history around us

• Bishop Leofric


  1047 who moved the cathedral from Crediton to Exeter
• Bishop Warelwast


  1137 who built the cathedral in the Romanesque style, replaced saxon minster church.Building began in 1114
• Bishop Stapledon


  1261-1326 who rebuilt the cathedral in gothic style, added high alter, bishops throne and lady chapel
• Thomas of Witney


  1342 who built the medieval nave and cathedra , oversaw at Winchester
• Henry VII 


  1491-1547 broke away from the Catholic Church, Reformation
• Edward VI


  1537-1553 and extreme protestant
• Dean Simon Heynes


  1552-extreme protestant, appointed in 1537 and ran the cathedral during the Reformation
• Eddie Sinclair


  Discovered paint fragments on the statues in the West Front in the 1970s
• Leofric made Bishop of Devon


  1047
• Norman Cathedral

  • Two towers
  • made of stone
  • small arched windows
  • west front
• Gothic Rebuild - why

  1270-1350 because there were more priests than ever before (24 vicars and 12 clerks)

  • The chapter had become wealthier
  • feast days were becoming more popular
  • more chapels were needed for services of Mass , Virgin Mary visited by more pilgrims
• Features of the Gothic Rebuild

  • thinner walls
  • flying buttresses to support the roof
  • bigger stained glass windows
  • pointed arches
  • ribbed vaults
  • painted walls
• Activities in Medieval Cathedral Religious purpose

  • pilgrimages
  • praying
  • sermons
• Inside the medieval cathedral

  • Everyone wore headgear
  • Seating was not provided
  • Services were in latin
  • Everyone had to know the Paternoster and Ave Maria
• Activities in modern cathedral

  • concerts
  • educational tours
  • worship
  • graduations
  • art exhibitions
• People in the Cathedral

  • the poor weren‘t permitted in the cathedral based on their appearance
  • women cared for hangings and vestments
  • criminal seek refuge from the law
  • teenage boys formed the choir
• Bishop Lacys death


  1455
• The Reformation

  • 1530s
  • Dean Simon Heynes destroyed statues
  • In 1553 all church goods were confiscated
  • walls were white washed and vandalised
  • High alters were removed and the silver was sold, Bishop Lacys tomb was defaced and rid of brass due to it being a pilgrimage site
• The civil war


  1646-1660

  • Chapters were dismissed and replaced with city authorities
  • A wall was built between the Quire and Nave in 1657 to separate two religious groups.The wall was removed in 1660.
  • The cloister and library were destroyed in 1655
• World War Two

  Baedeker Blitz (1940-1942)

  • Exeter Cathedral was hit but not damaged badly on 4th may 1942
  • The Bishop’s throne was hidden in a cellar in Torquay.
  • The medieval stained glass window was removed from the Great East Window.
  • The misericords, Exeter book and other precious items were stored elsewhere.
  • A bomb hit the Cathedral destroying St. James’ Chapel.
• Impact of WW2

  • The impacts on the Cathedral show what was happening across Britain’s cities at this time, as precious items were kept in safe places and fire watchers kept an eye on buildings like Exeter Cathedral to put out fires from bombs.
• Impacts of the Civil War


  The impacts on the Cathedral during the Civil War echo what was happening nationally as Puritans were making changes to churches across the country.
• Impacts of the Reformation

  The Cathedral is an example of what was happening nationally as Churches were being made plainer and monasteries shut down across the country.
• Control of the church

  • peasants worked for free on church land
  • people paid 10% of what they earned in a year to the church called Tithes, way to heaven
  • pay for baptisms
  • church did not pay taxes
  • average life expectancy was low (31.3) so the church offered hope in the next life
• King Edward the Confessor


  Presented Leofric with the Foundation Charter to build a cathedral in Exeter
• German Cathedral that the RAF bombed

  Lubeck
• Length of the nave

  96m vaulted nave
• Martin Luther


  Criticised the power of the catholic church

  Henry VIII brought these ideas to england

  Wanted a simpler church
• Bishop Bronescome


  Started the Gothic rebuild

  Had the bishops throne built for him

  Oversaw at Salisbury and saw the tower collapse
• George Gilbert Scott


  Restored the cathedral in Victorian times

  Kept the pulpitum but put three holes in it instead of removing it
• Reredos


  Made by Bishop Stapledon in the 1320s

  48 statues of saints
• Why did the Gothic rebuild take so long

  The stone masons died from the Black Death in 1346
• Romans left 


  400 bc