improvements
Glass from the hospital chapel
An Exeter City Water stop–cock cover
Model of Wonford Hospital
The Farthing Breakfast
Norman capital from the St Nicholas Priory lavabo
Misericord showing a woman picking nits from her daughter’s hair
Provision for the sick: Wynard’s almshouses
A distilling vessel in Totnes–type ware
A Tudor garderobe seat
The Baths, Southernhay, Exeter
Food for the poor: a Penny Dinner Society plate
Drug jar
Drug jars
Message from an Australian soldier
Message from a soldier
A grand fantasy fair
