The Rebuilding of Exeter College

Abstract

This chapter traces the process by which Exeter College was largely rebuilt during Prideaux’s rectorship. This was one of his major achievements, which transformed a ramshackle and higgledy-piggledy college into a model of well-planned order and even grandeur devised around a central quadrangle. The chapter analyses Prideaux’s relations with the leading benefactors––John Peryam, Sir John Acland, George Hakewill––who made the rebuilding possible and stresses the common ground in religion which underlay their friendly relations. It also raises the question why Prideaux fundraising efforts were so narrowly confined to the city of Exeter and its immediate hinterland. The new buildings are described, with particular attention being paid to the hall and the chapel, and the course of the rebuilding and its consequential costs are outlined. Finally, stress is laid on the degree to which the rebuilding was regarded as a religious enterprise intended in part to promote the work of the church through the provision of more rooms for undergraduates whose destiny it might be to serve as clerics. His achievement in renewing Exeter’s physical structure was recognized even by his enemy Peter Heylyn. The chapter draws on a hitherto unknown file of informal and personal letters between Prideaux, benefactors, and College fellows.