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Summary

There may have been a settlement here since at least the late Saxon period but it is under the name of 'Pratteshide' that the first clear indication of settlement is recorded in the 13th century. The settlement was never to achieve official urban status in the medieval period and in the med 16th century it was described as 'no more than a fisschar tounlet'. It's proximity to Exeter coupled with the ambitions of the Rolle family, who had gained the manor in the 18th century, was to lead to Exmouth's development at Devon's first seaside town and it grew rapidly in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• SETTLEMENT (First mentioned, XI - 1001 AD to 1100 AD (Between))

Full description

Timms, S. C., 1976, The Devon Urban Survey, 1976. First Draft, 108-116 (Report - Survey). SDV341346.

Although the name 'Exmouth' is recorded in an 11th century document, the term was usually applied to the Exe extuary as a whole during the medieval period and not just specifically to the settlment at the mouth of the river. A boundary charter dated to the early 11th century suggests that there was a small settlement here in the late Saxon period; it traces the line of the boundary between Exmouth and 'Lidewicnesse'. It is quite probable that the first settlement was not called Exmouth; the name is not recorded in Domesday Book. It is under the name of 'Pratteshide' that the first clear indication of settlement is recorded. A ferry was operating from Pratteshide in the parish of Littleham in the mid 13th century. Pratteshide is recorded again in 1310 as a member of the port of Exmouth along with other small ports along the Exe estuary. Timms refers to a petition presented by the town of Exmouth in 1415 suggesting that it was known by this name by that time.
Unfortunately there is no documentary evidence for medieval urban settlement at Exmouth; it never achieved official urban status either by the grant of a borough charger or by the possession of market rights. However, analysis of the settlement's topography suggests that, like Teignmouth, Exmouth may have developed as two separate settlements on either side of the parish boundary between Withycombe Raleigh and Littleham; there were chapels on either side of the boundary.
In the mid 16th century it was described as being 'no more than a fisschar tounlet' but the presence of several medieval chapels in the settlement suggest that there was a sizeable community here.
Its proximity to Exeter, combined with the ambitions of the Rolle family, who took over the manor in the 17th century, brought about the growth of Exmouth as Devon's first seaside town from the early 18th century and it expanded rapidly in the late 18th and 19th centuries. The first market house was built on the Strand in 1830 and new docks were constructed in 1869. The docks still function today providing Exmouth with its own sourse of industry and it remains a striking example of an industrial resort. Map object arbitrary, based on this source.

Weddell, P. J. + Henderson, C. G., 1985, Excavations in Exmouth 1982-4, 39-40 (Article in Serial). SDV354905.

The medieval settlement at Exmouth straddled the boundaries of Withycombe and Littleham. Although there were 40 houses in the Withycombe half of Exmouth alone by the late 15th century the settlement was never granted legal urban status and did not even have a market. In the early 16th century Leland described Exmouth as a 'fisschar tounlet'. There were no port facilities before the 19th century although a landing place for the estuary ferry is recorded from the later 13th century at Pratteshide. It is suggested that prior to this the ferry had operated from a landing place in Littleham parish and that the bulk of the population lived on the Littleham site of the boundary, which ran along Margaret Street.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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