Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/194

138 THE CASTLE OF EXETER. " redje builte" of the late Sir John Whyddon, Knt., on the left side of Cowick Street, in St. Thomas's, being offered for sale by that Judge's grandson, William Whyddon, Esq., they were purchased of him, in 1637, for £600, and fitted up for a county Bridewell by the liberality of Elizeus Hele, Esq. As such it continued to be used for a hundred and seventy years. In process of time many alterations and additions were required for the transaction of the increasing business at the Castle ; but all proving inadequate, plans were adver- tised for rebuilding the pubhc courts. In 1772 a county meeting was called to consider them. The Crown, which in 1710 had granted a lease of the Castle for a term of ninety- nine years, was petitioned to grant the fee ; and in the fol- lowing year an Act of Parliament was obtained (13 Geo. III., 1773), which vested the fee of the Castle in certain justices, as commissioners in trust for the county of Devon, subject to the yearly rent of £10, payable at Michaelmas to the duchy of Cornwall. Upon this the parties entered into a contract with Messrs. Stowey and Jones to take down the old courts, and erect the present ; the first stone of which was laid by Lord Viscount Courtenay, on the 25th of March, 1774. A direct approach to the Castle had been previously made from High Street, in lieu of the old road, which is described in the Act as " so very narrow, steep, and dan- gerous, that it is impossible for two carriages to pass by each other, and is very hazardous for foot-passengers." In 1787 the Legislature sanctioned the erection of a new county jail ; and the site of the old horrible pit, with the materials of the jailer's house, were purchased on the 1st of March, 1796, by the late Mr. Shirley Woolmer, to make room for the present Independent Chapel. The interesting Plans, of which, by the kindness of Mr. Holmes, facsimiles accompany these memorials, are pre- served in the British Museum. The more detailed of these was taken by Norden, in 1617 (Add. MS. 6027). The description given is as follows : — " This Table comprehcndetli a descriptioa of the Castle of Exon, wherein the particulars are distinguished by letters, viz. : — A. — The place of the Olde Drawbridge of the castle over the ditch. B. — The howsc where the Assizes and Sessions are held. C. — The outer ditch of the Castle, which the Citie usurpeth,and have lately made a payre of Bufts in the same, being the Pr(ince's) demesnes.