Tour Map
Hems in Exeter
Hems in Exeter
(Location 1 of 11)
Hems enjoyed a high profile in Exeter and was commissioned to work on a variety of projects. Sadly a lot of Hems's work was lost in the Exeter blitz...
Post a comment
Hems and RAMM
Hems and RAMM
(Location 2 of 11)
Hems was a master stone sculptor and woodworker who came to Exeter from London to work on the museum building in 1866. Take a look at the exterior stonework of the RAMM building and you will see many examples of his work. Hems was particularly inspired by Gothic architecture so the RAMM building was an ideal opportunity to apply his talents.
Post a comment
Volunteer Force Memorial – Northernhay Gardens
Volunteer Force Memorial – Northernhay Gardens
(Location 3 of 11)
Best viewed from the upper path to the rear of the rock garden.
The memorial commemorates the founding of the Volunteer Force of Great Britain in 1852. Used as a mounted infantry during the Boer War, the Volunteer Force became the Territorial Force, also known as the Saturday Night Soldiers. Today it is known as the Territorial Army.
Designed by Sidney Greenslade, the memorial was made in Harry Hems's workshop in Longbrook Street. The ceremony to unveil the memorial was organised to coincide with Queen Victoria's birthday on 24 May 1895. The Duke of Cambridge performed the unveiling when he 'touched an electrical bell and the covering of the memorial fell away'.
Post a comment
Harry's Restaurant, 84 Longbrook Street
Harry's Restaurant, 84 Longbrook Street
(Location 4 of 11)
Formerly known as the Lucky Horseshoe Workshop. Look out for the lucky horseshoe above the entrance. Hems found the horseshoe lying in the road on his way from the railway station when he first arrived in Exeter and saw this as a good omen.
Hems married Charlotte Presswell Turner in 1868 and after a short time moved into a house with a yard in Paris Street. As Hems's reputation grew following the museum work, he expanded his commissions from Exeter and the surrounding area and soon outgrew the Paris Street premises.
In 1881 Hems acquired two acres of land in Longbrook Street and engaged Robert Medley Fulford as architect. The 'Lucky Horseshoe' premises incorporated a showroom and the workshop area was designed to maximise light, an essential requirement when working on intricate carvings.
Hems's collection of medieval church woodcarvings was displayed within the workshop for his workers to use for inspiration and pattern. At its peak in 1985, the new workshop employed over 100 people. The business closed in 1938 when Hems's sons Wilfred and Harry retired.
You can see the extent of the workshop from Longbrook Street. Please note that the courtyard is private property and should be viewed from Longbrook Street.
Can you spot the lucky horse shoe?
Hems House, 82 Longbrook Street
Hems House, 82 Longbrook Street
(Location 5 of 11)
Harry Hems and his family lived next door to the workshop in Hems House, formerly known as Fair Park. The distinctive house has a prominent corner turret facing the rear of the workshop complex.
Harry and Charlotte had eight children. Tragically one of their sons, Archie, died at only two months old. Hems carved his memorial which is situated in Higher Cemetery in Exeter. The memorial has now become the family grave and the place where Hems himself was laid to rest.
After Harry died the business was carried on by his sons Harry and Wilfred.
Post a comment
St Sidwell's Church
St Sidwell's Church
(Location 6 of 11)
The former St Sidwell's Church was Hems's local church and the nearest to his home. The church contained a number of works from the Lucky Horseshoe workshop including statues, sculptures, gargoyles and angels. Harry Hems was also the church warden at St Sidwell's.
Hems's award winning rood screen took honours at the Great Exhibition of Chicago in 1893 and Hems expressed a wish that the screen 'shall be place in the chancel of St Sidwell's Church'. However, this never happened as the church officials ignored his wishes and declined his gift.
Unfortunately, at 2.43 am on the morning of 4 May 1942 a bomb fell directly on St Sidwell's Church destroying it. The tower did not collapse but it was so badly damaged that is was pulled down soon after.
The existing church was built in the 1950's and unfortunately nothing remains of the previous building.
Sadly it was just one of a number of buildings containing Hems's work that were lost in the bombing raid.
Post a comment
Livery Dole Martyr's Memorial
Livery Dole Martyr's Memorial
(Location 7 of 11)
The memorial remembers the protestant martyrs Thomas Benet and Agnes Prest. The bronze reliefs depict Thomas Benet nailing his protest on the door of the cathedral in 1531. Benet was burned at the stake at Livery Dole in the eastern suburbs of Exeter that year. Agnes Prest was burned at the stake in 1557 at Southernhay for her continued attacks on Catholicism.
Livery Dole Martyr's Memorial was designed and made by Harry Hems and erected in 1901 with money raised by public subscription.
Post a comment
Hems in Exeter Cathedral
Hems in Exeter Cathedral
(Location 8 of 11)
This is an excellent opportunity to see Hems's work in Exeter Cathedral. Please note that there is an admission charge to enter the Cathedral.
Look out for:
A white marble memorial to Major General Fitzroy Freemantle is located on the south wall of the nave. Carved in 1894 the memorial commemorates a freeman of the city who commanded the 11th Regiment District. The memorial is clearly signed Harry Hems and Sons, Exeter.
On the death of RD Blackmore in 1901, Hems was commissioned by Exeter Cathedral to produce a memorial to celebrate the author of Lorna Doone. Unfortunately, it was discovered that the inscription contained a number of grammatical errors. This prompted a number of letters in the Times from those who blamed Hems for the errors. Hems's defence was that he merely carved what he was sent. The memorial can be found on the west wall of the nave.
Post a comment
Roman Catholic Church, South Street
Roman Catholic Church, South Street
(Location 9 of 11)
Hems was commissioned to carve the statue of St Patrick located in the entrance lobby of the church. Hems was a prolific carver of ecclesiastical statues and monuments in both stone and wood. His work can be found throughout the United Kingdom and across the world.
The statue of St Patrick is one of the few examples of Hems's ecclesiastical work in Exeter that is readily accessible for viewing.
Post a comment
St Olave's Church
St Olave's Church
(Location 10 of 11)
St Olave's has survived for a thousand years and is still used as one of the churches as the Parish of Central Exeter. The rood screen and parclose screen was carved in Hems's workshop and installed in the church in 1902.
The rood screen was commissioned in memory of Mrs Ellen Stephens Ingle, wife of the Rev. John Ingle who served as rector to the parish for 24 years and of her sister Mrs Elizabeth Agnes Vallance.
It is believed to be the first screen introduced to any Exeter church since the Reformation.
Post a comment
Santander Bank, 53 High Street
Santander Bank, 53 High Street
(Location 11 of 11)
53 High Street was built c1905 and is a relatively late example of the Black and White style of architecture. The life size wooden statue of Leofric was carved in Hems's workshop. Leofric was the first Bishop of Exeter and the date 1050 seen below the statue was the year Leofric was enthroned.
This is the end of the tour.
You may now like to return to RAMM to find out more about Hems in the museum collection. Alternatively, find out more about Hems's work on Dartmoor and the Moor Stories project. http://www.moorstories.org.uk There is much more of Hems's work waiting for you to discover!
Post a comment
My Harry Hems - a Victorian Craftsman Notes
Harry Hems - a Victorian Craftsman
Explore Exeter through the work of Harry Hems, a Victorian master craftsman and church restorer.
This tour focuses on Harry Hems a master craftsman working in Exeter and worldwide in the Victorian period.
Many of the sites should be accessible during daylight hours, but please note that RAMM is closed on Mondays and Bank Holidays and St Olave's Church is closed on Sundays.
The tour begins at RAMM and focuses on some of Hems' work around the city and gives you a flavour of the some of stories it tells about the history of Exeter.
More by RAMM
Art and SoulExplore Exeter using the Art & Soul trail to visit some fine gothic revival buildings and find the locations for many of the exhibits.
Bird AdventureHi Explorer!
This trail takes you around the world exploring different kinds of birds. Become an explorer and see if you can find all nine birds. Whilst you are exploring take some pictures with your favourite bird. Upload them onto Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #rammbirdadventure.
Once you have found all of the birds head to the RAMM gift shop to collect your sticker!
Explore Exeter's SculptureExeter's Sculpture and Art
Welcome to the public sculpture trail which guides you through Exeter's interesting and diverse public sculptures and art.
Harry Hems - a Victorian CraftsmanExplore Exeter through the work of Harry Hems, a Victorian master craftsman and church restorer.
Healing, Protection and the Spirit WorldIllness affects everybody, regardless of whether they lived in the past or the present, near or far away.
Historic Decorative Plasterwork in DevonWelcome to the historic decorative plasterwork trail which guides you to examples of fine historic decorative plasterwork around Devon.
Introduction to RAMMThis information is to help you prepare for a visit to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter.
Key Objects TrailA museum trail featuring our key objects with BSL, audio and subtitles.
Museum Architectural TrailLooking beyond RAMM's collection the trail provides an opportunity to an artistic view to parts of the museum that may go unnoticed.
Peter Orlando HutchinsonA tour around the Down to Earth and Making History galleries highlighting key pieces from this prominent Devonian antiquarian's collection.
RAMM Sculpture TrailTake a journey through thousands of years of sculpture and history to find out how sculpture developed through the centuries. Learn about how different cultures used sculpture and the materials they used. You will explore different ages and cultures discovering the incredible range of sculpture that RAMM has to offer.
RAMMusicalTake this easy-to-use #RAMMusical trail to learn about the vast range of historical musical instruments in the museum. Discover how music affected the lives of different cultures around the world. You'll hear what these ancient instruments sounded like, and even play one yourself.
Second World WarThis is the Exeter WWII Trail which allows you to explore the city centre and see objects and images from RAMM's collection placed into the context in which they were discovered, used or created.
The Great Exeter Garden QuestWelcome, traveller!
You are an adventurous photographer, on a quest to discover Exeter's green spaces and the secrets they hold in plain sight. During your journey, you will uncover clues to the origin of the city's gardens and parks, as well as discover the connections they hold with objects from the collection of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter's repository of cultural treasures.
Along the way, you will be asked to look at your surroundings with a photographer's eye, to uncover patterns and details hidden to those who do not look closely enough. On each stop along the quest, there is a photographic challenge, which you can complete and upload using your smartphone or tablet's camera. The results of your unique way of looking are added to an online gallery with contributions by other players like yourself. What will your interpretation be?
The quest takes between one hour, and one and a half hours. The terrain covered is even, except for the optional bonus level. You will discover objects from the museum's collection and are asked to complete challenges inspired by those artefacts, during which you will collect specific visual scenes from each stop, creating a group of photographs that will reflect your own unique and personal vision.
Tudor ExeterWelcome to the Tudor Exeter trail which guides you through Exeter city centre and much of its Tudor history. The tour starts and finishes at RAMM, where many of the items referred to in this tour are on display in the Making History gallery. Have a look around now, or come back after you've finished the tour.
Veitch Lamppost TrailFind 17 painted lampposts around Exeter celebrating the local plant-hunter Veitch family. Each period cast-iron lamppost on the tour, has been painted by Kate Wilson, a botanical illustrator, depicting a different plant brought back to England by the Veitch family.- Introduction
- These terms and conditions govern your use of our website.
- By using our website, you accept these terms and conditions in full; accordingly, if you disagree with these terms and conditions or any part of these terms and conditions, you must not use our website.
- If you submit any material to our website or use any of our website services, we will ask you to expressly agree to these terms and conditions.
- You must be at least 13 years of age to use our website; and by using our website or agreeing to these terms and conditions, you warrant and represent to us that you are at least 13 years of age.
- Our website uses cookies; by using our website or agreeing to these terms and conditions, you consent to our use of cookies.
- Copyright notice
- Copyright (c) 2024 RAMM.
- Subject to the express provisions of these terms and conditions:
(a)we, together with our licensors, own and control all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in our website and the material on our website; and
(b)all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in our website and the material on our website are reserved.
- Licence to use website
- You may:
(a)view pages from our website in a web browser;
(b)download pages from our website for caching in a web browser;
(c)print pages from our website;
(d)stream audio and video files from our website; and
(e)use our website services by means of a web browser,
subject to the other provisions of these terms and conditions. - Except as expressly permitted by the other provisions of these terms and conditions, you must not download any material from our website or save any such material to your computer.
- You may only use our website for your own personal and business purposes and you must not use our website for any other purposes.
- Except as expressly permitted by these terms and conditions, you must not edit or otherwise modify any material on our website.
- Unless you own or control the relevant rights in the material, you must not:
(a)republish material from our website (including republication on another website);
(b)sell, rent or sub-license material from our website;
(c)show any material from our website in public;
(d)exploit material from our website for a commercial purpose; or
(e)redistribute material from our website. - We reserve the right to restrict access to areas of our website, or indeed our whole website, at our discretion; you must not circumvent or bypass, or attempt to circumvent or bypass, any access restriction measures on our website.
- You may:
- Acceptable use
- You must not:
(a)use our website in any way or take any action that causes, or may cause, damage to the website or impairment of the performance, availability or accessibility of the website;
(b)use our website in any way that is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity;
(c)use our website to copy, store, host, transmit, send, use, publish or distribute any material which consists of (or is linked to) any spyware, computer virus, Trojan horse, worm, keystroke logger, rootkit or other malicious computer software;
(d)conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to our website without our express written consent;
(e)access or otherwise interact with our website using any robot, spider or other automated means;
(f)violate the directives set out in the robots.txt file for our website; or
(g)use data collected from our website for any direct marketing activity (including without limitation email marketing, SMS marketing, telemarketing and direct mailing). - You must not use data collected from our website to contact individuals, companies or other persons or entities.
- You must ensure that all the information you supply to us through our website, or in relation to our website, is true, accurate, current, complete and non-misleading.
- You must not:
- Posting material
- To be eligible to post information on our website you must be at least 13 years of age and resident in the United Kingdom.
- User IDs and passwords
- If you register for an account with our website, we will provide you with a user ID and password.
- Your user ID must not be liable to mislead and must comply with the content rules set out in Section 9; you must not use your account or user ID for or in connection with the impersonation of any person.
- You must keep your password confidential.
- You must notify us in writing immediately if you become aware of any disclosure of your password.
- You are responsible for any activity on our website arising out of any failure to keep your password confidential, and may be held liable for any losses arising out of such a failure.
- Cancellation and suspension of account
- We may:
(a)suspend your account;
(b)cancel your account; and/or
(c)edit your account details,
at any time in our sole discretion without notice or explanation.
- We may:
- Your content: licence
- In these terms and conditions, "your content" means all works and materials (including without limitation text, graphics, images, audio material, video material, audio-visual material, scripts, software and files) that you submit to us or our website for storage or publication on, processing by, or transmission via, our website.
- You grant to us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, store, adapt, publish, translate and distribute your content in any existing or future media / reproduce, store and publish your content on and in relation to this website and any successor website / reproduce, store and, with your specific consent, publish your content on and in relation to this website.
- You hereby waive all your moral rights in your content to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law; and you warrant and represent that all other moral rights in your content have been waived to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.
- Without prejudice to our other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach any provision of these terms and conditions in any way, or if we reasonably suspect that you have breached these terms and conditions in any way, we may delete, unpublish or edit any or all of your content.
- Your content: rules
- You warrant and represent that your content will comply with these terms and conditions.
- Your content must not be illegal or unlawful, must not infringe any person's legal rights, and must not be capable of giving rise to legal action against any person (in each case in any jurisdiction and under any applicable law).
- Your content, and the use of your content by us in accordance with these terms and conditions, must not:
(a)be libellous or maliciously false;
(b)be obscene or indecent;
(c)infringe any copyright, moral right, database right, trade mark right, design right, right in passing off, or other intellectual property right;
(d)infringe any right of confidence, right of privacy or right under data protection legislation;
(e)constitute negligent advice or contain any negligent statement;
(f)constitute an incitement to commit a crime[, instructions for the commission of a crime or the promotion of criminal activity;
(g)be in contempt of any court, or in breach of any court order;
(h)be in breach of racial or religious hatred or discrimination legislation;
(i)be blasphemous;
(j)be in breach of official secrets legislation;
(k)be in breach of any contractual obligation owed to any person;
(l)depict violence, in an explicit, graphic or gratuitous manner;
(m) be pornographic, lewd, suggestive or sexually explicit;
(n)be untrue, false, inaccurate or misleading;
(o)consist of or contain any instructions, advice or other information which may be acted upon and could, if acted upon, cause illness, injury or death, or any other loss or damage;
(p)constitute spam;
(q)contain pictures of children under the age of 16 years whose parental consent hasn't been completly gained;
(r)be offensive, deceptive, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, harassing, anti-social, menacing, hateful, discriminatory or inflammatory; or
(s)cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any person. - Your content must be appropriate, civil and tasteful, and accord with generally accepted standards of etiquette and behaviour on the internet.
- You must not use our website to link to any website or web page consisting of or containing material that would, were it posted on our website, breach the provisions of these terms and conditions.
- You must not submit to our website any material that is or has ever been the subject of any threatened or actual legal proceedings or other similar complaint.
- Report abuse
- If you learn of any unlawful material or activity on our website, or any material or activity that breaches these terms and conditions, please let us know.
- You can let us know by email by clicking here: ramm.digitalmedia@gmail.com
- Limited warranties
- We do not warrant or represent:
(a)the completeness or accuracy of the information published on our website;
(b)that the material on the website is up to date; or
(c)that the website or any service on the website will remain available. - We reserve the right to discontinue or alter any or all of our website services, and to stop publishing our website, at any time in our sole discretion without notice or explanation; and save to the extent that these terms and conditions expressly provide otherwise, you will not be entitled to any compensation or other payment upon the discontinuance or alteration of any website services, or if we stop publishing the website.
- To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law we exclude all representations and warranties relating to the subject matter of these terms and conditions, our website and the use of our website.
- We do not warrant or represent:
- Limitations and exclusions of liability
- Nothing in these terms and conditions will:
(a)limit or exclude any liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence;
(b)limit or exclude any liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
(c)limit any liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law; or
(d)exclude any liabilities that may not be excluded under applicable law. - The limitations and exclusions of liability set out elsewhere in these terms and conditions:
(a)govern all liabilities arising under these terms and conditions or relating to the subject matter of these terms and conditions, including liabilities arising in contract, in tort (including negligence) and for breach of statutory duty. - To the extent that our website and the information and services on our website are provided free of charge, we will not be liable for any loss or damage of any nature.
- We will not be liable to you in respect of any losses arising out of any event or events beyond our reasonable control.
- We will not be liable to you in respect of any business losses, including (without limitation) loss of or damage to profits, income, revenue, use, production, anticipated savings, business, contracts, commercial opportunities or goodwill.
- We will not be liable to you in respect of any loss or corruption of any data, database or software.
- We will not be liable to you in respect of any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage.
- You accept that we have an interest in limiting the personal liability of our officers and employees and, having regard to that interest, you acknowledge that we are a limited liability entity; you agree that you will not bring any claim personally against our officers or employees in respect of any losses you suffer in connection with the website or these terms and conditions (this will not, of course, limit or exclude the liability of the limited liability entity itself for the acts and omissions of our officers and employees).
- Nothing in these terms and conditions will:
- Indemnity
- You hereby indemnify us, and undertake to keep us indemnified, against any and all losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including without limitation legal expenses and any amounts paid by us to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute) incurred or suffered by us and arising directly or indirectly out of:
(a)any breach by you of any provision of these terms and conditions; or
(b)your use of our website.
- You hereby indemnify us, and undertake to keep us indemnified, against any and all losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including without limitation legal expenses and any amounts paid by us to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute) incurred or suffered by us and arising directly or indirectly out of:
- Breaches of these terms and conditions
- Without prejudice to our other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach these terms and conditions in any way, or if we reasonably suspect that you have breached these terms and conditions in any way, we may:
(a)send you one or more formal warnings;
(b)temporarily suspend your access to our website;
(c)permanently prohibit you from accessing our website;
(d)block computers using your IP address from accessing our website;
(e)contact any or all your internet service providers and request that they block your access to our website;
(f)commence legal action against you, whether for breach of contract or otherwise; and/or
(g)suspend or delete your account on our website. - Where we suspend or prohibit or block your access to our website or a part of our website, you must not take any action to circumvent such suspension or prohibition or blocking (including without limitation creating and/or using a different account).
- Without prejudice to our other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach these terms and conditions in any way, or if we reasonably suspect that you have breached these terms and conditions in any way, we may:
- Third party websites
- Our website includes hyperlinks to other websites owned and operated by third parties; such hyperlinks are not recommendations.
- Competitions
- From time to time we may run competitions, free prize draws and/or other promotions on our website.
- Competitions will be subject to separate terms and conditions (which we will make available to you as appropriate).
- Variation
- We may revise these terms and conditions from time to time.
- The revised terms and conditions will apply to the use of our website from the date of their publication on the website, and you hereby waive any right you may otherwise have to be notified of, or to consent to, revisions of the terms and conditions. / We will give you written notice of any revision of these terms and conditions, and the revised terms and conditions will apply to the use of our website from the date that we give you such notice; if you do not agree to the revised terms and conditions, you must stop using our website.
- If you have given your express agreement to these terms and conditions, we will ask for your express agreement to any revision of these terms and conditions; and if you do not give your express agreement to the revised terms and conditions within such period as we may specify, we will disable or delete your account on the website, and you must stop using the website.
- Assignment
- You hereby agree that we may assign, transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with our rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions.
- You may not without our prior written consent assign, transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with any of your rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions.
- Severability
- If a provision of these terms and conditions is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect.
- If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision of these terms and conditions would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted, and the rest of the provision will continue in effect.
- Third party rights
- These terms and conditions are for our benefit and your benefit, and are not intended to benefit or be enforceable by any third party.
- The exercise of the parties' rights under these terms and conditions is not subject to the consent of any third party.
- Law and jurisdiction
- These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law.
- Any disputes relating to these terms and conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
- Our details
- This website is licensed and operated by Harry Hems - a Victorian Craftsman.
- You can contact us by using by email to ramm.digitalmedia@gmail.com