Two Thousand Years in Exeter

Exeter is one of the oldest cities in Britain: people have lived here without a break for more than two thousand years. The High Street has been in continuous use as a thoroughfare throughout that long period. For centuries Exeter was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the kingdom and has always been the mother city of the South West. In this book, first published in 1960 and acclaimed as a 'small masterpiece', the author traces the essential historic development and character of a leading provincial centre. He describes its adventure from a Roman camp to a modern city, with particular reference to its social history, to the lives and surroundings of ordinary people, to the buildings and landscapes of the past. Above all, he is concerned with the recent past and devotes three thorough chapters to the 19th and 20th centuries. W. G. Hoskins died in 1992. The task of bringing the work up to date and preparing text and illustrations for this new edition of a classic work has been undertaken by Hazel Harvey, a distinguished local historian of Exeter. Much of Exeter has been destroyed, but much of the historic past of this entrancing city still remains. Hoskins' incomparable text is supported by a new selection of illustrations and maps, with an appendix on the street names of the city and place names in the neighbourhood. This book will be as valuable to the visitor as to the citizen of Exeter, for it tells where to look for the memorials of the past and for the history that lies behind them.

The late W.G. HOSKINS was a prolific author of local history books. Born in Exeter in 1908, William George Hoskins was educated at Hele's School and the University of the South West; he then went on to teach at the then University College, Leicester (1931-51) where he founded the influential School of English Local History - the first department of its kind in Britain. In 1951 he became Reader in Economic History at Oxford, and it is during his time there that both Devon (1954) and The Making of the English Landscape (1955) appeared, both highly influential works, both still in great demand. Returning as Professor to Leicester, now a University, after a few years he withdrew to return to his beloved Devon: to campaign against wholesale re-development - destruction - and to champion similar environmental causes. He enjoyed a national reputation and high regard, which led to radio, television and press appearances - this Devon man changed not only our approach to the study of local history, but also our concern about the conservation of our environment. He died at Cullompton, Devon, in January 1992.