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eter was founded as Isca Dumnoniorum by the Romans in the first century CE. It became an important administrative centre for the south west of England, but travel further west (to the remainder of Devon and the whole of Cornwall) required crossing the River Exe. The river at Exeter was naturally broad and shallow, making it the lowest reliable crossing point before its tidal estuary. There are records of a crossing from Roman times, most likely in the form of a timber bridge. No trace of any Roman bridge survives; it is likely that, once replaced, the bridge deck was simply left to degrade and any masonry supports would have been washed away by floodwaters.
Bridge building was sparse in England through the Early Middle Ages (the period following the decline of the Roman Empire until after the Norman conquest of England in the late 11th century). Work on the Pont d'Avignon in the south of France began in the 1170s. London Bridge, over the River Thames on the opposite side of England, was begun around the same time, and was completed in 1209. Several similar bridges were constructed across England in this era, of which Exeter's, London's, and the Dee Bridge in Chester were among the largest examples. Only one other bridge of a similar age survives in Devon, at Clyst St Mary, just east of Exeter; another exists at Yeolmbridge, historically in Devon but now in Cornwall.
Until the 12th century, the Exe was crossed by a ford, which was notoriously treacherous and was supplemented by a ferry for foot passengers. According to John Hooker, chamberlain of Exeter, who wrote a history of the city in the 16th century (around 400 years after the bridge was built), a rudimentary timber bridge existed at the site but this was also treacherous, particularly in the winter when the river was in flood. Hooker describes how pedestrians were washed off the bridge on several occas