Timeline of Exeter

Prior to 16th century

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.

932 – Monastery founded by Athelstan.

927: William of Malmesbury, writing around 1120, says that Athelstan evicted the Cornish from Exeter and perhaps the rest of Devon: "Exeter was cleansed of its defilement by wiping out that filthy race". The area inside the city walls still known today as 'Little Britain' is the quarter where most of the Cornish Romano-British aristocracy had their town houses, from which the Cornish were expelled. Under Athelstan's statutes it eventually became unlawful for any Cornishman to own land, and lawful for any Englishman to kill any Cornishman (or woman or child).

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.

1207 – Mayor in office.

1236 – Nunnery founded.

1400 – Exeter Cathedral built (approximate date).

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.

1758 – Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital built.

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.

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.

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

Devon and Cornwall Record Society established (approximate date).

Bridge rebuilt.

Electric tram begins operating.

1910 – Empire Electric Palace opens.

1911 – Exeter Pictorial Record Society active.

1924 – Sidwell Street Methodist Church built.

1937 – Odeon Exeter cinema opens.

1938 – Exeter Airport opens.

1942 – May: Aerial bombing by German forces.

1955 – University of Exeter chartered.

1960 – October: Flood.

1963 – November: Exeter & Devon Crematorium opened.

1964 – Devon County Hall built.

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.