THE FURY OF BACK, WOODBURY, 1844.

 "On Wednesday, Perram, a sheriff's officer residing on St. David's Hill in this city, went with his father to the house of Richard Back, labourer, at Woodbury, to distrain.

"Having taken possession in the absence of Back, they proceeded to take an inventory of the goods, when Buck hastily entered, and uttering a vindictive expression of recognition, snatched the poker from the hearth and belaboured Perram so unexpectedly as to render both his arms powerless, and then struck him on the head with such violence as to produce an effusion of blood from the ear, and render him insensible.

"The fury of Back then vented itself on Perram's father, whom he knocked down by a blow on the nose, which cut it open.

"The sister-in-law of Back, who lived in a contiguous house, tendered some assistance to Perram, who lay, apparently dying, in the doorway, for which her brutal relative kicked her so severely as to fracture a portion of her ribs."

For these outrages Back has been summoned to appear at the Castle of Exeter on Friday, when the case will be investigated."

The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette  (14th September, 1844.) clearly does not let the fact that there is a case yet to come to court restrict its telling of this story.   The vindictiveness of Richard Back's expression, his violence,  fury and  brutality, are literally prejudicial assessments although they are probably true enough.  I don't, however, believe Perram was dying, not even apparently.  

The life of a sheriff's officer was never easy and leaving the civilized world of St. David's, Exeter, in order to visit wild Woodbury clearly held dangers for one and for one's aged parent.

Sisters-in-law are always spoiling one's fun.   

A JOHNNY RAW, EXETER, 1844.

"Elizabeth New, a lady of the pave, was brought up in charge by Perriam, of the night police, having been taken into custody about a quarter before 1 o'clock that morning in West-street, under the following circumstances as detailed by a young man named George Farrant of Budleigh Salterton, carpenter and joiner, - a sort of johnny raw, - now residing in Preston-street, in this city.

"He had been spending the evening at his brother-in-laws's on Quay Hill, where there had been a bit of a jollification and good supper, and of course the party got a little swipy.  At the hour mentioned however, he was on his return to his lodgings, when he encountered in West-street Elizabeth New with several other damsels.

"New ran to him, caught him round the waist, using much endearment, and saying "this is the man for me."  Poor Farrant, in his innocence, was astonished, he had never been so tenderly treated before, but still he was perfectly horrified that any woman should thus act, and piteously entreated that she should let him go.  Thus gently and piously urged she yielded to his earnest request, but, he was no sooner liberated from her powerful grasp, than he discovered his watch was gone.  he then at  the top of his voice sung out "watch" and, as before stated, Perriam came to his assistance.

"The watch was gone sure enough, the silk guard, round his neck to which it had been suspended having been dexterouly severed with a knife; an implement such as was found on the prisoner after she was brought to the Hall.  New, however, protested her innocence - (having meanwhile urged her companions to "cut.")   - nor was any watch found in her possession.

"Farrant, on the question being put from the Bench, said he could not say the prisoner had taken his watch.  And this not being deemed sufficient ground for her further detention, New was cautioned and directed to be liberated, and the case was dismissed.

The Flying Post's court-reporter, as so often, invents as much as he reports.  The naivety of  George Farrant,  the strength of Elizabeth New's arms, the (not proven) dexterous severing of the silk guard,  the crying of "watch" (a horrible pun!?) &c. cannot be more than assumption; still, it makes the story more entertaining.

There must be more slang terms to describe an excess of alcohol than anything else.  I had not met swipy/swipey before but I learn that Dickens uses it and it derives from swipes, another slang term,  once used  to mean thin, tasteless, washy beer and, according to my wonderful Lloyd's Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1895, cognate to a Danish word: svip.  (there's many a svip twixt cup and lip!!)

There was a constable to hand!!!

I'm irrationally pleased that Elizabeth New was not sent to prison or worse.  Even if, as seems likely, she did steal George's watch, she sounds a jolly sort of young woman,  the kind one finds with her damsel mates roaming Exeter these days at a quarter to one any morning of the week. 

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 29th August 1844.

THE SECRETARY ON HORSEBACK, EXETER, 1844.

 "TEMPERANCE PROCESSION. 

"The Members of the Temperance Society and the Independent order of Rechabites, a friendly society entirely composed of teetotallers, walked from Exeter the field near the Station, which is alluded to in another place, in procession. In addition to the Members residing at Exeter, there were several visitors from Teignmouth, Taunton, Bridgwater and Tiverton, came to Exeter for the double purpose of taking a holiday for the Railway Festival, and making a temperance demonstration. We may just remark here that Mr. Knott chemist, of Exeter, who is firm advocate of temperance, sent as a present to the members at their place of rendezvous, several dozen bottles of soda water and lemonade." 

"PROCESSION :  Was marshalled on Northernhay at half-past nine, and proceeded through St. Sidwells to the Black-boy turnpike, back again, and through High-street, Fore-street, Bridge-street, Bartholomew-street and Yard, North-street, and St. David's Hill to the Station. An idea may formed of extent of the procession, when we say that it reached from Pratt's London Inn to the top of Summerland-street St. Sidwell's. It was marshalled as follows. 

"The Secretary on horseback. 

"THE MAGNET COACH, Drawn by four horses, decorated with evergreens, and ornamented with Banners having the inscriptions, Temperance promotes education," "Touch not —taste not —handle not," Come with us and we will do you good." 

"BAND OF MUStC. Members of Temperance Society two and two, wearing their sashes and medals. 

"A FLAG, Bearing the inscription God save the Queen." 

"Members two and two. 

"The Banner of the Exeter Total Abstinence Society, having the arms of the Society richly emblazoned. 

"Members two and two. 

"The Banner of the Exmouth Total Abstinence Society. 

"Members two and two. Two white and pink flags. Members two and two. 

"The Taunton Total Abstinence Society's Banner of crimson silk, having the arms of the Society beautifully painted upon it by Mr. Havill, of Taunton. 

"Members two and two. 

"A banner, emblazoned with a large regal crown, and a dove descending towards it. 

"Members two and two. 

"Banner, with motto, "Faithful unto Death." 

"Members two and two. 

"Banner, motto, Religion our support."

"Members two and two. 

"A large white Banner, bearing the motto, "Temperance youth prevents poverty in old age." 

"Members two and two. 

"Banner, motto, " No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of Heaven." 

"Members two and two. 

"Banner, Total Abstinence is beneficial to all; hurtful to none." 

"Members two and two. 

"Banner of the members of tbe Juvenile Temperance Society. 

"Members two and two. Banner, motto, " Buds of Promise." THE EXMOUTH BRASS BAND. 

"The members of the Independent order of Rechabites of the Tents of Exeter, Tiverton, Taunton and Teignmouth. 

"The Union Jack. 

"The Banner of the Exeter Rechabite Tent.

"Members two and two. 

"The Banner of the Taunton Rechabite Tent. 

"Members two and two. 

"The Chief Ruler Wearing the sash and insignia of his degree, supported by officers bearing emblematical Banners The moon and stars." 

"The Deputy Ruler, Wearing the sash and decorations of his degree, and supported by officers bearing banners —the Sword and the Cornucopia. 

"The Tent Keeper, In full costume, bearing his banner—the Crimson Tent. The Stewards, In full costume, with their Banners, Coiled Serpents and Doves Motto, Be ye wise as serpents, but harmless as Doves.

"The Outside Guardian, In full costume, with his Banner, the Lamb and Eye. 

"The Inside Guardian, In full costume, with his Banner, the Beehive. 

"The Levite, With his Banner, the Golden Sheaf.

"Officers of the Tent, With the scrolls of the Rechabite Laws. The Elders, In full costume, each one bearing his Shield, with emblems of Temperance, Fortitude, Justice, Faith, Hope, Charity, Peace, and Plenty. Members two and two. The procession excited much attention, and was followed by a great concourse of persons through the city, and to the Station."

Every age has its causes.  I watched the Pridies' parade pass through Northernay a few weeks ago with its larding of men dressed in women's clothes and young people 'asserting themselves' with their bodies, their bling, their piercings and their tattoos and with every kind of 'let it all hang out', kitschy costume.  There were many banners but none, I contend, flying as well-intentioned nor with the dignity and sincerity of those of the teetotalers and Rechabites of 1844. 

Source:  The Western Times, 4th May, 1844. 

  

FURIOUS DRIVING, EXETER, 1844.

"Thos. Loder was charged with furiously driving an omnibus in the High-street, on the 30th of July.-  Mr Willesford attended for the defendant,  Loder, on the day in question was driving an omnibus from the Half Moon Inn to the Railway Station,  taking his route down High-street and Fore-street into St.Thomas; and the furious driving was witnessed by the Mayor and others; also by Wm. England, of the night police, B. Twiggs, &c.

"On the other hand, Mr Willesford called John Hancock, a guard on the railway, who was on the front of the omnibus, and Thomas Hawkins, the conductor of it, who differed materially from the other witnesses as to the rate at which the carriage passed the Hall, and ascribed this - (such as they admitted it to be,) - to be one of the horses having attempted to turn into Queen-street, the way it had been used to go, as also it did, after passing the Hall, towards the Globe Hotel by Broad-street; and gave it as their opinion that the skill of Loder alone prevented accident - Mr. Blackall delivered the judgement , saying, the Magistrates have no doubt that at the time spoken of, the man was furiously  driving this omnibus, he is therfore convicted, and fined the sum of 20s. and expenses , making 7s 0d. more.

"Mr. Blackall continued.  Having delivered the judgement of the Court in this case,  I have no hesitation in saying that it was most clearly proved, and I would advise the drivers of these omnibuses to be more careful in this respect in future than they have been in times past, as the lives of the inhabitants of this city must not be allowed to be endangered, because they may happen to be a little too late.

"The Mayor said, the case was now closed, and therefore he had no hesitation in saying in the face of his fellow citizens , that he had never before seen in the streets of Exeter an instance of such furious driving as this was; and further, he was continually receiving letters and personal communications on the subject of the fierce driving of those omnibuses through the streets.  With Mr. Blackall then, he would recommend these drivers to be careful in future." 

The Half Moon Inn, at 22 High Street, was a coaching inn and busdriver Thomas Loder was, no doubt, trying to ensure that his passengers caught their train from the railway station.  It was unwise of him to pass the Guildhall, where the Mayor and the Magistrates saw him whizz past, and he should, perhaps,  have followed the wise horse that wanted to take him down Queen-street. ( I assume already an alternative route. (?))

He was driving furiously. The word, together with its adjectival form, occurs four times in this report. It was, I feel sure, the much quoted  passage in the King James' Bible:  and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi for he driveth furiously, that caused this to be the word used by Victorian writers. A modern rendering has he drives like a maniac.  These days, though, we mostly drive dangerously.    

Source The Exeter Flying Post,  15th August, 1844.

MRS. ELWORTHY'S LITTLE JOKE, EXETER, 1844.

In August 1844, Mrs. Ann Elworthy who kept The Country House Inn in Catherine Street was summoned before the Mayor and Magistrates at the Exeter Guildhall on a charge of having people in her house after hours:    

"The case now proceeded, Richard Hamlin, an Inspector of the Watch being called, who said, I was on duty on Tuesday morning last about 20 minutes past 1, in Martin's Lane, when I heard a noise, and proceeding in the direction of the sound, found it came from the Country House Inn, kept by Mrs.Elsworthy.

"I heard there were several people in the house, and came and reported the circumstance to the captain of the night at the station house.  I was directed by him to return again to the Country House and observe what passed.  I heard beer called for, and gin and water.  I heard money rattle and money paid.  

"About  2 o'clock the door was opened and six or seven persons came out.  One of them pulled off his coat to wrestle, but Mrs Elworthy prevented him.  She stopped a few minutes, when all but two went away.  These men then went back with Mrs. Elsworthy into the house, and presently afterwards she let these two me out again.  They challenged one another to toss for Champaign:- Mrs Elsworthy said that she had no Sham Pain in the house, but had plenty of Real Pain'"

"Then the men went away."

So, it was in Catherine Street, about two in the morning on Tuesday 4th August, 1844, when Ann Elsworthy made her little joke about pain, sham and real.  Now it has echoed down one hundred  and eighty-one years!

She sounds a formidable lady, preventing her clients from wrestling, keeping an inn, serving beer and gin until two in the morning and making corny jokes.

She did not come to court but sent her solicitor, Mr. Willesford.  He was rebuked by the Mayor for her absence and the court then had its pound of flesh fining Mrs. Elsworthy 40s together with 7s. expenses.  I like to think she was able to laugh it off.

The night constable seems not much brighter than Dogberry and his pals in Much Ado.  Victorian policepeople invariably proceeded where other humans walked.  I think perhaps they still do.

Champaign for champagne is a delightful anglicisation which we seem to have lost.

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 8th August, 1844.  

"A VERY PROPER PROSECUTION", EXETER, 1844.

In March, 1844, a navigator named James Warren was sentenced to fifteen years transportation for highway robbery.   He and another, allegedly, had, in the early hours of 13th August 1843, and where the New North Road meets the Cowley Bridge Road, knocked a shoemaker over the head and rifled his pockets.  A young woman, Eliza Coleman,  she was twenty-two, gave evidence on his behalf at his trial in an attempt to save him.  Her evidence was clearly mendacious. Five months after her court appearance she was brought before the City Assize Court at Exeter Castle charged with perjury as reported below in Trewman's Exeter Flying Post  of 1st. August 1844.

 "Mr. Cornish appeared for the prosecution; called Mr. Henry W. Hooper, who states in substance that he was present at the Assizes for the city of Exeter on 25th of March last.  when a man of the name of James Warren was tried before Mr. Justice Cresswell, and convicted of highway robbery on the Cowley Bridge road.  

"The prisoner Eliza Coleman was a witness on that occasion, and swore that she remembered Saturday the 12th August preceding. That she and the prisoner James Warren cohabited together and occupied a room in Sherman's Court, West-street.  That they retired to bed between 10 and 11 o'clock that night; that she did not awake until the morning about 5 o' clock.  That Warren, the prisoner, was then in bed with her, and she had not missed him during the night.  That she did not hear any one call the prisoner that night; and that he did not go out after breakfast on Sunday morning. And being asked what time that was , and cautioned by Mr. Justice Cresswell, she replied, about prayer time.  She knew a man called Thomas Mare, sometimes called Curly or Culy Tom, and remembered seeing him early on the Saturday evening, but did not see him afterwards that night.   She swore most positively, and after repeated caution, that he did not come to Sherman's Court, nor did any one call the prisoner Warren during the night.

Now in contradiction to all this, on the preliminary examination before the Magistrates at Guildhall, at the time James Warren was committed for trial, she swore that Warren was called up between 3 and 4 o'clock on the Sunday morning by anither navigator named Thomas Mare otherwise Curly, to go, as she was informed, to Bramford Speke; and that Warren returned and went to bed again about half-past 5 o'clock......

.....The Judge summed up, and the Jury immediately found her  guilty.

The learned Judge now proceeded to address the prisoner. She had, he said, been guilty of a most serious offense, and this too under circumstances of great deliberation.  She had been cautioned, warned, had time for retraction, yet still she persisted in what was now most clearly shown was the grossest falsehood.  This crime was among the worst and most mischievous that could be committed.  It struck at the very root of all proceedings in Courts of Justice, and he had alsways felt that if a clear case were made out, the provisions of the statute should be carried into effect.  This then had been a very proper prosecution, for, for her there was no palliation, no excuse whatsoever, since having first told the truth, she left that path in order to entangle herself in all the labyrinth of deliberate falsehood; the consequence of which she would now have to bear.  In the hope then that the example thus made in her case would operate so as to deter others from the commission of this very serious offence, though probably on herself all tht was to be desired might not be wrought by it;  and also as a sentence far better for her than she might at that time be inclined to suppose,  since a separation from those who had been her companions in sin and iniquity must be the consequence, he sentenced her to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for the space of two calendar months , and at the expiration of that time to be transported for seven years.

This sentence handed out by Mr. Justice Patteson seems, to me, to be out of all proportion to the offence.  Is it not a pitiful business, this over-sentencing to 'make an example'?  Not only is it cruel but I doubt that it ever achieves its purpose.  We are seeing a spate of it under Keir Starmer.  I suspect Eliza Coleman was in love with James Warren and that is what accounts for the irrationality of her evidence.  It is clear from her words and actions that she was a  simple soul. 

Eliza said that James left her at prayer time.  The court would appear to have understood what she meant!

The omission above is a list of witnesses to Eliza's appearance at the Magistrates' Court. 

   

 

A LODE-STAR, TOPSHAM, 1844

"TOPSHAM.  - On Tuesday, this hive of industry was the scene of unusual gaiety and activity, the whole population, including numerous visitors, having assembled on the quays and points of vantage to witness the launch of the Jeannette, the magnificent schooner yacht of the Earl of Egremont, from the yard of Mr. Bowden, where she had been undergoing substantial repair, and been lengthened about twelve feet.

"Adjoining the dock was an awning, erected by the noble owner of the lode-star, in which were Earl and Countess of Egremont,  lady of the Ven. Archdeacon Stevens and the Misses Stevens,  Captain and Mrs. Roberts, Mr. and Mrs. Williams and the Misses Williams,  Captain Heringham R.N., the Revds J. Thompson and G.H.O. Pedlar, Mr. Walker, and several members of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

"The Town Band was stationed in a barge off the wharf, and played the inspiriting airs of "Rule Britannia,"  "See the Conquering Hero comes," &c.  Upon the bosom of the waters were numerous craft,  from the huge steamer gaily decorated with the flags of all nations,  to the little cock-boat; the weather being delightfully fine the whole was a brilliant affair.

"The time appointed was seven o'clock, and about half an hour previously, the arrival of carriages with distinguished visitors, which was announced by the rettle of artillery, set expectation on the tiptoe.

"Precisely at seven o' clock the word was given, the numerous supports were simultaneously removed, and he gallant vessel, which is really a noble craft, majestically glided into the yielding bosom of the deep.

"Some little delay occured from the fact that the tide did not rise so high as usual, but this was of little moment.  it was some time before the immense crowd that were assembled dispersed to their respective homes, highly delighted with the scene they had witnessed."

Lode-star here means an attraction.  (This is how Shakespeare used the word in A Midsummer Night's Dream).   Here it is the schooner Jeannette that is meant although the lords and ladies there assembled would also have been an attraction, not to mention the over-the-top gunfire and the floating Town Band.

George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont had been a naval officer before, in 1837, he became an earl, hence the strong naval presence under the awning.  He was 56 when his refitted yacht was launched at Topsham and he had less than two years to live.  He was the builder of Silverton Park, a great house some 8 miles from Exeter, long since demolished.

The Exe at Topsham had attracted numerous craft,  that a huge steamer was lying off Topsham sounds a bit hyperbolic. I find cock-boat a charming word for a small boat.

Too many bosoms?

The immense crowd that were assembled....!  Tut tut!

Source The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 20th July, 1844.

A SONNET IN PRAISE OF EXETER, 1844.

 "TO A LADY.- In Praise of Exeter. 

By the Rev. W.  Pulling, M.A.

Lady! with thine my spirit dwells delighted

On grand Exonia; she with charms is glowing:

Nature and Art therein, with powers united,

A picture form,  fresh beauties ever showing!

Painters and bards might there become excited

By her stream clear, fair-bridged, and softly flowing;

Peter's bold towers,  streets rising, myrtles blighted

By Winter scarcely, trees luxurient growing!

High on her Rougemont she a terrace raises;

A thick grove stands below, whereon th'eye gazes

With rapture!  Once beheld, her features never

Can be forgot, and Memory hymns her praises!"

Well, it's a long time since I blogged a bad poem and the Reverend William Pulling, of Sidney Sussex College,  M.A.  A.L.S, surely qualifies!  Welcome, William Pulling, to the Bad Poets' Society! (Of which I too can claim to be a proud member!) 

The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 6th July 1844 printed this poem in their Poets' Corner while , on the same sheet, noting that William had just published a neat little volume which contained 123 sonnets written strictly in the Italian style.  

Pulling was a native of Chudleigh and was, for some time, a master at the Grammar School there.  He was born in 1782.  Hence he was sixty-two or so when his sonnets were published. His promotion in the Church was slow but sure. He was nearly fifty when he was appointed Chaplain to the Cambridge Town Gaol and it was a good while later that he became Rector of Dymchurch in Kent.  He was 'instituted' by the Archbishop of Canterbury into the rectory at Old Romney in 1853, which I take to mean that the old man was given somewhere to live, and he died in his own house in Cambridge aged 78.  He seems never to have married.

The Gazette wrote of his work:  "we have great pleasure in recommending this little volume, as it is rarely that modern poetry is presented to us, not only so faultless, but containing so much to awaken the best feelings of the reader."

I have given this brief  'life' of William besause the internet seems not so far to have taken any notice of him and anyone who can write, probably, many more than 123, sonnets, strictly in the Italian style, surely deserves recognition.  He published some poems in the local (Kent) newspapers and his neat, little volume must still exist.

The A.L.S .the letters that he liked to put after his name, are a mystery to me.

The 'Grove' at Northernhay clearly caught his, and so many other people's, imagination.  Nowadays that part of the Gardens is a boring flat stretch of turf.  Bring back the Grove!

A DISTINGUISHED PARTY, EXMOUTH, 1844.

"EXMOUTH. - On Monday, the King of Saxony attended by the Duc de Staacpoole, aide-de-camp, the Baron de Gersendorff, Saxon Minister, and Dr Canes, the celebrated botanist, his Majesty's physician, arrived at this agreeable watering-place in two carriages and four, and dined and slept at Bastin's Marine Hotel.  His Majesty expressed himself much pleased with the Hotel,  and was engaged from an early hour in taking sketches from the drawing-room window.

"After breakfasting at half-past eight o' clock, the distinguished party were rowed to the Saltworks on the Warren and proceeded to Dawlish and Teignmouth, en route to Plymouth."

This routine notice of a middle-aged, all-male, royal party touring Britain is of more interest than it appears.  The King of Saxony whose party arrived in style at Bastin's Hotel was Friedrich August ll.  He had just come from Lyme Regis where he had purchased an ichyosaurus from Mary Anning.   He was remembered as an intelligent and benevolent monarch.

Richard, Duc de Stackpoole, was a French aristocrat but more British than French and must therefore have made an excellent ADC for the tour. He is remembered because his ghost, so men say, still haunts his old mansion of Glasshayes in the New Forest. 

Carl Gustav Carus (not Canes!), acting as the King's physician, was the most interesting of the party.  He made a name for himself not only as a botanist but as a physiologist and as a painter who studied under Caspar David Friedrich.   

I like the idea of the King of the Saxons making sketches of (?) Exmouth Bay and I like to imagine this distiguished party being rowed across the Exe to the Warren. 

I read here of the Saltworks on the Warren for the first time but I'm sure the Exmothian local historians know all about them.   The Works must have offered a superior landing place, one fit for a king.

Dr Carus wrote a book The King of Saxony's Journey through England and Scotland, 1844.  which I have not yet seen.

Source:The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 6th July 1844.

OUT ON "A LARK", EXETER, 1844

From The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 3rd August, 1844:

" ....in consequence of the anticipated Regatta at Budleigh Salterton, between ninety and a hundred persons, inhabitants of the faithful city, embarked at Exeter quay in the Owner's Good-will, W. Barratt, Commander, for that place, - the consideration for the trip being only two shillings and sixpence;  the excellent arrangements on board the vessel, we understand, including the agreeable provision of a band of music.

"When the vessel arrived at Turf, the Commander's "weather-eye" having detected certain signs of very bad weather not to be mistaken, he expressed his intention of not going over the Bar: but the company, who considered themselves out on "a lark" which would serve for anything, insisted upon it, and a steam-tug towed the vessel over.

"Many of them, however, were by this time getting sick of their amusement.  The ship hove-to a mile from Budleigh; when, to the company's great disappointment, they found that the Regatta was over, -  and  the only attraction to the good people of the town being themselves and their bark tossing on the bosom of the agitated ocean.

"A number of them, admirers of the principle of self-preservation, then disembarked in the first shore boat that could accommodate them, and departed for Exeter in two chaises and pair;  but the remainder, more courageous and less apprehensive, determined, with praiseworthy confidence, to continue to submit themselves to the experience and care of Capt. Barratt whose exertions throughout the day, under the most trying circumstances, are beyond eulogium.

"They got under weigh, and left Salterton about 4 p.m., everything presaging a gale, which came on with increasing fury.  The jib was split to shivers, - and to add to the distress, they lost the ship's boat.  The sail was split; and all but "the tars"" were compelled to go below, the hatches being battened down, and a tremendous sea making a complete breach over the vessel: her qualities as a sea boat, however, were here conspicuous, as were also the courage and skill of her commander and the crew.

"Below, the greatest confusion prevailed; the females being in a state which precluded that interchange of amenities which renders their society on pleasurable trips so charming; whilst the elegant adornments of their persons suffered considerably by the discharge, - and the males, terriified by their cries, and their reiterated and hurried enquiries of "where are we?" must have been enabled to conceive a vivid idea of a wreck at sea.

"At 7 p.m., the vessel was off Exmouth, signals of distress having  for some time been displayed.  Here a steamer bore down to their assistance, and towed her to Turf, when the state of things began to revive, and about 11 o'clock p.m. they arrived safe amid the sleeping shades of cathedral-capped Exon."

I kave heard locals speak of pleasure-boats as "sixpenny-sicks" but The Owner's Good-will was a "two-and-sixpenny sick".   You had more for your money - battened hatches,  shivered bow-sprits, torn sails, lost lifeboats.

Reported in the same newspaper is the Budleigh Regatta which went very well and without undesirable incident.  

Captain W. Barratt seems rather to have deserved censure than an eulogium, after all he subordinated the warnings of  his own prescient weather-eye to the will of his landlubber passengers. 

Cathedral-capped Exon is an echo from a time when from every direction there was a glorious view of 'St.Peter's Church'. 

  A good story?,  -  as I have written before -  it's  the way they tell them!

A NEGATIVE EXERCISE, EXETER, 2025.

The Dean of Exeter is a very smooth individual who, I have heard it said, was a spoiled child used always to getting his own way.  He wanted to clear out of the Chapter House at Exeter the 'joyless' sculpture of local artist Kenneth Carter, a great man and the producer of the most impressive sculpture of which Exeter could boast.  He has 'got his own way' indeed.  The fifteen collosal pieces of sculpture were last seen being put into a removal van.  Where are they now?

For fifty years Exeter Cathedral held this treasure.   It is now lost to citizens and visitors alike. The busy Dean has jumped over all the ecclesiastical hurdles, circumvented all who might have objected  by what might be called a conspiracy of silence,  found an artist, of whom nobody I know has ever heard, to write mean things about a true artist's work and, in the face of protest, has struck pre-emptively and lo!, the niches in the Coffee/Chapter House are bare. 

Well, it is a good story and it will not go away.  This Dean will be remembered as the man who robbed Exeter Cathedral of the Testament Sculptures.  The City will be the poorer for it.  It will be remembered as an altogether negative exercise and will not be forgotten or forgiven.

THE SHABBINESS OF THE DEAN AND CHAPTER, EXETER, 1844.

 "....a certain man of great gifts, a painter by profession, and Northcote by name - finding his end approaching, and pleasant visions of his native county floating before him in his calm slumbers before his hour of dissolution, did determine to leave a work of art which should be worthy the acceptance of his native county.  He commissoned his friend, Sir. Francis Chantrey, a most cunning carver in stone, to execute a statue to be placed in the cathedral.

"At great cost of money the statue was made, at heavy charges it was conveyed to this county.  But their Shabbiness the Chapter caused it to be placed in a corner of the cathedral where the public shalll not see it without encoutering the pitiful exactations of their Shabbinesses' protogees, the vergers  (with whom they do not go snacks it is to be hoped).

"Oh it is pitifully shabby, clerically mean! to disregard the patriotic injunctions and the liberal spirit of the honourable dead!" 

I dedicate this blog to those noble souls who are currently trying to stop the Dean and Chapter of Exeter from ripping Kenneth Carter's Testament Sculpture out of the Chapter House.  Shabbiness and meaness seem to cling to the clerics of Exeter.  Perhaps they are being passed down, somewhat like the Apostolic Succession from the meanest Anglican Bishop of all time, Henry Phillpotts!  There is certainly something shabby and mean, not to say slippery and deceitful, in the current Dean's proceedings and they are most certainly  an insult to the honourable dead.

To go snacks is delightful.  I think I have heard it but it is not in my Oxford Dictionary of Slang (Ayto) nor, as far as I can see, recorded on the internet.

I apologise for losing an accent grave.  I can't remember how to find it!

https://matthewcarter.co.nz/ken-carter-and-his-sculpture/

Source: The Western Times 27th July, 1844,  

THE TESTAMENT SCULPTURE, EXETER, 2025.

 Ken Carter, who was, I believe, Head of Sculpture at Exeter's College of Art and Design was commissioned some 50 years ago to fill the niches of the Chapter House of Exeter Cathedral with a series of colossal sculptures inspired by the story of the Testament from the Creation to the Nativity.  The work took some four years to complete and was this consummate Exeter sculptor's masterpiece.  The Testament Sculpture was well received and was one of the treasures of the Cathedral for half a century and still is.  It is a total work of art.  The sculpture complements the mediaeval building and the building complements the sculpture.  The intention is to rip this Gesamptkuenstwerk apart. It can still be appreciated, but not for much longer, in the Chapter House where it belongs which now serves coffee in the very excellent new Cloisters complex.  It is worth drinking coffee there just to see it.

The Cathedral where the sculpture belongs has conspired to get rid of half the baby by making a gift of it to Exeter College, a secular educational establishment where it does not belong.   I use the word conspired advisably for it seems clear that all the decisions have been made by a small cabal of individuals and that there has been a deliberate suppression of public information about these shameful plans.  The whole matter needs urgent public re-examination!  

The matter will do nothing for the reputation of the Cathedral, the College, the Artist, nor for the City of Exeter.  At the moment there is 'push back'  ( https://matthewcarter.co.nz/ken-carter-and-his-sculpture/.) and there is a petition to the Cathedral not to be so silly.   :https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/en/the_very_reverend_jonathan_greener_dean_of_exeter__save_the_testament_sculptures_at_exeter_cathedral/?t

A TREE IN NORTHERNHAY GARDENS, EXETER, 2025

Last week the Lord Mayor of Exeter processed in fancy dress into Northernhay Gardens together with the Sword of State and the Cap of Maintenance and about fifty followers, who were looking somewhat underdone and harrassed, to dedicate a tree to the victims of  the Covid Pandemic.  

There is necessarily a memorial tablet of marble set in stone and this is what is written upon it:

THIS TREE WAS PLANTED IN MEMORY OF EVERYONE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC,  MARCH 23rd 2021.

One wonders if any other public memorial in England has been inscribed in 'Pidgin' or 'Woke' or whatever this new language is to be called.  Maybe it is a first for the City of Exeter.  This would be a  sad distinction and particularly so because it is so unnecessary:  ALL WHO DIED would have been best and the city could have saved itself the expense of fifteen letters. 

In Exeter those who died were mostly of my generation and spoke the Queen's English.

Let us hope the next time His Worshipful turns up it will be to unblock the passage beween Northernhay and Rougemont.    

A BUY OR A CHIELD? EXETER, 1844

 "The Midsummer Assize for this blessed year of grace, 1844, was ushered in at a singular conjuncture.  The bells rung for the entrance of my lords the queen's judges, on Tuesday afternoon, but people were in a strange state of perplexity as they anticipated some such joyous announcement to signalize the advent of a blessed scion of the royal family of England expected by steam and electric telegraph, to gladden the hearts of once merry England.

"Notices had been very industriously published stating how it was that the Queen was hourly expected to tender an additional proof of her generous determination to extend the line of the House of Brunswick;  that Mrs. Lilly the nurse and Dr. Locock, the chief accoucher, with a host of attendants were all quartered at Windsor, whilst the electriic telegraph was waiting for a start to call the cabinet ministers to the scene of the royal birth-bed; the grooms sleeping in their saddles, ready to fly hither and thither with the intelligence as soon as the first premonitory symptoms announced the incipient stages of the royal progress.

"Well we were all thinking that if the young scion missed this world, it would not be for want of guides and directing posts, when the bells struck out and the people rushed forth into the streets, expecting to find the news running abroad that her Majesty was still expounding that important text of Genesis - which holds barreness to be an opprobrium, and sterility contrary to the holy end of matrimony.

''What ever is it? - a buy or a chield.' was the univeral exclamation, as the anxious housewives rushed forth.  Alas! there is no satisfactory resonse - 'it idden come yet'  is the reply; 'they'm only the jidges.'

The baby in question was Victoria's fourth child, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh who was born on 6th August 1844.  So it was a buy!.

A chield in Scotland is a boy and so, etymologically, is child and childe but the Devonians managed  to gender-bend the word. 

Source: The Western Times, July 27th 1844.

A SHRIEK FROM THE BOX, EXETER, 1844.

"Two little boys, named P|AYNE and BOUNDY, were charged with stealing apples frm the orchard of S. Kingdon., at Duryard. 

"It appeared that Mr. W. Kingdon was going home late one night, when passing the orchard, which lies near the road, he saw a number of boys, some picking, some eating, and some stowing away the green fruit, a quantity of which was scattered about.  He got over the hedge, seized on Boundy, and took him to Duryard, where he learned the names of the other offenders, and let him go.  He said he only wished them to have a summary punishment, and he would not offer evidence if they were to be sent to prison.  He then called a boy named Henry Crang, who proved the charge against the two prisoners.  Mr R.C. Blunt , who was in court, interceded on behalf of Boundy, stating that his family was respectable, and that he had been properly brought up.

"The father (Payne's father) (a flyman we believe) protested at his son being whipped.  He said there were others in the case, who ought to be punished, if they were not more in favour,

"THE MAYOR -  It strikes me you are a very foolish man.

"Payne - I know that, sir;  I works harder than you do;  but the others ought to be served as bad as my son.

"The MAYOR  -  You permit him to be prowling about the roads at night, robbing orchards, and now you see the trouble he has got himself into.  You are committed (to the boy) for one week, and when you come out , repent of your evil ways, and bide at home with your father and mother.  Boundy is to go to prison and there to be whipped and discharged.  (The mother of Boundy who was present, consented to this arrangement.)

"Payne was again about to say something to the Mayor, when he was interupted by Mr S. Kingdon. who said,

"You are worse than the boy, a great deal.  You are a perfect ruffian - the less you say the better.  Take yourself off!'

"The man was reluctantly turning away, when a shriek was heard from the box beneath the Petty jury gallery; and his wife, who had hitherto been silent, sunk to the ground ina violent fit of hysterics.  Several of the policemen immediately ran to her, but they were rather out of their element in endevouring to restore a fainting woman;  and the paroxysms seemed rather to increase at their approach.  Mr Kingdon called for a woman to come to her;  but there was no woman in the Hall who would assist her;  and she was carried out by the officers."

Source The Western Times 20th July 1844.

The Western Times had an opinion of Mr. Sam Kingdon.  'Mr. Kingdon's want of temper, his overbearing, we will not say insolent, manner especially to the poor.....'   Here he lives up to that reputation.  His mode of attack was often to claim to know someone who was a stranger to him:  'I know you, sir, you are a rogue and a ruffian.'  Here he practices it on poor Mr. Payne, who drives a cab, with the consequence that Mrs. Payne has hysterics and has to be carried out of the Court.

Mr. Payne, who works harder than Mr. Kingdon, has a point.  There were several boys scrumping apples and Kingdon knew who they were.  Only two come to court;  one goes to prison for a week, the other who is from a 'respectable' family is whipped and sent home.   There's justice for you!

Sam Kingdon lived in grand style at Duryard Lodge, which these days is Reed Hall, well known to the alumni of the University of Exeter.  These days you can get married there.  You might think he could have spared a few apples.

   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

"HOWLEY TUB!" EXETER, 1844.

"A flydriver named JAMES FAIRWEATHER, whose appearance indicated that reckless humour which often characterises the knight of the whip, was summoned for abusing Wm. Shipcott, an old hero of Waterloo, with a weather beaten face, white hair, and erect gait, which proclaimed an old soldier.

"The case arose from the following circumstances.The complainant has turned his sword into a wheel-barrow, and his spear into a basket of cherries; the ginger beer bottle has become his musket:  he 'seeks the bubble' in its mouth; his hand, familiarised to sharp-shooting discharges the flying cork; and his ear, accustomed to the 'hollow cannon's sullen roar' shrinks not at the sharp clear pop, which immediately precedes the tumultuous release of the excited liquid.  His ginger beer is excellent; and he ought not to be molested in dispensing so valuable a blessing to the citizens of Exeter.

"It was on the 18th of June, a day which,since the glorious victory in which our hero took part, has been hallowed in the memory of Englishmen, that he was going along the High-street, proud of his unrivalled ginger-beer, proud of the hard-earned laurels which adorned his button-hole, proud, it may be, of the Iron Duke, whose namesakes yet protecreed his shins - when he was overtaken by Fairweather, and a storm followed.   He was insulted and reviled, and made the mockery of a pack of lttle scamps, whose ragged shirts covered not one spark  of military or patriotic ardour, and the great hulking fly-man did not distain to lead them on, to hunt the old soldier through the streets clapping their hands, and shouting the words (unexplained but doubtless offensive) - 'Howley tub!'

"Mr. R Spencer, of St. Sidwells, who witnessed the disgraceful affair from his shopdoor, proved the charge; and the Mayor fined Fairweather 5s. remarking on the disorderly conduct of the fly-drivers generally.  They are certainly a most obstreperous class, and give the Bench a great deal of trouble  It may arise, perhaps, from the desultory nature of their employment, which gives them a great deal of lounging time on their stands, and tempts them to banish ennui by accosting any helpless passenger, especially such a one as, like our friend the soldier, has a little the appearance of a quiz."

William Shipcott was a quiz which is to say a person of an odd or eccentric appearance or character. The packs of little scamps in ragged shirts who scampered  up and down Exeter's  High-street were always ready to quiz a quiz if they could find one.   Especially if encouraged by one of that obstreperous class,  (neither The Times nor the mayor were ever slow to generalise), the fly-drivers.

It was the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in which William had fought and, if we can believe the report, he was wearing laurel leaves in his buttonhole in memory of that most famous battle.  Was this a custom that we have forgotten?

I don't believe William was wearing Wellington boots, but maybe!  Rubber wellies had not yet been invented.  My guess is that, having mentioned Waterloo and the duke, our reporter needed to write something about boots. 

William, the report tells us, sold home-made ginger-beer from a barrow and cherries from a basket.   He was old and odd and poor but was not going to let a mere knight of the whip get away with insulting an old soldier who had served with the Iron Duke.

Hollow cannons and bubbles:  I have written before that I like the way The Times assumes its readers know their Shakespeare &c..   The hollow cannons are from a contemporary American poet,  Samuel Woodworth .  The bubbles are from the Seven Ages of Man, (As you like it)

Pop was specifically ginger-beer at this time, in written form since 1812, but was soon to be applied to all fizzy drinks.. 

I like to think that this is the first time that 'Howley tub!' has appeared on the internet.   

Source: Western Times, 13 July 1844.

THE GENIUS AND FEELINGS OF ENGLISHMEN, EXETER, 1844.

The government's spies at the Post Office had been reading people's letters.   The Western Times, (5th July, 1844) was shocked.  At last it had been decided to investigate the 'nefarious system of letter prying'.   A committee of the House of Commons was to enquire into the matter. The Western Times commented: 

"We can say, with feelings of perfect truth, that no question ever appeared to us so painfully humiliating as this.  That England who had got rid of the alien act, who abominated the passport system, and held her head high among the civilized nations of the earth, for the personal liberty which her subjects possessed,  the freedom from restraint or observatiion with which they moved about - that this England, enjoying all this fine reputation should be detected in playing the paltry pitiful spy on foreigners deluded to her shores by the belief in the honesty and justice of her reputation - oh it is indeed humiliating!"

"Our government must effect its aims by honesty and straightforwardness - it must seek its friends and face its foes openly - and unless it can carry on the business of the State in the face of the day, it must give place to those who can adopt a system more consonant with the genius and feelings of Englishmen".

There you have it :  in 1844 there was a country called England which held its head high among the civilized nations of the earth.  The latter I suppose might include Scotland, Wales and Ireland.  In England, unlike in less happier lands, there was freedom from restraint or observation, and government was expected to be honest and straightforward.

I no longer hear about England.  Perhaps it no longer exists.  This week the Americans are said to be worried that Britain might soon become a Muslim state with nuclear weapons.   I don't think they need worry too much but, every now and then, I see videos of  English policepeople invading Englishmen's homes, usually the homes of citizens who have broadcast rude things about Muslims or who have suggested that certain crimes might have been perpetrated by Islamists.  Apparently one can be sent to prison for a long time for this kind of thing.  I have even heard that there is a movement to bring back the blasphemy law but I can't believe this!    Still, it does seem that there is more restraint about and more Big Brother style observation of the wicked public every day.

As for facing our foes openly:  is there an England to fight for?  We apparently have no soldiers. I doubt that many of our Muslim 'countrymen' will swell the ranks, rather they may find that England's difficulty is Islam's opportunity.   Oh well, if we can't go to war openly, let's just stick to fighting proxy wars. 

 

 

PLASHING IN COOL STREAMS, EXETER, 1844.

"We regret to see that the Exeter public are to be deprived of the pleasure of bathing above Head Weir.  We think, with a beautiful stream like the Exe, some provision should be made for the encouragement of this healthful recreation.  Mr. John Carew, whose delicate eyes are offended by the occasional spectacle of a few naked boys, dancing with joyous glee on the green grass, or plashing in the cool streams at three or four hundred yards distance - Mr. John Carew threatens therefore to spike the river and impale the naked little boys.  We will not horrify Mr. John Carew with the sight of the agonised victims of his spiking propensities - because we are sure that he is far too good natured a man to carry his threat into execution.

"Many a grey-headed man remembers with delight the pleasures of his bathing time, and we feel assured that the Exonians will not surrender a prescriptive right to get at the cool stream - no, not even if Mr. John Carew were to shoulder his pike with a little boy impaled upon it, writhing in agony - and to stand a grim sentry at the Head Weir to scare them off.

"If Mr. Carew really wants to get rid of an annoyance he could easily do so by projecting a society for promoting and regulating public bathing - that would put a "spike" into the nuisance, without planting a thorn in his legal pillow.  For if he really were to use the pike in a moment of unguarded wrath, his kind heart would repent it in bitterness and sorrow for the rest of his days."

It is no surprise that only little boys would get naked and plash in the Exe.

Plash is the original form.  Splash just makes it sound spashier.

I have to suppose some people did spike rivers to stop children from bathing.

I suspect The Times' columnist did not understand the first meaning of 'impale'.  - that would be an image too far.

Happily the area above Head Weir continued to be a bathing ground for Exonians for another half century.

John Carew  had been mayor of Exeter (1841) and was at this time the city's Registrar.

A SHOE CLOSER ON THE TRAMP, EXETER, 1844.

 "On Tuesday evening a large pane of glass, valued at from £4 to £5, was broken in the shop window of Mr. Adams, silversmith, High-street.  A person named Williams, a shoe closer on the tramp for work, was seen to throw a stone at the window by several persons in Martins-lane.

"He was seized , and said that he had done it to procure a night's lodging - an object which he attained by being taken to the Station-house.

"He was brought before the Magistrates at the Guildhall next morning, when the Bench, considering that he might have purchased one night's lodging by breaking a sixpenny pane, sent him to the House of Correction for two months".

This was a harsh sentence on poor Williams who must have been truly desperate when he chucked the brick.  As usual the Times' reporter gives the impression that everybody in Court, including the prisoner, was having the time of his life and enjoying every moment of the session, . It can't have been like that! 

None of my dictionaries gives 'shoe closer' but  the shorter OED had 'boot-closer' as 'one who sews together the upper leathers of boots.' - self-evident I suppose!  The division of labour was marching on.

Source: The Western Times, 27th April 1844. 

''l on nothing a year. 

  

SPIRITUAL PUTREFACTION, EXETER, 1844.

 In the edition of The Western Times of 4th May, 1844, this letter 'addressed to the editor' appeared:

"It is now six weeks since I entered your ancient city,  but only three things have particularly struck my attention, viz. the great number of churches,  the great number of unfortunate females on the town, and a pair of stocks on consecrated ground.

"Now sir, there is something paradoxical in the fact, that in the cities and towns where churches abound, prostitutes abound also.  Should any of your readers doubt the correctness of this statement, I would advise them to visit Oxford or Cambridge, or York and Leeds, (that famous town where the tories catch small fish with a large 'Hook') and they will be satisfied that my statement is founded upon fact.

"But how is this to be acounted for?  'The church is the salt of the earth', to keep the people from spiritual putrefaction.  The Bible, daily read in our churches is 'a light to our feet and a lamp to our path'.  How then can we account for such a fearful mass of iniquity abounding in this our highly favoured land? and especially in Exeter where there is so much consecrated ground, and clergy of all degrees 'with gowns so black, and bands so white, and caps so orthodox'

"How is it that we see these things.  I hope the attention of some of the reverend gentlemen will be called to such matters.  Neither prostitutes nor stocks ought to abound on consecrated ground.  They are a sad hindrance to

"APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION"

I think this must be a fake letter, perhaps one written by a Times reporter to fill space and to discomfort the church party. 

The stocks were still in use in Exeter but that was on the unconsecrated ground of the Guildhall.  Where and why were they on consecrated ground?    

"Females on the town," is a curious euphemism, widely used in these years.  I don't imagine Exeter had more females on the town than many. 

Find the odd man out:  Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter, Leeds!  Leeds!?     The ' Hook' is surely Walter Farquar Hook,  the Anglican Vicar in Victorian Leeds, but  I can't see why Walter and Leeds should be here. There may be some long lost joke.

Entitlement (to all sorts of self-serving mattters) through Apostolic succession  was Bishop Phillpotts' constant claim, one which laid him open to the contempt and ridicule of many. 

   

THE HAPLESS TENANTS OF THE YARD, EXETER, 1844

 From The Western Times of 13th April 1844:

"ST SIDWELL'S. - We are happy to hear that the Parish of St, Sidwell's, are at last about to settle with the Dean and Chapter, the purchase of a piece of ground behind the Church, to increase the burying ground,

"This extension has long been imperatively called for.  The present yard, from its crowded state, is not only a disgrace to the parish, but a nuisance to the city.  Its crowded graves frequently led to the most revolting exposure  of the half decomposed remains of the hapless tenants of the yard, and threatened to overwhelm the city with a pestilence, according to the statement of bodies of local knowledge and publically proclaimed before the Commissioners of Improvement." 

St. Sidwell's churchyard , it might be argued, is still a disgrace to the parish and the city but, at least, there are, as far as I know, no half decomposed remains to revolt the passer-by.  

There is a true whiff of Victorian Gothic about this description of the churchyard, don't you think?

The citizens of Exeter feared pestilence like the plague! (joke!)   They well remembered the horrors of the cholera epidemic of 1832 and the smallpox of 1837 and yet there were clearly dramatic examples of uncleanliness at St. Sidwell's and no doubt elsewhere.

 

NORTHERNHAY OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, EXETER, 2025.

 Tomorrow the citizens of Exeter and visitors to Exeter will be permitted to walk in the Northernhay Gardens again.  The gates have been locked for the last seventy days, only being opened when the temporary owners of the people's park were ready and able to 'entertain' the many funfair-friendly.  Many of those seventy days the Gardens were a 'construction site' where only members of the incomer workforce were welcome.

It is a scanadalous irony that the overweight Mayor of Exeter and other civic dignitaries dressed up and marched in procession to the Gardens to set down their poppy wreaths with all due ceremony, solemnity, dignity and maybe a little pomposity, to confirm to the city and the world that 'we shall remember' the city's and the county's dead, this on Remembrance Sunday, only to lock the gates against the citizens before dawn on Remembrance Monday so that no-one could visit the memorial, except after weeks of 'construction' when they were allowed in to the overwhelming funfair to find Exeter's fine memorial closely guarded by plastic santas and rudolfs &c.

Seventy days is practically a fifth of a year and by the end of this year the Council will probably have closed the Gardens again; perhaps another street-food 'fest' (not on a street!) to take the bread out of the mouths of local traders.  These closures do the Gardens no good!  The damage done is heart-rending.  Exeter City Council lives up to its long-standing reputation as a gang of Philistines.

What's to be done?  The City, no doubt, needs a space for such 'events'  but not Northernhay which is the jewel in Exeter's crown.  Such events require hard-standing. The Castle Yard was once the place for balloon-ascents and other such jollities but, alas!, the Council has sold it.  There must be an answer!

(And, incidentally, I hold this conspiracy theory:  I suspect that the reason why the path through the Castle wall between Northernhay and Rougemont Gardens has not been opened for the last five years is merely because the City Council likes to lock whenever, wherever, whatever it can and because this closure makes it easier for damaging, polluting, lowest-common-denominator 'events' to be inflicted on Northernhay.   I suspect the whole 'unsafe walls' narrative might be fake news.)

This blocked passage between the Gardens is an injury and a reproach to the city. What is sad is that there is a failure of imagination when it comes to a unified Northernhay and Rougemont Gardens.  With the ancient castle walls and moats and the magnificent trees and the glorious lie of the land they really are a remarkable asset   No other city has anything like them.  

In today's Britain, gardens can be powerful magnets.  Already many people visit Exeter hoping to enjoy the Gardens. (and many were disappointed throughout the past 70 days).  If Northernhay were gardened and advertised as an attraction (A public garden since William Shakespeare was writing!)  ("The most romantic walk in all Europe!" as The Western Times was once able to claim) they would add to the reputation of the city and bring many thousands of visitors to Exeter of the kind who spend money freely on the High Street.  If the Council needs cash and the people need circuses there must be nobler ways to make money and to entertain the children than to trample Northernhay.  

A PRETTY GOOD DOSE OF PATRONAGE, EXETER, 1844.

The Western Times of  6th April 1844 set out, not for the first time,  to inform its readers that Henry Phillpotts, the Bishop of Exeter, (Exeter was then the seat of the bishop for Devon and Cornwall), was a decidedly worldly Christian:

     "....we beg to remind our readers , and the admirers and friends of Bishop Philpotts in particular, that admitting the efficacy of his prelatical labours they have been fitful in the extreme, when compared with his steady labours to reward & exalt the pious and exemplary members of his own family. 

" Lowe, it will be remembered, received the lucrative post of Precentor, on the nomination of Bishop Philpotts, and Bishop Philpott's son immediately stepped into two fat livings which Precentor Lowe had vacated.

"Nephew Philpott's hath a valuable living in Cornwall.

"Son Philpotts hath Stokeinteighnhead, and is also Precentor of Exeter Cathedral/

"Son-in-law Stephens is Sub-Dean and Vicar of Dunsford, and Son-in-law de Bouilli hath also the valuable living of Lawhitton.

"Here is a pretty good dose of patronage for people all talking about the primitive church, and declaring that we must recede more and more towards the primitive simplicity of the early Christian church.""  

The patronage continued far beyond 1844. It was the Cornish socialist historian, A.L. Rowse,   (A Cornish Childhood,  Jonathan Cape, 1943) who best summed up Phillpotts when he wrote that he was: "a nauseating character....a nasty political pamphleteer who recommended himself thus for ecclesiastical propmotion to the Tory reactionaries of before the Reform Bill, who recommended himself still more by marrying Lord Eldon's niece, a grabber of every scrap of church preferment he could lay hands on to serve his family -  he had seven sons in Orders and almost as many sons-in-law;  who kept clear of his cathedral city the whole time of the cholera, an oppressor of the poor, who built himself a fine marine villa at Torquay (now the Palace Hotel), from which he administered his diocese and went up to London to speak in the House of Lords on behalf of every bad cause." 

It is said that, when in the House, Phillpotts fulminated against every reform of the age in a manner that shocked even his fellow diehards and that when in his diocese, in the name of reform, he put fear rather than love into the hearts of his clergy.

The Times here consistently misspelled Phillpott's name. Perhaps they only did it to annoy because they knew it teased.

We still have nauseating bishops and we have 26 bishops in the House of Lords -   Lords spiritual, but not very!