Eleanor Coade

Eleanor Coade, who was born in Exeter in 1733, was the inventor of coade stone, a form of stoneware that is fired twice and can be moulded to produce intricate shapes. It can be used for memorials, wall plaques and architectural features. She was the daughter of George Coade, a wealthy wool merchant from Lyme Regis a resident of Exeter and Eleanor Enchmarch. Although Eleanor Coade never married, she took on the courtesy title of Mrs.

Her father went bankrupt and died in 1769. Coade already had her own drapery business when she set up with Daniel Pincot a business manufacturing artificial stone. Pincot left the business in 1771 when Mrs Coade set up the Coade Stone Manufactory in Lambeth, London. At that time there were others manufacturing artificial stone, but without success because their methods and formula proved deficient. She worked with both Robert Adam and John Nash, producing coade stone features for their latest architectural endeavours.

She purchased a house called Belmont in Lyme Regis that was generously decorated with coade stone. She died in 1821 at the age of 89 and the factory continued to trade with her cousin running it until 1837. Coade stone is very common on many buildings in Exeter - the doorways in Colleton Crescent are dressed with coade stone.