An exciting historic discovery has been unearthed by an Exeter historian who is enjoying a run of recent good luck during his research.
Dr Todd Gray, who specialises in Devon history, recently announced he had found the most extensive surviving collection of Devon-made cloth dating back to the 18th-century.
Professor Catherine Rider has described it as Devon’s 'greatest archival discovery in at least a generation' because it acts as a window into the past and a glimpse into cloth-making which was Devon’s single most important export for many hundreds of years.
Now he has revealed that his latest historical gem is discovering three new maps of Exeter dating back to about 1770.
They were drawn by William Chapple, an accomplished local map maker who worked for the Courtenay family at Powderham Castle and for the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital in Southernhay. Chapple included the maps in a sketch book but they have lain unnoticed.
Revealing how he came across the document, Dr Gray said: "The manuscript was deposited in the record office many years ago as one of the few surviving parts of the Chapple collection of miscellaneous papers.
"I have to admit I hadn’t taken much notice of the maps before. I assumed, when I first saw them, that a specialist in Devon maps was bound to know about them.
"But, in fact, they are yet another of the amazing documents that have escaped notice – they have had no recognition as to their proper value.
"The Devon & Cornwall Record Society recently brought out William Birchynshaw’s map of Exeter made in 1743. Chapple’s Map One is more modern and professional than that by Birchynshaw.
"In about 1770 Chapple plotted the streets with much more accuracy whereas Birchynshaw’s focus was on individual buildings and was already old-fashioned for 1743."
Map Two is a preliminary sketch and shows a new bridge over the Exe was then being built to replace the ancient one.
Map Three depicts the city from the quay up to Cowley Bridge and along that part of Exeter which a generation later was renamed Pennsylvania.
Keen-eyed Exonians will see features that they cannot recognise including a 'swimming place' near Duryard, Duryard Lodge - later the university’s campus - and Bowcliff which was renamed Mount Dinham. There is also what is possibly the earliest recording of Black Boy Road.
A detail of Map One is shown here but it has been reproduced in its entirety as a bonus inside a new book Dr Gray has edited, The Exeter Cloth Dispatch Book, 1763-5, which includes details of his recent finds.
He said: "It's like waiting for that proverbial bus for years and then suddenly three turn up at once. It will be interesting to see the reaction to this tremendous map – it's a bonus in the book.
"It's personally exciting to be able to add something new to Exeter’s history, but what is truly satisfying is knowing so many Exonians are keen to know more about their city’s history. It's just great to be able to share this.
"Exeter is lucky in having so many good historians working on the city’s history and having such widespread support from its people.
"The society only printed one of these maps because of page restrictions. It will be some time yet before I will be writing a book in which these maps will be relevant and it seems a shame to wait until then to share the maps with the people of Exeter.
"They have remained unknown for nearly 250 years and maybe this is the right time, when we are all feeling the strain of lockdown, to enjoy some exciting new discoveries about Exeter."
The Exeter Cloth Dispatch Book, 1763-5, is based upon a sample book - containing 2,475 pieces of fabric made in the county in the 1760s - which was made by Exeter merchant Claude Passavant.
He cut a sample of each bale of cloth he exported from 1763 to 1765 from Exeter to markets across Europe. The book had been unused for hundreds of years, so the colours and patterns remain vibrant.
Dr Gray stumbled across the manuscript while looking at other collections held by the City of London Corporation-owned London Metropolitan Archives.
Passavant arrived in Exeter around 1737, having come from Basel in Switzerland. He was in his late twenties, and five years later he married a wealthy cloth merchant’s widow and they lived outside the city not far from what is now Colleton Crescent.
Passavant owned at least one ship and held property not only in and around Exeter, but he also had a warehouse in Topsham.
He started the manufacture of Exeter Carpets, once the rival to Axminster Carpets. In 1755, Passavant brought down from London a number of French looms and craftsmen.
His manufactory was in Paris Street and then in Longbrook Street before it moved to the quay. Above the door were the royal coat of arms of the Prince of Wales, and later King George III.
The high-value, luxury goods and their manufacture continued in Exeter for at least a generation.
There are a handful of surviving Exeter carpets in National Trust houses across the country. Passavant also made tapestries and one of these survives in Bideford.
Professor Catherine Rider of the University of Exeter said: "Passavant’s manuscript has reminded us that he was one of a significant number of European immigrants who were key to Exeter’s economy: at least a quarter of the city’s cloth merchants were from the continent.
"The most famous was Johann Baring who came from Bremen in Germany and whose family subsequently founded Baring Brothers.
"Exeter acted as a funnel for cloth from surrounding parts of Devon. It was finished in the city and exported through Topsham or was transported by land to London."
Delighted that Passavant's fabric samples book has now come to light, she said: "This is perhaps the greatest archival discovery for Devon in a generation.
"There are a handful of other samples in Sweden, France and the Netherlands but the size of Passavant’s collection overshadow these. They are a revelation.
"Many dozens of these books would have been made in Exeter by the city’s merchants. It is a fortunate stroke of luck that the manuscript was created by Passavant of all Exeter’s merchants.
"He is extremely interesting because Passavant was also responsible for one of the city’s most intriguing enterprises which has been all but forgotten in Exeter - the manufacture of Exeter Carpets."
The publication The Exeter Cloth Dispatch Book, 1763-5, was made possible by grants including from the Exeter Canal & Quay Trust which has a direct interest in Passavant’s activities as an Exeter merchant who operated out of the quay.
A series of associated lectures will be held at the Customs House. The dates are dependent upon Covid restrictions
Dr Gray said: "Passavant would have intimately known the buildings in and around the quay, those same places which the Exeter Canal & Quay Trust cares for today.
"I hope that Exonians will look afresh at the quay. It was the very heart of an extraordinary commercial operation which sent millions of pieces of cloth to markets across Europe.
"Exeter has a vibrant history community with some tremendous scholars like Mark Stoyle and Stuart Blaylock but we haven’t a county cloth specialist. Certainly there is no one who has the detailed knowledge of the ins and outs of Devon’s greatest historic export, woollen cloth."
For a short period the Devon & Cornwall Record Society is offering a `launch price’, in lieu of its standard launch, at £25 through Stevens Books instead of the normal price of £35. Call 01392 459760 or visit stevensbooks.co.uk
