xliv. 



EXETER AND TORQUAY MEETING. 



THE SECOND OUTDOOR MEETING of the Club was held at 

 Exeter on Tuesday and Wednesday, July i6th and i7th. 

 Twenty-three members attended. The party assembled at 2.45 

 in the quadrangle of the New London Hotel, Exeter, and, under 

 the direction of C. J. Tait, Esq., they first visited the heights 

 upon which the old castle of Rougemont stood. The castle was 

 built by William the Conqueror, dismantled by Fairfax, and 

 finally destroyed in the eighteenth century, when its materials 

 were used in the building of the Sessions House. From these 

 heights Mr. Tait pointed out the spots on which the four ancient 

 gates of the city stood. These gates have all been removed 

 since 1769, because they were an obstruction to the traffic. 



THE GUILDHALL, EXETER. 



After giving an interesting account of the early history of the 

 city, Mr. Tait led the way through old Exeter streets to the 

 Guildhall, where the Town Clerk, on his arrival, ordered the 

 police officers present to bring forth the regalia chains and 

 hat, maces and swords and he also produced a number of 

 ancient parchments with seals attached. The Guildhall, he said, 

 was in its restored state very much what it was when first built, 

 in 1330. The walls and roof were the identical walls and roof 

 of that period. The date of the panelling was 1588 the 

 Armada year. 



After speaking of the historical interest of the portraits hanging upon the 

 walls, Mr. Shorto turned to the regalia, which was set out on the table. He first 

 called attention to four silver chains of handsome pattern formed of links, with 

 the letters " X.E.," short for Exeter. The date of the chains was cir. 1537. They 

 used to be worn by the city musicians or waits, and were now worn by the 

 sergeants-at-mace. The pair of royal presentation swords, two-handed swords, 

 next called for notice. The sword drawn from the black scabbard, said Mr. 

 Shorto, was the one presented to the city by Edward IV. It was a serviceable 

 blade. After the Eestoration it was used as a mourning sword when the Mayor 

 and Corporation went to church every year 011 January 30th, the anniversary of 

 the martyrdom of Charles I. When Henry VII. visited the city at the end of the 

 fifteenth century, he presented to it his own sword, a handsome weapon now 



