CLOSING NORTHERNHAY, 1861, EXETER, #2.

 In June, 1861, an application came before Exeter Town Council for the Brass Band Contest to be held in Northernhay Gardens!

Mr. Drake said that he thought there should be some guarantee given that the shrubs should not be injured, which suggestion met with approval.   He next presented a memorial from the inhabitants of Queen Street , complaining of the state of Northernhay; and he asked that it should be closed early in the evening so as to prevent the disgraceful conduct which was often enacted there.

Mr. Mark Kennaway then said that he objected to the exclusion of the public, as from time immemorial they had a right to enter Northernhay at all hours,  and it was not for any exclusive body to say the place should be closed at their dictation.   At this.were cries of Hear, hear!.

In 2021/22,  Northernhay  Gardens were hired out by Exeter City Council to an organiser of 'entertainment'.  They became a destructive and  polluting fairground for the Christmas and New Year holidays and, before and after, were for a total of two months closed to citizens and visitors.

Source: The Western Morning News,  13th June, 1861.

CLOSING NORTHERNHAY, EXETER, 1860.

Northernhay was closed to the public for a few hours on the day of the opening of the London and South Western Railway,  (18th July 1860).

While the Mayor, the Corporation and the Railway Directors enjoyed a banquet in marquees borrowed from the Horticultural Society, the citizens of Exeter were locked out of the Gardens.   

'F,C.' who was not invited to the party, wrote to the editor of  The Western Times to express his indignation:

"Sir;  

I regret very much that the authorities should have thought proper to close Northernhay against the public on such a day as this.  

I have never complained of the exercise of this authority by the Council for any object of benevolence or other good purpose,  

I think, however, now it should be intimated to those in authority that they have no right whatever upon this or any other occasion, or for any purpose, to close Northernhay.

The law has ever been most jealous of any encroachment on the rights of the public.  I believe I should be justified in removing any obstruction which I may find in the public thoroughfare from Northernhay Place to Lower Northernhay, or the parties who cause any such obstructions could be indicted. 

F,C,"

I imagine F.C.'s 'law' was a little shaky, as was his sentence construction, but the spirit in which he wrote seems to me to be admirable.  In 1860, Northernhay was closed for part of a day,   In 2021/22, it was hired out to fairground folk for 72 days and 'closed against the people' for more than half  that time.

Source:  The Western Times, 21st July, 1860.

NORTHERNHAY #3, EXETER, 1860.

It poured with rain on that day in July 1860 when the new line from Crewkerne to Exeter was opened but at 'the Banquet' given by the city all was sweetness and light.   The banquet took place in a damp and leaky tent on Northernhay. Some of the invited gentlemen defied etiquette by dining, in the presence of many ladies, in their hats and overcoats,   

The Mayor of Exeter proposed the health of the chairman and directors of the London and South Western Railway and said that:

"the people of Exeter rejoiced with the directors on the completion of their line to this city and deemed the event to be of very great importance to them,  The people of Exeter were thankful to the directors of the London and South Western Railway for having so readily regarded their wishes as to the preservation of Northernhay, The wishes of the citizens in this respect had been most readily and kindly acceded to, and Northernhay had not only been preserved, but improved...."

".....Captain Mangles, the chaiman of the directors, returned thanks.  They would have been Goths, and unworthy of the reception given to them. had they destroyed the lovely place on which they had the pleasure of meeting."

But it had been a damned close thing and people had fought tooth and nail to preserve the Gardens (their Walks) because they appreciated them as a precious inheritance,   Goths there had been but they had been beaten back by the awareness of the citizens that  Northernhay was a treasure to be valued and protected and improved.

Goths there still are!

Source:  The Western Morning News,  19th July, 1860.