Diary Dates 2008

Apart from outside visits, all meetings are held in the Music Room of the Central Library.

Start Times 7.30pm

Tea and coffee available

October 9  2008
David Cornforth will present some short films of Exeter accompanied by photographs along the leat.

November 15 2008
Learn more about our city at the 6th annual local history day at the Guildhall. 10.30am to 4pm. FREE

December 11 2008
Christmas event to include questions and answers with a panel of experts

February 12 2009
AGM followed by an illustrated talk by Geoffrey Harding entitled "An introduction to Exeter Almshouses"

April 9 2009
A talk by Carol McFadzean on Charlotte Treadwin and Honiton Lace.

See Coming Events for the summer outside meetings

The day of the Societies visit to Dean Clarke House was the same as the opening of the new Princesshay, giving some of our party, a rather busy day.

Our guide Tony Bulgin, was a mine of both important information, and delightful trivia which helped to paint a vivid picture of the place. Established by Alured Clarke, the hospital is a testament to 18th century free thinking.

Doctor Alured Clark, was appointed Dean of Exeter in 1741, having held the same post at Winchester, and having been instrumental in the founding of the Royal Hampshire Cottage Hospital in 1736.

Soon after arriving in Exeter, he convened a meeting of interested and local gentlemen on 23rd July 1741, with a view to founding a similar hospital in Exeter. Offers of support soon came in, and John Tuckfield donated a large area of land in Southernhay, that had formerly been used as a tilt yard and a public space for fairs and horse shows.

Thirty five days after the first meeting, the 'foundation stone was laid in a very solemn manner....and a party of soldiers saluted with three volleys of small arms'. The architect for the new hospital was John Richards, born in North Devon, and who had no formal architectural training. His design, of what is now, the elegant Dean Clarke House was built in two stages. The central block and southern wing were completed first, while the northern wing was added to balance out the whole, some six years later. Alured Clark died some months before his creation was finished.

Tony Bulgin conducted us to many hidden corners of Alured Clarke's creation. The old kitchens are now used by the Exeter Health Authority for storing patient records and was the scene in February 1968 of a particularly dramatic fire that forced the evacuation of the patients. Apparently, after the patients were returned to their wards, the food for the next few weeks was supplied by many local hotels and restaurants, and was reckoned to be the best in the country. We were shown around Nightingale wards, some intact but now full of office desks and computers, while others had been partitioned off with stud walls to form a rabbit warren of office accommodation. Changes in medical ideas could be traced through the fabric of the building - verandahs that were once fire escapes, became places for patients to sit to take some air, and finally glazed to be a pleasant sun lounge. The workings of an early air-conditioning system were explained, where fresh air was taken through a dome in the roof and distributed through pipes to the wards.

At first, the hospital had four wards - the Devon, the Exeter, the Bristol and the Winchester Wards. The medical staff at the opening of the hospital consisted of six physicians, five surgeons and an apothecary. The apothecary was employed by the hospital at £30 per year, while the physicians and surgeons were honoury, running their own private practices elsewhere. In 1741, the nursing staff consisted of a matron and two nurses, which by 1752 had become eight nurses for fourteen wards. It is thought that the conventional system of placing patients beds with the head to the wall was first tried at the Royal Devon and Exeter in 1821 - previously patients beds were placed side on to the wall, foot to foot, and for a time they were even placed foot to wall.

Even the stairwells held fascinating stories of ghosts and suicidal nurses, as attested by the large net that was draped across the space to catch any falling bodies. The last part of the tour was into the bowels of the building where the 1930s electric distribution system was still in situ and still working, despite a lack of spare parts. In earlier times the basement also housed the hospital well and even a brewery, as beer was safer than water to drink.

The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital escaped damage in the Exeter blitz and on 24th August 1948 the last board meeting was held before the hospital became part of the newly formed NHS. Through the 1950s and 60s. the buildings of the Royal Devon and Exeter were becoming inadequate for a modern health service and in 1974, the hospital moved to a new, purpose built facility at Wonford and Dean Clarke House was occupied by the Exeter Health Trust.

Now used by the Devon Health Trust, the building has been sold and part will become a hotel, part commercial accommodation, and the south wing apartments with a fine view across to Haldon. One has to wonder if the new Princesshay will last so long and be so useful to the people of the city, as Dean Clarke House was as the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.