CREDITON Area History and Museum Society (CAHMS) holds an exhibition in its High Street museum each summer.

Currently planning its Summer 2023 exhibition, the Society now wants to hear what people think about its plans.

The proposed exhibition will be about the Great Fire of Crediton in 1743.

It was a dramatic year for the town.

A disastrous fire ripped through more than 400 homes and businesses in and around the town centre. It killed 14 people, wrecked the lives of countless others and had a devastating impact on businesses and livelihoods.

Amazingly, there is a detailed map which shows the town exactly as it was a few months before the fire. And that map was subsequently marked up to show which properties had been destroyed.

“It really is a unique record of an 18th century town centre,” says CAHMS Project Lead Tony Gale.

GRAND HOUSES

He added: “The map shows the buildings face-on, as if you were looking at them from across the street. You can see how grand Georgian-style town-houses stood next to timber-framed Elizabethan buildings with first floor galleries, and older cob-and-thatch buildings more like you’d expect to see in local villages.

“What’s more, with recent developments in digital technology we can match all these locations with the properties along the High Street, North Street, Landscore and St Lawrence Green today.”

Why was the map created? That’s just one of the stories that the exhibition will tell.

“We’re intending to call this exhibition, Dispute, Disaster, Recovery,” says Tony. “We want to tell the stories of how a dispute about the marketplace led to the creation of the map; the disaster of the Great Fire; and the recovery efforts to rebuild the town and the local economy.”

CAHMS recognises that this is an ambitious plan.

“We are very excited by the proposals put forward by the project team,” says CAHMS Chair David Nation, “and we think this could interest a lot of local people, maybe including people who don’t normally visit museum exhibitions.

FUNDING

“We will need external funding to get it off the ground – and funding bodies will want to know what local interest and support we have.

"We’re already talking to local schools and businesses, local councils and various voluntary groups; and now we’re starting consultation with the wider public,” says David. “The project is planned for Summer 2023, but there’s lots of research and preparation to do beforehand, so we need to start getting public feedback now.”

CAHMS is holding a public consultation event at the Museum (on the corner of High Street and Searle Street) on Thursday, February 10, starting at 7pm.

There will be a short presentation about the proposals and an opportunity to ask questions, offer suggestions and give feedback.

The meeting will be held in accordance with Covid precautions then in place, and attendees are respectfully asked to comply.

FOR BUSINESSES

CAHMS has set up a separate consultation session for High Street businesses on Tuesday, February 8.

“We want to talk to them about how this exhibition could help the High Street, and how the High Street could help us,” says Tony. “We’ve been really encouraged by initial responses – people see this as a potential win-win for Crediton.”

Tony goes on: “It would be good to see lots of people at the public consultation meeting, but we realise that the time and location won’t suit everyone.

"There will be other opportunities to talk about the project - and how you might become involved, if you want to – and of course you could always email us on: [email protected] or telephone 01363 774441 with any comments or questions.”