Synopsis: Long overdue, finally I get to Tuckers’ Hall. Sister-in-law Christine, Mum and myself decide it’s time we visited this important hall of the Tuckers’ guild of Exeter. So, just who were Tuckers?
(selection of photos from Flickr photo set – use link above to view album)Well, in answer to my question above, Tuckers are people who soften and cleanse all the oils and dirt out of cloth. I only know that because the day before our visit I looked it up on the Internet. Apparently tuckers is a west-country term, whereas in the rest of the country these people would be referred to as fullers or walkers.
Main hall on first floor
We were led up to the main hall which is on the first floor where our guide gave us a highly informative talk on the history of the cloth trade in Exeter and the role of the Tuckers’ Hall in that business. The guild regulated the cloth trade and resided over disputes.
An artist's impression of how Tuckers' Hall once looked liked at the time it served as both chapel and place of cloth trade business
Originally the building was both a chapel and a hall for regulation of the cloth trade and at this time was single storey. This double use of the 'hall' struck me as a rather odd juxtaposition of both trade and worship, for I had thought in Christianity there was a certain polarisation of these two activities. I don't recall coming across anything similar before today. This is an artist’s impression as to what the building looked like at this time.
After the Reformation Tuckers' Hall had a floor inserted and one of the rooms created was used as a classroom.
At the time of the Reformation there was a risk to the survival of the hall, and thereby the guild, therefore it was stripped of its religious iconography and its religious use was played down. At this time a floor was inserted, which is how we see the building today. The hall was also put to use as a school at this time. In the stairwell there is this painting on the wall of a boy and two girls who are perhaps attending the school. Books are to be seen in the background.
1620 the Guild obtained a Royal Charter and became the Incorporation of Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen.
Apparently at one time it was answerable to the main Exeter Guild, resident in the Guildhall, in the High Street, but an application was made to King James I to become the Incorporation of Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen. This broke the ties with the Exeter Guild and from then on there was no obligation to pay taxes to the city guild.
A 1/4th scale water-powered fulling machine
On the ground floor there is a small museum. There’s an old weaving loom on display. There is also a 1/4 scale water powered fulling mill that operates at a touch of a button.
The visit to Tuckers’ Hall proved very interesting and worthwhile. As the cloth trade was supremely important to Exeter at one time, making it once the third richest city in the country, Tuckers’ Hall is one of the few remaining representations of a trade that was at the heart of the city’s growth and prosperity. It had been a long overdue visit on the part of each of us.
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