11.     John Rocque I                                                                                                           1744

Over a period of just 25 years three of the finest surveyors of eighteenth century Devon were engaged in The City, the County of Exon and the County of Devon. John Rocque produced an accurate and probably the most attractive of all the printed City plans. Benjamin Donn surveyed the county and in 1765 produced the first one inch county map[1] (see 14). And John Richards executed a set of manuscript plans unequalled, at the time, in their accuracy and their presentation (see Appendix B).


John Rocque (originally Jean, c.1704-1762) was of Huguenot extraction and moved to London with his parents in 1709. His brother, Bartholomew, worked as a landscape gardener and it is probably no coincidence that John became an established surveyor while making plans of great houses and gardens developing a distinctive style of his own. Best known for his large scale plan of London, begun as early as 1737 but not published (on 24 sheets) until 1747, he also prepared county maps (B&B 28) for a road book, The English Traveller, published in parts from 1743. Rocque must have executed the Devon map in that year. He maintained his French connections adding French titles to subsequent editions of this work when it appeared as The Small British Atlas from 1753. His maps of Bristol and Exeter[2] were the first large scale maps of provincial cities. 

Title: Plan de la Ville et faubourgs D’EXETER

Size: 745 x 1165 mm, printed on two sheets; there are five scale bars with one of 1M = 660 mm.

Signature:  R. White Sculp. 

There are two titles both in elaborate cartouches. The first is the dedication which reads To the Right Worshipfull ye. Mayor Aldermen & Common Council of the City of Exeter. This Plan of the said City is humbly Dedicated, by their most Obedient Servant, John Rocque. 1744. The City Arms, supported by pegassi, are above and the Bishop’s Arms below are supported by five putti. The second title, the Plan de la Ville et faubourgs D’EXETER, tres Exactement Leve & desseinne par I. Roque, is above the five scale bars (¼ Mile, feet, yards, perches and chains) again above the note Published according to Act of Parliament 1744. Above this title is a small vignette of the surveyor at work, and below two putti hold a map of the British Isles, showing London and Exeter, while on the opposite side two more putti lie on the surveyor’s books, one playing with dividers.

The border bears the arms of the livery companies. The north point has four wind faces with mast and sails behind the winds and ship parts and Neptune’s trident are drawn below the first title. The area shown is from the start of the Haven to St. David’s and from St. Thomas to St. Ann’s Chapel in the east. The suburbs are shown along main roads, the space left being filled with vignette illustrations of the city: Exe Bridge; North aspect of the cathedral; the Work House; the Custom’s house; City and County Hospital; City Hospital; Castle; West aspect of the cathedral; and the Guildhall.

The block plan is typical of Rocque’s surveys, beautifully and accurately drawn, for example note the treasury building to the north of the Cathedral. The important buildings are shown darker, gardens are laid out, the fields are full of serge racks, and there are ships by the key and in the haven. The city is now largely built-up as are the main roads out from the city and nearly the whole of Exe Island. The churches, with the exception of All Hallows on the Walls, are shown together with the meeting houses; James in James Street, Bow off the High Street and Anabaptist’s off Southgate. Other features are the alms houses, Davids, Hurts, Moor’s, Palmers, and Wynards; the two Blew schools; both hospitals; the gaol and Bridewell, now outside the city on the road to St. Thomas[3]; the two Bowling Green(s), off Paree Street and Long Brook Street; and the Haven is shown correctly further downstream. This is the first map to show the suburbs in any detail but there is one interesting error: the churches of St. Sidwell and St. Lawrence have been interchanged.


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[1] Batten & Bennett The Printed Maps of Devon (entry 44).

[2] James Commin published a slightly reduced facsimile (460 x 730 mm) in 1911 (illustrated here). This clearly has the imprint: Reprinted in reduced facsimile by James G. Commin, Antiquarian, Bookseller, 230 High Street, Exeter. 1911. Illustration Reproduced by kind permission of Devon Archives & Local Studies - PB B/EXE/1744/ROC.

[3] A XIV century building converted in Elizabethan times as a prison (Bridewell) (see Jenkins).


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