On Saturday 13th November 1866, a wild November night, there was a fire in Exeter which consumed the business premises of Messrs Moass, builders in Combe-street.. Shops, stores, stables and two cottages were compltely destroyed. It was the fiercest fire Exeter had seen for many years and the citizens turned out to see the blaze..
"The gleam was seen in the country for miles around and from the hills towards Ide the spectacle was magnificent, only too terrible to enjoy. Of course thousands of people turned into the street, notwithstanding the rain, the confusion, and the wild drift of sparks, carried by a strong wind over that side of the city.
"Down James-street rushed the arrivals, encountering and interrupting the poor souls who were flying from their houses, carrying with them such of their furniture, clothes , or valuables as they could lay their hands on - the women and children uttering distressful cries.
"It was said there were thieves base enough to steal even from people in such an extemity as this - that from one house the chair on which the careful wife had placed the childen's linen for airing, was walked off by some double-dyed villain who richly deserved a roasting himself.
"No life was lost, the horses as well as the human beings all happily escaping."
The story was told how two of Moass's workmen were still in the workshops working late, making a coffin for the relative of one of their mates.
"It was just as their mournful job was finished that the workshops took fire.- how has not been explained. The men were unable to save even the coffin they had been working on."
If we had a conflagration in Exeter these days, as indeed we did in 2016, the spectacle would not be so 'magnificent'. Blatant light pollution ensures that we no longer fully appreciate the comet, the stars, the moon - or even a good blaze.
Source: The Western Times, 16th November 1866.
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