Exeter: A Town Steeped In History
It is no wonder that buying agents such as Recoco Property Search are frequently asked to find and negotiate the purchase of a property in Exeter or within a 10-mile radius.
When the Romans arrived in A.D. 49, a settlement was already known as Caerwysc, meaning ‘ the fortified town on the Exe ‘. The Romans renamed the settlement Isca Dumnoniorum, and excavations around the present-day Cathedral in the 1970s revealed a Roman bathhouse dating from A.D. 55. This is the oldest cut-and-mortared stone building in Britain.
The settlement grew in size and importance, and from the 15th to the 18th centuries, its wealth relied mainly on the production of woollen cloth in one of 22 fulling mills along the River Exe. Indeed, at its height in the early 17th century, Exeter was one of the wealthiest towns in England. Its woollen cloth was exported from Exeter via one of the first canals to be built in England to Topsham, then across to the Low Countries and to Spain and Italy.
Today, Exeter still has many fascinating and well-preserved historic buildings, including Tuckers Hall a medieval timbered hall built in 1472 where the Incorporation of Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen still meet.
One of the original religious buildings open to the public is the Benedictine monastery, built in 1087. It survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries and is known as St. Nicholas Priory.
The Guildhall in the High Street is reputed to be the oldest municipal building in England still in use for the purpose for which it was built 800 years ago to control the affairs of the City.
The Custom House on the Quay was built in 1680-1 and was the first building of its kind to be built in the U.K. to levy fines on the import of various goods arriving and unloaded from ships at Exeter Quay.
So Exeter is endowed with a number of magnificent buildings reflecting the importance of the City over many centuries. However, the jewel in the crown is undoubtedly Exeter Cathedral, which occupies a resplendent position on Cathedral Green just off the High Street.
It dates originally from 1050, and there are two splendid Norman towers from this period. It has been extended and altered over the years and today boasts the longest stretch of uninterrupted Gothic vaulting in the World. The Quire was much improved by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century and in the last two years a new floor has been installed in the Quire and a new south Cloister added.
But Exeter is not just a city resting on its historic laurels. It has a vibrant university sitting in an elevated position on what Lord Carrington once described as “ the most beautiful university campus in the country” and which is frequently listed in the top 10 in the U.K. It is also home to Exeter University Medical School. Exeter Science Park, located near the motorway on the eastern edge of Exeter, was established in 2013 and is a centre for businesses associated with science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine. Also, enjoying easy access from the M5 motorway is Sandy Park, home to Exeter Chiefs, a Premiership Rugby team well supported by Exonians and ‘ the place to be for all the family “ when home matches take place. Exeter, although a city on the South West peninsula, has superb communications to other parts of the country.
The M5 links with the M4 north of Bristol to give easy access to London or continues northwards to link with the M6 for access to the north of England and Scotland. Intercity trains operate from Exeter via Taunton and Reading to London Paddington or via Salisbury to London Waterloo.
Exeter Airport offers flights to a number of U.K cities as well as to Spain, Italy and the Canary Islands. Exeter residents also have two national parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor, each within an hour’s drive of the city, and the surfing beaches of north Devon and the sandy coves of south Devon are readily accessible. For the more adventurous, the 630-mile South West Coastal Footpath goes from Minehead to the north around Land’s End to the west and then along the Jurassic Coast of east Devon and Dorset, where it culminates at Studland Bay. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Glasgow University Geography Department has declared Exeter as the best place in the U.K. to live, and Velwell Road in Exeter was voted as the ‘ Best Street in Britain ‘ for its friendliness and good neighbourliness.
In my time as a residential property agent in Exeter, I have sold many of its fine houses. Over the last eight years as a property finder, I have purchased a number of houses for Recoco clients in the City. I look forward to finding and buying more of these fine townhouses and country properties in nearby villages for clients wishing to move to Exeter, Devon and the South West in 2025.
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