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Medieval Construction Site

The ecclesiastical community at Exeter Cathedral was completely re-organised by Bishop Bruere in 1224 along more contemporary lines. The office of Dean was initiated and given to the Archdeacon of Exeter, who was joined by the great offices of Precentor, Treasurer and Chancellor, still helped by the twenty-four canons. In the subsequent years leading up the mid-13th century, the Early English cloisters and chapter house were built to serve these new arrangements, which have remained in place ever since.

The building of the Lady Chapel and remodelling of the quire in Decorated Gothic style, began under Bishop Branscombe in the 1270s. The canons were obliged to move out to hold services in the nave which was shut off from the construction work by a temporary barrier. By this period, the cathedral close had become one of the busiest parts of the city. Now a huge building site as well as a place for prayer, it was also a centre of commerce, sport and revelry, despite the objections of the Dean and Chapter. Such undesirable developments ultimately led to the darkest hour in the history of the Cathedral and its canons. In 1283, a local man named John Pycot managed to get himself elected Dean of Exeter under somewhat dubious circumstances. The Bishop, Peter Quinel, did not approve and tried to have him removed. The ensuing quarrels split the chapter and the town and eventually led to the murder of one of the Bishop's supporters, the precenter, Walter Lechlade. He was seen as a heavy-weight threat by Pycot's followers who hunted him down after matins and stabbed him to death in the Cathedral Close. The precenter's family brought legal proceedings against Pycot, his associate, Mayor Alured de la Porte, and nineteen others; but little was resolved and the case dragged on for two years before the Bishop asked the King to personally intercede. King Edward I, Queen Eleanor and three of their daughters arrived in Exeter in late December 1285. Though they stayed at the castle, they would, no doubt, have celebrated mass in the Cathedral on Christmas Day: the only break which the King permitted himself from sitting in judgement upon the accused. Five laymen, including the mayor, were hanged, but the clergy escaped with lesser penalties.

The building of the present quire proper began not long afterward, followed by the nave around 1310. The canons moved back into their still incomplete quire at this time, but the high altar was not finally dedicated until 1328. The dawning of the new century also saw the strong episcopate of Bishop John Grandisson. He completed the present Cathedral around 1342, with the fine sculptured West Front being painted in bright colours. Only five years later, the Black Death deprived the city of the many laymen who had been its builders and the clergy were permanently reduced in numbers. Grandisson was keen to uphold his rights as Bishop in Exeter and even refused a visitation from the Archbishop of Canterbury by meeting him at the West Door with a band of armed attendants. A bloody skirmish was only narrowly avoided! He is better known for laying out the Cathedral 'Ordinal' (1337), still in use today, which defines how all cathedral services should be carried out. He also re-discovered the city's connection with St. Boniface.