2014
| 13/02/2014 | AGM & None | / talk |
| 10/04/2014 | History of the Harry Hems Centre | / talk by Colin Vosper |
| 30/05/2014 | Great Duryard & Duryard House | / visit with Malcolm Grigorey |
| 12/06/2014 | Tuckers Hall | / talk by Mike Walker |
| 21/06/2014 | Topsham Museum | / visit with Malcolm Grigorey |
| 19/07/2014 | Dissenters Graveyard | / walk with Malcolm Grigorey |
| 14/08/2014 | Topsham Road Excavations | / talk by Dr John Salvatore |
| 12/09/2014 | The University Campus in its early days: Walk | / walk with Malcolm Grigorey |
| 09/10/2014 | History of Post War Exeter | / talk by Clare Maudling |
| 12/11/2014 | Behind the Scenes at RAMM | / visit with Tom Cadbury |
| 11/12/2014 | Types of Stones in the Cathedral | / talk by Peter Dare |
History of the Harry Hems Centre
on Thursday, 10 April 2014
On Thursday, 10 April 2014, members learnt from Colin Vosper’s excellent talk about Victorian sculptor and Exeter businessman Harry Hems (1842 - 1916). During his lifetime he was one of the best-known of Exeter's citizens. What a character he was! And what a sculptor, both in wood and stone.
Tuckers Hall
on Thursday, 12 June 2014
The talk and visit at Tuckers Hall after the EGM, on 12 June 2014, was a great success. Mike Walker gave a fascinating discourse on the history of the wool trade explaining how the fabric was produced (a cottage industry at first) and even showing us samples of serge – very rough to the skin! Extraordinary to think that our little town of Exeter was once the fourth largest in England and the second largest port, but such was the success of the wool trade. Of course, the rolling green hills of Devon ensured an abundance of sheep ...
Dissenters Graveyard
on Saturday, 19 July 2014
The dissenters were foremost in the movement for religious toleration. Barred from higher education, they directed their energies away from academia and towards trade and industry, which was to the great advantage of the nation's economy. They left two significant memorials in Exeter: the now sadly neglected Dissenters' Burial Ground on the corner of Magdalen Street and Bull Meadow Road, and the splendid George's Meeting House which is listed as being an unaltered 18th-century chapel. It was built as a Unitarian chapel in 1760, and named after King George III, who came to the throne in that year.
Topsham Road Excavations
on Thursday, 14 August 2014
at Exeter Library
Dr Salvatore first introduced us to Gaius Julius Decumanus, a living Roman soldier whom he had presumably exhumed from the St Loyes site!
History of Post War Exeter
on Thursday, 09 October 2014
at Exeter Library
“EXETER WAS A JEWEL AND WE HAVE DESTROYED IT”
So boasted German radio in May 1942. Clare Maudling, in a fascinating illustrated talk on Thursday, 9 October, explained how 18 air raids destroyed 400 shops, 150 offices and 1,500 houses - comprising over 75% of the city centre or 15% of Exeter.
Behind the Scenes at RAMM
on Wednesday, 12 November 2014
It was a wet and miserable morning outside but we were given a warm welcome inside by Tom Cadbury, the Curator of Antiquities at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, or RAMM for short! As the RAMM is closed to the public on Mondays, we had the place to ourselves and so were able to take a leisurely walk through the introductory rooms of the museum. There, Tom told us the thinking behind the layout of the still relatively new area of the museum with which he had been deeply involved. The ever-expanding collection of artefacts means that the items on display can be changed frequently so that local visitors can come repeatedly and still find something “new” in the showcases which reveal the changing shapes, colours and fashions through the ages.
Types of Stones in the Cathedral
on Thursday, 11 December 2014
at Exeter Library
Work began on the (new) Exeter Cathedral in 1112 using pale sandstone quarried at Salcombe Regis. It was only about 270ft (82m) and lay between the two tremendous transept towers built between c1120 and c1170 and still surviving today. The ornamented towers are over 140ft (44m) high and each tower is slightly different although both were originally capped with squat, four-sided spires.
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