46.     Thomas Kerslake                                                                 1873 (925) 


Thomas Kerslake (1812-1891) was born and educated in Exeter but moved to Bristol in 1827. With his brother-in-law he became a second hand bookseller. Although the partnership was dissolved in 1839 he continued in business and retired in 1870 after a disastrous fire. He then became interested in antiquarian studies, especially the Anglo-Saxon period of the south-west, and wrote a number of articles including one in 1890 about a fictional leader in Saxon southwest, Saint Richard the King of Englishmen.

Strictly speaking this is the second printed map of Exeter as it purports to show the area covered by the Saxon mound with the early fortifications at Exeter imposed as it might have been in 925, 1286 and 1778 A.D. It was included in an essay presented by Kerslake to the Archaeological Society. Kerslake wrote about the old division of the City ‘The Celt & Teuton in Exeter’ and it was printed in the Archaeological Journal, Volume 30 (pp.211-225), 1873. A number of changes were carried out before it appeared in Saint Richard; title moved to right; references under map removed; and the shaded area is a little different. 

Title: EXETER. A.D. 925-1286-1778.

Size:190 x 120 mm within borders with references below. No scale.

Signature: Standidge & Co. Litho, London E.C. 

A simple outline plan showing the streets and churches within the city walls, with both the old bridge and Stepcote Lane and the current bridge and Fore Street. The key numbers refer to the adjacent text where Kerslake describes a ‘double city’ with the southern part English and the Northern part British, noting the Celtic saints in the various Chapels north of the High Street.

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