A JUMPING SON, EXETER, 1845

It was Good Friday, 1845 when the Trinitarians beat their bounds  "with great glee.  

"At the foot of  Colleton Row, the parish boundary stretches into the river Exe - we saw no less than three of the trinitarians, stripped of their upper garments, leap into the silver stream, and swim to the shore - as a testimony of the extent of their boundaries.

"Some of the leading men, and the late misleading parson accompanied the procession.

"At the Shilhay bridge, which unites the quay with the shilhay, the boundary commissioners mounted the central pier, on the upper side, and jumped into the turbid waters of the muddy leat.

"One of them, a grey headed man, who had all is clothes on, was followed by his jumping son of about 14 years of age,  The party reached terra firma by the dipping steps." 

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Trinitarians: were Exeter citizens of the lost parish of Holy Trinity Church, Southgate, (later and until recently the White Ensign Club in South Street)  some of whom, to establish their parish boundary, were prepared to go swimming with all their clothes on, or at least, their trousers.

The late misleading parson: was, I think, the young Reverend Joseph Corfe.  A zealous supporter of Bishop Henry Phillpotts and something of a Tractarian and therefore not loved by The Western Times. 

The dipping steps: so called because the water-sellers filled their barrels at that place and carried, on primitive donkey-carts, water into the city.

No less than three!  Tut-tut!

I like the idea of glee.  We don't hear much about it these days. The word relates, I read, to glitter and gleam. One can never get enough of it!

Source: The Western Times, 3rd May 1845.