Timeline of Exeter

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Exeter, Devon, England.

Prior to 16th century

 * 250 BC – Goods traded with Roman coins
 * 45 CE – Romans in power (approximate date).
 * 55 – Roman fort established in Isca Dumnoniorum (approximate date).
 * 380 – Roman occupation ends (approximate date).
 * 600 – Saxons arrive (approximate date).
 * 868 – Monastery founded by Ethelred.
 * 876 – Danes occupy town.
 * 893 – Town besieged by Danes again.
 * 900 – Market active.
 * 927 – Athelstan evicts the Cornish from Exeter (and perhaps the rest of Devon), according to William of Malmesbury, writing around 1120.
 * 932 – Monastery founded by Athelstan.
 * 1003 – Exeter sacked by forces of Sweyn of Denmark.
 * 1048 – Episcopal see relocated to Exeter from Crediton.
 * 1050 – Leofric becomes bishop of Exeter.
 * 1067 – Exeter besieged by forces of William the Conqueror.
 * 1068 – Rougemont Castle built (approximate date).
 * 1087 – Benedictine Priory of St Nicholas founded.
 * 1130 – Exeter fair active.
 * 1136 – Exeter besieged by forces of Stephen, King of England.
 * 1190 – Old Exe Bridge construction began.
 * 1207 – Mayor in office.
 * 1214 – Old Exe Bridge construction finished (approximate).
 * 1236 – Nunnery founded.
 * 1348 – Order of Brothelyngham, an anti-religious group, active in the city.
 * 1400 – Exeter Cathedral built (approximate date).
 * 1466 – Tailors' trade gild incorporated.
 * 1468/70 – Exeter Guildhall current building constructed.
 * 1482 – Tailors' trade gild dissolved on the petition of the burgesses.
 * 1490 – Company of Weavers and Fullers incorporated.
 * 1497 – City besieged by forces of Perkin Warbeck.

16th–18th centuries

 * 1536
 * City becomes a county corporate.
 * Monastery disbanded.
 * 1556 – Society of Merchant Adventurers incorporated.
 * 1564 – Exeter Ship Canal construction begins.
 * 1593 – Guildhall rebuilt.
 * 1595 – Michael Harte bookseller in business.
 * 1612 – Northernhay Gardens laid out.
 * 1633 – Exeter Free Grammar School opens.
 * 1643 – September: City taken by forces of Charles I of England.
 * 1646 – April: Parliamentarians in power.
 * 1664 – St Stephen's Church built.
 * 1681 – Custom House built on the Quay.
 * 1688 – November: William III of England visits city.
 * 1696 – Mint established.
 * 1714 – Exeter Mercury newspaper begins publication.
 * 1743 – Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital opened.
 * 1760 – George's Meeting (Unitarian) built.
 * 1763 – Trewman's Exeter Flying Post newspaper in publication.
 * 1764 – Exeter Synagogue consecrated.
 * 1778 – Bridge rebuilt.
 * 1783 – Gilbert Dyer's circulating library in business.
 * 1792 – Exeter Gazette newspaper begins publication.

19th century

 * 1813
 * Devon and Exeter Institution founded.
 * Exeter Western Luminary begins publication.
 * 1814
 * Iron Footbridge built.
 * Exeter Medical Library founded.
 * 1821 – Besley's Exeter News begins publication.
 * 1823 – Cholera epidemic.
 * 1825
 * Mechanics' Institution opens.
 * Chichester Place laid out.
 * 1832 – Veitch plant nursery in business.
 * 1835 – Athenaeum instituted.
 * 1837 – Catacombs built.
 * 1840 – Exeter Diocesan Training College opens.
 * 1842 – Church of St Andrew built.
 * 1844 – Bristol and Exeter Railway begins operating to Exeter St Davids railway station.
 * 1847 – Polytechnic Institution founded.
 * 1848 – South Devon Railway begins operating from Exeter St Davids station.
 * 1852 – Exeter and South Devon Volunteers formed.
 * 1853 – Prison built.
 * 1854 – School of Art founded.
 * 1860 – London and South Western Railway begins operating to Exeter Queen Street station.
 * 1862 – Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art established.
 * 1867 – November: Economic unrest.
 * 1870 – Royal Albert Memorial Museum established.
 * 1882 – Horse-drawn tram begins operating.
 * 1884 – 18 November: Sacred Heart Church opened.
 * 1887 – 5 September: Theatre Royal burns down with 186 fatalities.
 * 1889
 * Theatre Royal rebuilt.
 * Devon and Exeter Medico-Chirurgical Society founded.
 * 1896 – City of Exeter Electricity Company formed.

20th century

 * 1901 – Population: 47,185.
 * 1904 – Express & Echo newspaper begins publication.
 * 1905
 * 29 March: Rebuilt Exe Bridge opened.
 * 4 April: Exeter Corporation Tramways begins operating its electric system.
 * Approximate date: Devon and Cornwall Record Society established.
 * 1907 – Sidwell Street Methodist Church completed, a pioneering example of reinforced concrete construction by French engineer Paul Cottancin.
 * 1910 – Empire Electric Palace opens.
 * 1911 – Exeter Pictorial Record Society active.
 * 1914 – 7 October: First of five war emergency hospitals in requisitioned buildings in the city opens to casualties, staffed by Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses.
 * 1916 – December: Deller's Café opens in Bedford Street.
 * 1937
 * Odeon Exeter cinema opens.
 * Exeter Airport opens.
 * 1942 – May: "Baedeker Blitz": Aerial bombing by the German Luftwaffe devastates the city centre.
 * 1949 – 21 October: Official inauguration of construction of Princesshay, Britain's first pedestrianised shopping precinct, as part of the postwar city centre reconstruction.
 * 1955 – University of Exeter chartered.
 * 1960 – October: Flood.
 * 1963 – November: Exeter & Devon Crematorium opened.
 * 1964 – Devon County Hall built.
 * 1966 – 1 April: City boundaries extended to include Alphington, Pinhoe and Topsham.
 * 1967 – Northcott Theatre opens.
 * 1970 – Exeter College established.
 * 1972 – Barnfield Theatre established.
 * 1974 – Spacex (art gallery) established.
 * 1977 – M5 motorway opens.
 * 1997 – Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture opens at University of Exeter.

21st century

 * 2007 – Princesshay rebuilt.
 * 2008 – 22 May: Attempted bombing in Princesshay.
 * 2011 – Population: 117,773.
 * 2017 – Exeter Chiefs rugby union team win the Aviva Premiership.
 * 2021 – World War II bomb detonation.

1800s–1840s

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1850s–1890s

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Published in 20th century

 * W. G. Hoskins. Industry, Trade and People in Exeter, 1688–1800 (1935)
 * W. G. Hoskins. "Exeter" History Today (May 1951), Vol. 1 Issue 5, p28-37 online.
 * Aileen Fox. Roman Exeter (1952)
 * W. G. Hoskins. Industry, Trade and People in Exeter, 1688–1800 (1935)
 * W. G. Hoskins. "Exeter" History Today (May 1951), Vol. 1 Issue 5, p28-37 online.
 * Aileen Fox. Roman Exeter (1952)
 * W. G. Hoskins. Industry, Trade and People in Exeter, 1688–1800 (1935)
 * W. G. Hoskins. "Exeter" History Today (May 1951), Vol. 1 Issue 5, p28-37 online.
 * Aileen Fox. Roman Exeter (1952)
 * W. G. Hoskins. "Exeter" History Today (May 1951), Vol. 1 Issue 5, p28-37 online.
 * Aileen Fox. Roman Exeter (1952)
 * Aileen Fox. Roman Exeter (1952)

Published in 21st century

 * Tim Isaac and Chris Hallam Secret Exeter (2018)
 * Tim Isaac and Chris Hallam Secret Exeter (2018)