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England Exeter(city)

Guide to Exeter history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



HISTORY
The original settlement of Exeter was as a settlement on a dry ridge overlooking the river Exe. There was also a fertile valley below for the growing of crops.

Coins have been discovered from the Hellenistic kingdoms, suggesting the existence of a settlement trading with the Mediterranean as early as 250 BC.

Exeter was the furthest west that the Romans penetrated in England. It should be noted that almost all towns in England with the ending -ter (such as Chester, Manchester, etc.) have origins tied to the advent of Roman Britain.

The Romans established a 42-acre fort (Latin: castrum) named Isca around AD 55. The fort was the southwest terminus of the Fosse Way (Route 15 of the Antonine Itinerary) and served as the base for the 5 000-man Second Augustan Legion (Legio II Augusta) for the next 20 years before they moved to Caerleon in Wales, which was also known as Isca. The presence of the fort built up an unplanned civilian community (vicus or canabae) formed of natives and the soldiers' families, mostly to the northeast of the fort.

Nothing is certainly known of Exeter from the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain around the year 410 until around 680 when a document about St Boniface reports that he was educated at an abbey in Exeter.

After a major defeat of the Vikings, Alfred the Great elevated Exeter to one of the four burhs in Devon, rebuilding its walls on the Roman lines.

Two years after the Norman conquest of England, Exeter rebelled against King William. Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, the mother of the slain King Harold, was living in the city at the time and William promptly marched west and initiated a siege. After 18 days, William accepted the city's honorable surrender, swearing an oath not to harm the city or increase its ancient tribute. However, William quickly arranged for the building of Rougemont Castle to strengthen Norman control over the area.

The city's motto, Semper fidelis, is traditionally held to have been suggested by Elizabeth I, in acknowledgement of the city's contribution of ships to help defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588.

After the English civil war, Exeter was an economically powerful city, with a strong trade of wool. It was the most powerful city in Western England.

Early in the Industrial Revolution, Exeter's industry developed on the basis of locally available agricultural products and, since the city's location on a fast-flowing river gave it ready access to water power, an early industrial site developed. However, when steam power replaced water in the 19th century, Exeter was too far from sources of coal (or iron) to develop further. As a result, the city declined rapidly in relative importance.

Today, Exeter is not considered an important city economically, and functions really more like the ancient market towns, providing local transportation and infrastructure for the county of Devon.

LOCATION
Stratford is located on the broad central alluvial plain of England. To the west, the land drops off slowly toward the River Severn valley. It is at the lowest place on the River Avon that can be forded at most times of the year. The River Avon itself slowly winds down to Tewkesbury where it enters the Severn River. The districts around Stratford have been famous for generations for fruit tree growing and sheep herding.

RELIGION
While Stratford is not known for its religious history, it was always a conservative area, but shifted its image to associate with Oliver Cromwell's faction during the civil war. There are a number of critical churches in the town, such as the following:

Stratford-upon-Avon Holy Trinity Church St Gregory's Catholic Church St Andrew's Church Shottery Stratford-upon-Avon United Reformed Church Stratford-upon-Avon Methodist Church

TOURISM
The regular large influx of tourists is the major source of the town's prosperity. In 2010 the District Council spent £298,000 on tourism promotion.

Stratford's only real claim to fame is that it was the birthplace of its most famous resident, William Shakespeare. While not yet a World heritage Center, it is a British Heritage center.

Shakespeare's family actually originated in Snitterfield, a small village approximately 3.5 miles to the east. However his father moved to Stratford before he was born. The family home, shown below, was a large, well built, edifice, demonstrating the family was part of the upper class.



Major tourist attractions within the town include five houses relating to Shakespeare's life, which are owned and cared for by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. These include Hall's Croft (the one-time home of Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna, and her husband Dr. John Hall) and Nash's House, which stands alongside the site of another property, New Place, owned by Shakespeare himself, wherein he died. Near to the town are Anne Hathaway's Cottage at Shottery, the home of Shakespeare's wife's family prior to her marriage, and Mary Arden's House (Palmer's Farm), the family home of his mother.

Other tourist attractions include medieval fairs. Each year on 12 October (unless this is a Sunday, in which case 11 October) Stratford hosts one of the largest mop fairs in the country. Then, on the second Saturday following, the smaller Runaway fair is held.

INDUSTRY
Except for a brief period at the start of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, Stratford has never been considered to be part of the Industrial scene.

Late in the Eighteenth century, The British parliament approved the construction of a narrow lock canal that linked the major manufacturing centers around Birmingham to Stratford.

Goods could now travel directly south to the River Avon, down the River Avon to the River Severn, and thence to Bristol for world-wide transhipment.

This activity did not last for more than about 75 years, as competition from the new railways undercut canal company profits, and very little goods continued to travel the canal system.

Today the Stratford canal is only used for recreational purposes.

CIVIL REGISTRATION
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The following link provides access for Stratford:


 * Stratford Registration office

CENSUS RECORDS

 * Stratford Census Records

PROBATE RECORDS
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. See the following link for Stratford:


 * Probate records

CEMETERIES AND GRAVES

 * Ancestry.com


 * Find A Grave


 * Stratford Cemetery

GENEALOGY SOCIETIES AND GENEALOGY

 * Forebears.io


 * Roots-Boots.net


 * on avon Ancestry.com


 * UK Government Stratford records


 * Genuki for Warwickshire