Exeter

We had a couple of days to fill before we went to see our friends in Totnes so we stopped in Exeter. It's an ancient city on the River Exe dating back to the Roman era with remainders of the walls surrounding the city still visible. The Romans withdrew from Britain around 410 and nothing is know about Exeter until the 7th century when the city was held by the Saxons. It was briefly captured in 876 by the Danish Vikings, but King Alfred drove them out the following year. Two years after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Exeter rebelled against King William. That rebellion was short lived and William accepted the city's honorable surrender, though he did build higher, stronger walls to strengthen the Norman hold on the area. The city was prosperous in the medieval period and during that time Exeter Guildhall was built (1468-1470). The portico that juts out over the pavement was added in 1594.

Though not large, the interior is really quite grand.

A portrait of Princess Henrietta, daughter of King Charles I, painted in 1606 by Sir Peter Lely, hangs in the hall.

My favorite part of the portrait is its frame, with the stern faces staring at the viewer at the top and bottom. The whole city has a wonderful medieval/Tudor look. Even many of the new buildings have features that blend in with the old.

Exeter is probably best known for its gothic cathedral, the building of which was started in 1133. By 1258 the building was already viewed as outmoded and it was rebuilt in the Decorated Gothic Style.

The not-terribly-helpful young man at the entrance told me that a tour of the Treasures exhibition was to start in ten minutes, so I bought a ticket. It was a very interesting tour - I was the only visitor partaking - and was led by an extraordinary young woman who could not have been more than 16 years old, but who possessed an almost frighteningly extensive knowledge of the history of the cathedral and all the Treasures. Photographs were only allowed in one of the rooms on the tour which was a bit of a shame. In the private non-photo area I saw original pages submitted for inclusion in the Domesday book of 1086. These were the pages of information which would have been gathered in the shire around Exeter and sent to be transcribed into the book. Most of these pages were destroyed after transcription was complete, but somehow Exeter held on to theirs. I can't tell you how awestruck I was to be looking at pages that had been written in a fine hand almost a thousand years before.

Back in the cathedral I took in the amazing sights including the longest continuous medieval vaulted stone roof ever built.

The Lady Chapel illustrates how buttresses, columns and windows transformed the rugged Norman stone cathedral into a space filled with light.

In the north wall of the nave is a wonderful feature known as the minstrels' gallery which is decorated with angels playing musical instruments including bagpipes!

Two of my favorite features were the astronomical clock

and the earliest example of a cat door

which was installed so that the bishop's cat could come in an hunt mice.

Bishop Cotton's tomb:

Bishop Oldham's tomb:

The chapel where Bishop Oldham's tomb is located is decorated with owls because his name was pronounced "Owl-ham".

Chapel of the Devonshire regiment:

Walking back to the rental flat I passed some remnants of the city walls.

It's an interesting city and I hope to have the opportunity to return to explore further.