On 3rd August 1620 Thomas Shapcot rode from London on horseback bearing the Royal Charter granted by King James 1. The cloth trade was central to life in Exeter and a sizeable crowd gathered in front of Tuckers Hall to greet him. The charter allowed the Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen to become an Incorporation, a self-governing body which could protect the trades and secrets of cloth-making from outside influences, who had interfered and reduced the quality of Exeter Cloth, affecting the reputation, reducing demand and the price to an unsustainable level.
