1.       John Hooker                                                                        1587

 

The first printed maps of the city appeared towards the end of the 16th century. Exeter was in the extremely fortunate situation of having an antiquarian and historian as its first Chamberlain and one who was also both surveyor and draftsman. John Hooker (c1527-1601) was the son of Robert Hooker or Robert Vowell, Mayor of Exeter in 1529. The Vowell family, prominent Exeter citizens for a number of generations, obtained the name Hooker in the 15th century but used the name Vowell regularly. John’s parents died when he was ten and he was brought up by Doctor Moreman, vicar of Menhinit in Cornwall. He went to Oxford to study civil law, and then travelled and studied under leading protestant figures in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. He returned to France but, because of the wars there, returned to Exeter where he subsequently married and pursued his interests in history and antiquities. In 1549 he was in Exeter at the time of the siege during the Prayer Book Rebellion and in 1555 the magistrates of the city elected him to be their first Chamberlain. He was engaged by Sir Peter Carew as legal advisor over property disputes in Ireland and Hooker became a member of both the English and the Irish parliaments.

In the following years he commissioned a number of his own works from London publishers which were often intended as New Year gifts. He wrote many histories among which was a Catalogue of the Bishops of Exeter and an Historical Record of the Province of Devon and finally his Antique Description and Account of the City of Exeter, which was not printed until 1765 by Andrew Price of Exeter. As an influential member of the Exeter society it is highly likely that John Hooker would have met Christopher Saxton when he was surveying Devon for his county map published in 1575 (B&B 1), and it is probably no coincidence that the Flemish engraver Remigius Hogenberg engraved both the county and the city maps. This map was commissioned in London by Hooker, possibly inspired by Hogenberg’s 1559 map of London. 

Title: Isca Damnoniorum: britanice Kaier penhuelgorte: Saxonice Monketon: Latine Exonia: Anglice Excancestre vel Excestre at nunc vulgo Exeter: Urbs peratiqua, et Emporium celeberrimum.

Size: 350 x 525 mm. There is a scale bar but no scale is entered.

Signature: Opera et impensis Joannis Hokeri generosi ac huius Civitatis quaestoris, hanc tabella sculpsit Remigius Hogenbergius Anno Dei 1587. 

The plan is a bird’s eye view, looking north-east, with the river flowing left to right. This view, much copied by the early map-makers, brings with it considerable fore-shortening and to a plan much inaccuracy. The names of the principal streets, churches and buildings are given with boats and fishermen on the river and a crane (marked Crane Seller) on the Key. Racks for drying the wool can be seen to the southwest of the city at Snail’s Tower with just a single line at Shilhay.

The title is in a plain rectangle at the top with the Royal Arms and the City Arms (granted in 1567). Just above the empty scale bar is a pair of dividers and, in the left corner, Hooker’s own arms and his motto Post Mortem Vita. As described here only a single copy is known, bought by the British Library in 1897 for 16 guineas, but there are a number of later states extant as well as copies (see Appendix A). In the third state (illustrated) the road from Larkbeare to St. Leonard’s and Radford Place takes a distinctive right bend.

Further manuscript maps drawn by Hooker were printed and published in the late nineteenth century (see 59 and 60).

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 2.      John Speed                                                                                           1610
 

John Hooker’s map was among the first printed maps of any of the cities and towns of England, and his city plan became the example and the only original printed plan of the city for almost 150 years. Like so much of the cartographers’ art Hooker’s plan was copied frequently, either in the early 17th century as the authentic map of the city or later as a descriptive map of its time.

The most influential of the copyists chose either of two forms: most used a small scale reduction, with or without the lettered references - John Speed in 1610-11 included this in his map of the county (B&B 6); or like Braun and Hogenberg they copied the plan at nearly the original scale and repeated the same lettering. Speed’s own copy of Hooker was copied until 1749 and Hogenberg reproductions until 1895. The subsequent ‘copies’ repeat the city plan with varying amounts of the surrounding country and decorations.

John Speed (1552-1629) was born in Cheshire and like his father became a tailor. By 1580 he had moved to London and had become a freeman of the Merchant Tailors Company. But he had also become a keen amateur historian and joined the Society of Antiquarians, where he would have met William Camden, a famous historian, and Christopher Saxton, responsible for the first printed county maps of English shires, among others. He became interested in maps and by 1598 he was producing his own maps for the Company. Fulke Greville, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer and friend of Queen Elizabeth I, arranged for Speed to have an allowance to write a history of England and arranged for him to use a room in the London Custom House. As an historian he was a great gatherer of information. His maps were based on Saxton’s and those of John Norden, but he travelled extensively and his maps contained much local information including the lines of the hundreds and, for Devon, the inset map of Exeter based on Hooker.

Speed prepared his county maps over a period of some years^[1] and in 1610-11 his Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain was published. In 1627 he completed his atlas A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World and this was then commonly bound combined with the Theatre and together they became the first World Atlas produced by an Englishman. The county map was reissued many times until approx. 1770, both in the atlas and as separate sheets. 

Title: EXCESTER on the county map DEVONSHIRE WITH EXCESTER DESCRIBED. 

Size: The inset is small, measuring only 132 x 155 mm, and has no scale (circa 1 Mile = 30 mm). The City Arms are top right within the inset with the title top left.

Signatures (on county map only): Performed by Ihon Speede And are to be sold in popes-head Alleye by Iohn Sudburi & George humble. Cum privilegio. 

The plan is a reduced copy of Hooker’s plan of 1587, covering the same area and again with North to the left. The only writing within the walls are the numbers referring to the list above the plan, however numbers 49 (the Water–gate) and 50 (the Quay) are missing from the list. The Castle’s western barbican is pronounced and the river, flowing down Combe Street with the outfall through the wall, is clearly shown. Outside the city Radford Place, St. Leonard and Larkbeare can be seen.

 Due probably to damage to the printing plate, in 1689 Philip Lea commissioned Francis Lamb to copy Christopher Saxton´s map of Devon but including a number of changes such as inclusion of John Speed’s inset plan of Exeter (B&B 19).^[2] Although the county map was redrawn, and as such was a newly engraved map, the actual inset plan was a direct copy with the same reference numbers and has not been included as a new map. Although the county map’s signature changed as the plates changed hands the only change to the Exeter inset occurred in 1743 when some details were strengthened and the stonework to the walls became almost obliterated by angled shading. Illustrated is the Exeter plan from the Bassett and Chiswell county map, c.1676.

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^[1] A single proof of the Devon map is known for 1608 and the first edition of the Theatre was published 1610/1611.

^[2] Lea acquired most of the Saxton plates but two were obviously missing, as Devon and Northumberland were re-engraved. The most obvious differences to the Saxton map are the inclusions of the shields of arms of notable families (left) and the inset plan of Exeter (bottom right) as included by Speed.

 59.     John Hooker / Reynolds I                                                          1892 

Herbert Edward Reynolds, a local historian and author of a short history of the diocese, edited a number of items from the Cathedral Archives including some plans and writings by John Hooker and brought them to the attention of a wider public in his An Original Manuscript Of John Hooker, Chamberlain Of The City Of Exeter 1555. This was published in 1892 and included illustrations of two of John Hooker’s manuscript plans made 300 years earlier.^[1] Reynolds’ book included a Preface from Hooker’s ‘Great History of Exeter’ – now in the Guild Hall of the same City Written by his own hand, and never before printed – and included descriptive notes and an introduction. Hence, although John Hooker’s original manuscript plan was executed in 1590 it was not until 1892 that the plan of St. Sidwell´s (below) or the Churchyard (next entry) were first printed.

Though there is no actual title to the plan described below there is text written within a rectangle which describes the limits of the Fee ‘And so forth by the middle of ye same waye to a lile water there called Shyttebrooke, And downe by ye midle of the same brooke unto ye Southe ende & corner of a garden of ye sayde Prior of St. Johns adioynante yto the same brooke wch garden lyeth in the West Syde of the same brooke and within the soyle Fee & ground afore sayde. And so from ye same South ende & corner by and by dytch of ye same garden into a pathe westewardes lyinge betwene ye landes called St Johns  feeldes on ye one partie, and ye Soyle Fee & ground aforesayde on the other partie. And so forthe in the same pathe westewardes unto a close of William menardes. And so by ye  midle of ye same close over the close sometimes of Roger Golde in y southe partie and ye barne of ye sayde Thomas Bernes ats Renolde in ye north partye And so out into the high waye called Croldich waye, And so forth by ye midle of ye same waye Northwards betwene ye garden and tenement of John at Forde in the west parte into ye high waye cominge from Exeter to St Annes Chappell &c.’ 

Title: No title but shows the area of St. Sidwell’s Fee

Size: 260 x 285 mm. A compass (top) but no scale. 

The plan shows the Fee of St. Sidwell, part of the castle and the city walls from the east gate round to the south gate. Features of note include the Guildhall^[2] at the corner of Paris Street; the doorway through the wall into the close; the Alms houses; three county stones; and St. Karlet’s Cross.

In 1911 William Pollard published An Account of the sieges of Exeter by John Hoker – transcribed by William J Harte. This work contained other plans executed by Hooker usually with his imprint: William Pollard & Co. Ltd. Lithographers, Exeter & London.

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^[1] The original drawing and that of the churchyard are part of the collection of Hooker manuscripts formerly held by the Dean and Chapter as D&C.Ex.3530 f.37 and D&C 3530 f.59-60. They are now lodged at the Devon Record Office. Both maps are listed in a Table of Contents to Hooker's history (ECA Book 52) but the maps have no titles: Platt of St Sidwells Fee; and A Platte of the Churchyarde.

^[2] The courts of the Lords of the Fee were held in this guildhall.

60.     John Hooker / Reynolds II                                                            1892 

The second plate included in Reynolds’ work. For source, see previous entry.

 

Title: No title but sketch plan of the Churchyard

Size: 228 x 290 mm but there is no scale.

 The second plan is a drawing looking south east showing the precinct and the north east corner of the city. At the top are four coats of arms: The City, The Royal Arms, the eagle of the first Earl Redvers or Rivers and the Bishop's crossed keys. Hooker's own arms are at the bottom.

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 Appendix A

 John Hooker – States and Derivatives

 

John Hooker’s plan went through various stages of development and two further states^[1] of the map are known and a number of copies were made. The first state is described on page 22 and is held at the British Library (BL Maps C.5.a.3).

The two later states are;

          State 2. The dividers and the scale bar are partly erased, a tree is omitted west of the bridge and Powe Lane is changed to Pound Lane. Only one copy is known, in the possession of the Dymond family of Chagford.

          State 3. A crude, wrongly orientated, compass rose is drawn over the space previously occupied by the dividers. Holloway Road has been incorrectly altered, turning east after Lark Beare and so wrongly moving Malford and the chapel of St. Leonard. Only one copy is known. This state is illustrated on page 23 and also (with state 1) in Todd Gray, 1992; the map is at Devon Record Office (4292A/BS1), part of the Exeter Guildhall Collection.

In c.1593 a four-fold screen was made in gilded leather which portrayed an enlarged copy of the map (1300 x 1640 mm) in a decorated border. Ravenhill and Rowe wrote an explanatory essay^[2] which suggested that the screen was made for, or given to, one of the Cecil family, either to Sir William, Lord Burghley, or his son Robert. The screen map is more correct in many details but none more so than the cathedral where the towers are more correctly placed and the windows detailed. The covered walkway in front of the Guildhall is not shown, but nor is the renaissance colonnade, completed in 1594, leading to the suggested date of 1593.

The map was copied by John Speed, Braun & Hogenberg, Daniel Meisner, Matthäus Merian, Rugerus Hermannides and by Richard Izacke's unknown engraver, each adding his own style to the map (see entries 2-7) before Ichabod Fairlove's completely new map became the new standard from which to copy.

 Braun and Hogenberg derivatives can be seen by the inclusion of people and sometimes the original title or variation thereof (Civitas Exoniae). Various copies were made, the earliest being possibly that executed by Mutlow for Lysons Magna Britannia (see entry 19). Townsend (who did a lot of work for Besley) lithographed a copy for inclusion in W Cotton’s An Elizabethan Guild of the City of Exeter, published 1873 (illustration above); a small version was included in Cassell’s Our Own Country (50) in 1882; J G Commin, a local publisher, issued Exeter in circa AD 1570 (a reference to Hooker) but with subheading From Braun’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum from his premises in the High Street in 1886; Freeman included a small plan in 1887 in his History of Exeter (illustration below and see entry 53); and another copy, probably by Commins, was printed c.1895 with title Exeter in 1618 (a clear reference to Hogenberg) with advertisements on the reverse. Interestingly, Commins included the arms of John Hooker on his copies (not included by Braun & Hogenberg).

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^[1] A state is meant to mean that the original plate on which the map was engraved was changed in some way and then used for a new printing run; a copy is a new engraving on a fresh plate.

^[2] See William Ravenhill and Margery Rowe; A Decorated Screen Map of Exeter based on John Hooker’s Map of 1587 in Todd Gray, 1992. The screen is illustrated in full colour.