Exeter

Exeter (Roman), Isca Dumnoniorum, was successively fortress of legio II Augusta from the mid-50s to the mid-70s then civitas-capital of the Dumnonii. The fortress baths were excavated west of the cathedral in the 1970s; little else is known of the base. The civil basilica was constructed over the baths, and a civil bath-house is known. The 2nd-cent. earthen defences enclosed 93 acres and were refurbished in stone in the 3rd cent. Some houses have been excavated, but comfort and degree of Roman culture do not seem to have been high.

Alan Simon Esmonde Cleary

post-Roman

Exeter was refounded as a fortified town (burh) by Alfred. It rose to be one of the leading English towns of the 10th–12th cents., apparently through the tin trade, acquired a bishop's see (1050) and, after a rebellion against the Normans, a castle (1068). It declined in the 13th and 14th cents., though this did not prevent a total rebuilding of the cathedral, ‘the Decorated cathedral par excellence’. The Reformation was unpopular in Exeter, though the city resisted a siege by catholic rebels (1549). From the 15th to the 18th cents. Exeter throve as a cloth-making and cloth-trading town; when the textile industry declined, it became a social and servicing centre instead. It never really industrialized, and has remained a modest-sized regional centre. Since 1942 it has suffered grievously from both air raids and insipid post-war redevelopment.

David M. Palliser