1 66 Devon Notes and Queries, S. Thomas where the old Guild Hall stood — the public road now passes over the site between S. George's Church and the Town Hall — and the Chapel of S. Andrew, which was where or near where the public Baths are now« In the third year of Edward I. reign, four fairs were granted to Tiverton — ^two of these fairs were on the festivals of S. Thomas and S. Andrew. In old chapels West £xe was singularly destitute. It is clear that West £xe South was more populous than West Exe North, and there are evidences that more cottages extended towards the Rag, as it is termed. The Rackfields, used by the fullers, were here; and when Robert Loosemore built Exe Villa, it is said as many as forty old cottages were destroyed. There is no doubt that the people crossed the old ford, and after- wards the bridge, below the junction of the rivers, and the river path became a church path to these old chapels in S. Andrew Street. Some great floods must have passed over Devonshire about the middle of the 15th century, for in the year 1448 and 1449, Bishop Lacy granted indulgences to Exeter for gifts to its bridge, and to Tiverton for forty days to the truly contrite who con- tributed to the rebuilding of Tiverton Bridge. No doubt it was this bridge which served the church and was of use in bringing the people to worship in the chapels in S. Andrew Street. Dunsford distinctly says that the large Exe Bridge, near Angel Hill, was not built before the reign of Elizabeth. There is another point of importance. It is recorded of Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon, that in the reign of Edward I. he went with the king to Brittany with i Baronet, 12 Knights, 36 Esquires, 60 Mounted Archers ; doubtless Tiverton contributed to the retinue. The field for the practice of archery was at the foot of Exeter Hill. The ford, and later the bridge in Colliepriest enabled youths from West Exe to reach this field, and it was easily reached by the old river path of the Tumbling Fields. After the dissolution, the property came into the hands of the Prowse family and then through Colman and West to the Carews, through the marriage of Sir Walter
