origins
Within just three years the first building phase of the then called Devon and Exeter Albert Memorial Institution was finished. But where did the Victorians get all the material from? Here we take a closer look at the building and reveal its true origin and some fascinating facts.
Click on the coloured spots on our building below to learn more
Bricks - York Wing extension at corner of Gandy Street and Bradninch
Bricks had been made in Exeter since the late 17th century (and previously in Roman times). The early sites were close to the centre of the city and were abandoned as the suburbs grew around them. By the 19th century the largest works were in Newtown. There were four in the area around Clifton Hill. The Clifton Hill Sports Centre now occupies one of this firm's sites.
Red sandstone - front façade Queen Street
This red sandstone is made of lots of tiny quartz grains. Wind and rivers once laid down these sandstones in a desert that resembled modern-day northern Africa. Under the hot and dry conditions the rust like iron particles within the sand turned the rock red and brown.
Granite - front pavement on Queen Street
The old pavement in front of the museum is made of granite slabs quarried from Dartmoor. Granite is a stone that formed deep inside the Earth where the temperature is very high (800°C to 900°C). Molten rock accumulated in masses under the earth's surface where it cooled down very slowly. That gave crystals enough time to develop and grow. The crystals within a granite are called quartz, feldspar and mica.
Dartmoor Granite, also known as 'moorstone' has been used as building material since the Bronze Age. It was ready available, abundant and easy to obtain. Boulders and blocks were shed from the outside of the tors by weathering.
Major quarrying started in 1780 when roads were built across the moor. Stone blocks were used for houses, churches, gate posts, stone-crosses and clapper-bridges for pack-horse traffic. People also made querns and cider presses out of granite.
In 1820 a tramway was built entirely from granite to transport the big slabs of stone. Teams of horses pulled a train of wooden carts over eight miles towards Stover canal from where the granite went to London.
Stone blocks from a quarry lying just north of Haytor were used to build the old London Bridge. This quarry was last worked in 1919 to provide stone for the Exeter War Memorial in Northernhay Park.
Exeter volcanic rock - front façade on Queen Street
A red and purple rock with lots of tiny holes. That is the Exeter 'trap', a stone that was once produced during volcano eruptions around Exeter. Molten rock, or lava, rose from inside the Earth. At the same time gas bubbles formed within the lava - a bit like bubbles form in sparkling water or a fizzy drink shortly after you open the bottle
Once the lava reached the surface of the Earth it cooled down very quickly. It turned into hard rock. The gases and vapours had escaped from the bubbles but the voids became part of the stone. Much later, calcite, a white calcareous mineral filled some of these voids.
Exeter 'Trap' is present in many buildings around the centre of Exeter. One can find the dark purple stone in walls, churches and houses. The stone has been quarried locally over centuries. The Romans discovered the durability of the stone and constructed the city wall using blocks that came out of Rougemont quarry. In more recent time trap rock has been quarried west of Exeter at Pocombe.
Limestone - front façade on Queen Street
Blocks of grey local limestone form parts of the wall on Queen Street and St Paul Street.
The limestone contains many fossilised corals and stromatoporoids, a type of sponge. These organisms once lived at the bottom of a sea and formed structures similar to modern day reefs. This was 360 million years ago, when Devon was covered by shallow tropical ocean. One can find remains of these ancient sea creatures in the limestone cliffs at Hope's Nose / Torquay.
Ham Hill Stone - front façade Queen Street
Ham Hill stone is a sandy limestone that contains fragments of fossilised shells. It was laid down in a shallow sea during the early Jurassic, about 180 million years ago. It now forms a well-defined plateau area in Somerset.
Ham Hill stone was worked in Roman times and continues to be quarried as building stone of high quality. It is well know for its beauty, character and durability. The weathering of iron bearing minerals gives the stone its distinctive golden colour. The stone has been used in local villages and for buildings such as Montacute House and Sherborne Abbey.
