Exeter
Roman fortress AD 50, cathedral with world's longest medieval vaulted ceiling, University of Exeter (30,000 students), Met Office HQ since 2004. Roman baths reopening project underway.
Exeter exists because the Romans needed a fortress to control the Dumnonii tribe of southwest Britain. Legio II Augusta built Isca Dumnoniorum around AD 50 on a ridge above the River Exe—a strategic position that commanded the peninsula. A bathhouse from this era was discovered under the cathedral in 1971.
The cathedral itself, founded in 1050 when the bishop's seat moved from Crediton for fear of Viking raids, contains the longest uninterrupted medieval stone vaulted ceiling in the world—96 meters of Gothic ribwork completed by about 1400. The astronomical clock, installed in the late 15th century, still tracks the phases of the moon.
Medieval Exeter prospered on wool exports to Flanders. The city's Guildhall, dating to 1160, claims to be the oldest municipal building in England still in use. But the textile trade eventually passed to the North. Exeter became a regional market town, cathedral city, and eventually university seat.
The University of Exeter, which grew from a teacher training college founded in 1838, now ranks among the UK's top 20 universities with over 30,000 students. The Met Office relocated its headquarters here in 2004, bringing weather forecasting expertise to a city that experiences notably mild winters.
Exeter was heavily bombed in the 'Baedeker Blitz' of 1942, when Germany targeted historic cities from the tourist guidebook. Postwar reconstruction mixed brutalist concrete with surviving medieval fabric.
By 2026, a £10 million project will make the Roman baths accessible to visitors, potentially drawing 100,000 additional tourists annually—linking Exeter's first settlement to its current economy.