Butts Ferry

This popular ferry that runs in the summer costs the princely sum of 20 pence (2004). It is human powered with the ferryman pulling the ferry along a cable stretched across the river. When a large boat wants to pass, the cable is lowered into the water. It saves a walk from the quay to Shooting Marsh Stile and the Canal Basin over the Cricklepit Suspension Bridge, designed by Dave Hubbard and which was opened on 29th June, 1988. On the Exeter side of the river is a range of small businesses installed in the arches under the sandstone cliff.

The ferry was not devised for tourists but was first run in 1641 or even before, tended by a succession of local families. In 1835 during the reign of William IV, the city applied for an Act of Parliament to build a bridge from Shilhay to Haven Banks and close the ferry, a plan that was not carried through.

Owned by the Council

The ferry was let by the council, normally for seven or twenty-one years. Records of early ferrymen are scarce, but it is known that Richard Sercombe, landlord of the Fountain Inn was the ferryman in 1803. Part of the Fountain Inn had served as the ferryman's cottage in earlier times. In 1822, one John Mitchell was listed as a coal merchant and ferry man at the quay.

In August 1842 a to let by auction notice appeared in the Flying Post "Also for a Term of Seven Years, the EXETER FERRY, with the DWELLING HOUSE and APPURTENANCES, and the TOLLS of the said ferry." The winning bid at the September auction was to "Mr John Passmore of this city, mariner at £148 per annum."

By June 1844 the lease was up for sale again, perhaps indicating that Mr Passmore had paid too much for the concession with William Davy listed as the ferryman in 1850. The next ferry man was Mr Charles Edwards who ran it until April 1869 when he suddenly died, aged 72. Working the ferry was taken over by his wife Mrs S Edwards, who continued until her own death in June 1877, aged 83. The next December, their son, also Charles Edwards, who was landlord of the Port Royal public house, wrote to the Council offering to continue renting the ferry at the same rate as his late mother, at £100 per year. The Committee resolved to advertise the lease and in January 1878, it was offered for seven years from Lady-Day next. It is not known who won the contract, but in March 1885 the ferry was again offered to lease, probably at the end of the seven year term of the previous ferryman.

In January 1900 an article appeared in the Flying Post discussing a large cable 'punt' ferry that was being used in the Boer War. To explain to readers what it was like, it was likened to the cable ferry at the Quay, except a dozen times enlarged. In the 1950s, the ferry was operated by a family called Pollard, who lived in the cottage by the ferry slip wayon the Haven Banks side of the river. Mr Pollard Senior kept a few racing pigeons in the ferry hut.

The ferry is named

In January 1973, the ferry was threatened with closure when the City Council, who had a statutory duty to run the ferry, tried to relinquish it. Mr George Butt, an insurance broker, fought to keep the service with a petition signed by 66 residents and 2,500 visitors - a seven hour public inquiry ruled that the ferry be retained.

On each side of the river at this point, is a lamp standard that was taken from the six that were located on the 1905 Exe bridge. They were cast by Macfarlanes of Glasgow. The lamp standards were removed from the old Exe Bridge in 1973, and these two painted in the city's official colours and installed on the quayside in 1983.

Sources: Flying Post and Peter Hinchliffe