Exeter's custom-house and quay ([1855?])

The route book of Devon: a guide for the stranger and tourist. Second Edition. Exeter: Henry Besley, 1850. pp. 15 - 16.Exeter was once a place of great trade in the manufacture of woollens. Her exports were said to amount, about the year 1768, to above a million in value annually. The French revolutionary war so destroyed this commerce, that no effort on the part of her merchants, on the return of peace, were able to restore it. The manufactures of the city and the neighbourhood are now of small extent, consisting chiefly of coarse cloths and blankets. A considerable import and export trade of a miscellaneous description is now carried on. Hides, bark, and valona are imported from South America; wines from Portugal and Spain; fruits from the Mediterranean; and coal from the northern counties. Leather, paper, corn, cider, and other articles are exported for London and other parts of the country.From the spirit of enterprise among the old merchants of this city arose the undertaking of the Exeter Ship Canal, one of the largest and earliest examples of this kind of work in the kingdom. The original Canal was first made in 1544, but considerably enlarged in 1697, and again enlarged and lengthened in 1827, and a Wet Dock or Basin constructed on the south-western side of the city. Vessels of three or four hundred tons can now approach the quay.[Text may be taken from a different source or edition than that listed as the source by Somers Cocks.]

ill, col, plates

39p

21cm