Tuesday 5 September 2023

Exeter

Saturday 26 August 2023. We left the delights of Budleigh Salterton and were dropped off in the centre of Exeter. A few years ago I read a series of books, the Crowner John books by Bernard Knight, about Devon's first coroner, set in the days of the only king with my name and was looking forward to seeing what might remain of the city of the early 1200s.

Cathedral Close was one of them. The cathedral was behind me as I took this photo but there is an old church in the corner which we shall have a closer look at shortly.

Very shortly in fact... St Martins is 14th century with the tower (below) added in 1675. So it wouldn't have been here in the time of King John.

Parliament Street. Look closely! It is the narrowest street in England, enclosed on two sides by the walls of buildings and at its narrowest point is just two feet and one inch (0.64 metres) wide. That's unfortunately it for this time as we spent some time in the cathedral which will be shown in the next article. The only other anecdotes I have would be about the difficulty in finding public toilets and the absolutely annoying repetetive din created by a troupe of drummers who blasted away any chance of peace and quiet that a cathedral close should have, no doubt whilst fondly imagining that they were being "entertaining"... Just. No.

Coach Trip to Sidmouth, August 2023, Index

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