Our journey from our early history to today and onto tomorrow
Wool and water
Clothmaking in Exeter was well established, probably dating back to Roman times, due to to proliference of both sheep and water from the river Exe, for power and washing.
Walking hand in hand
In 1471 the guilds or fraternity of clothworkers called the Weavers and Tuckers were given 4 acres of land on which to build a chapel in which to meet and worship known as the Chapel of the Assumption of our Lady. By 1490 Shearmen had been added to the title as the habit of grouping certain trades together became normal. Tuckers or tucking was the trade of finishing cloth which became fullers or fulling. However, during the Reformation the Hall was taken out of religious use and sold to a member and used only as meeting place – all to save it from confiscation by Henry VIII.
After the reformation in 1576 a first floor was installed and a stair turret built turning the upper floor into a Court room and the lower level into a school room. The hidden wall paintings date from this period.
A gift of real value
The earliest known record is a dispute between the Cordwainers and Weavers and Tuckers in 1452 concerning “precedence and antiquity” in the Mayor’s procession on Midsummer Night. This shows that the guilds had been active for decades if not longer. The Mayor of Exeter insisted on the settling of the dispute and made the two guilds walk in procession hand in hand.
Pleading with the King
The guild members were seeing an influx of shoddy goods from unskilled workers which started to harm the region’s reputation and prices. So they pleaded with the King to be able to set standards and secure their future trade, based on quality not quantity and producing quality cloth.
The response was The Royal Charter of 1620 which gave the guilds the status of ‘Incorporation of Weavers Fullers and Shearmen’ and gave independence to govern themselves, maintaining standards and controlling production, making the qualified craftsmen ‘freemen’ of the city, free to conduct their business without interference by the City Chamber or competition from inferior products.
The Charter was a way in that time of developing towards a modern democratic society – one that many of us take for granted today.
The term MYSTERIES is included in the King’s text! It implies the individual skill and talent to be allowed to excel and making some exceptional.
To them or by the greater part of them, the right to make decisions as they please should serve the interests of future heirs, succeeding in their trades and mysteries.
ROB CASEY
Our celebratory Charter Poem from 2021 summarises this time.
The Golden Era
This King’s seal of approval helped Exeter to excel, leading to an era of 150 years of prosperity with an increase to over 1,000 pieces of cloth produced a day with 400 master craftsmen belonging to the Incorporation, representing 25% of the nation’s production of woollen cloth.
Exports from the port of Exeter increased, making it the 3rd most important City outside London. Up until the early 1700s the cloth trade and associated trades employed 70% of Exeter’s citizens. A City of Cloth with tenterhooks across the open spaces of the City stretch drying the ‘woven gold’. The beautifully carved oak panelling was installed early in this period in 1634 to 1638, covering a wall painting – still yet to be fully researched.
Our own bank and a Navy
In 1769 the Exeter Bank in Cathedral Yard opened to handle the vast amounts of paper money that was now being exchanged. This was the first purpose-built provincial bank outside London.
Merchants became exporters and shipowners and to protect their ships from pirates they grouped together and sailed in convoys from the Exe becoming known as the ‘merchant navy’. Calls were made to London for protection against Corsairs, who even took people into slavery from the south Devon coast. This was the beginnings of a new defence structure – the Royal Navy.
Mechanisation
By 1850 the trade was all over, wars and the industrial revolution with powered machinery. The Hall was in a poor state of repair, the Court was now made up from local traders and to avoid demolition one member paid for the front wall to be rebuilt, hence the five buttresses to support the roof timbers and the external victorian appearance.
In 1908 great works were carried out to expose the roof timbers, create an entrance corridor a traditional staircase, an inside toilet and scullery with running water. Electricity installed in 1936.
Yet the charities continued
The charitable funding that had always supported those in the cloth trade and their families in difficulty continued to provide alms and money to those in need.
Widening representation
The Court of 26 local traders continued until 2004, when after great debate the Livery was reformed to add to the Incorporations membership, representing a wider cross section of the city as the Incorporation once did. This invited like-minded local businessmen and professionals to swell the numbers and take on new challenges. Modernising the facilities at the rear of the building, creating room for the Interpretation centre and to instigate contemporary charitable initiatives.
Helping young people again
The Incorporation has made a huge leap forward and through great generosity of a member was able to purchase and renovate a large property called “Cornerstone” specifically for the Hair Academy and their work to help disadvantaged young people become trained and self-supporting.
Sheep to ship
Celebrations in 2020, being the 400th anniversary of the Royal Charter were sadly curtailed by the Covid 19 pandemic. However the Hall was further renovated and adorned with spectacular new railings depicting the process of cloth making from sheep to ship. And 2021 is the 550th anniversary of the gift of land.
With our grateful thanks to Michael Baker and Family, the NLHF, Coastal Recycling, and to Grantscape.