Old Abbey Court, Exeter – From Medieval Monks to Modern Carpet Cleaning

There are some jobs where the location has almost as much of a story to tell as the carpets themselves.

This week MASTERCLEAN® was carpet cleaning at Old Abbey Court in Exeter, an area whose history stretches back nearly 900 years.

From Medieval Monks to Modern Exeter

Old Abbey Court takes its name from a genuinely fascinating part of Exeter's past.

The area is associated with St James Priory, a Cluniac monastery founded before 1146 by Baldwin de Redvers. The priory was home to a small community of monks and remained part of Exeter's religious landscape through the medieval period.

Centuries later, a house known as Old Abbey occupied the site. The history beneath the area became particularly tangible during redevelopment in the 1960s, when human remains were discovered on land associated with the former priory.

Today, of course, the surroundings are rather different — and instead of medieval monks, this particular visit involved the MASTERCLEAN® van and a full day's carpet cleaning!

Whole-House Carpet Cleaning at Old Abbey Court

Our customer had asked us to clean the carpets throughout the property, including the living areas, bedrooms, hallways and stairs.

As with every job, the cleaning wasn't simply a case of running an extraction wand over the carpet.

The carpets were assessed and prepared before professional cleaning, with particular attention given to heavily used areas and individual spots and stains. The stairs were treated carefully by hand before extraction cleaning, while the larger carpeted areas were thoroughly cleaned to remove accumulated soil and leave an even finish.

A Particularly Nasty Coffee Stain

There was also a challenge waiting for us on one of the light-coloured carpets — a substantial coffee stain.

Coffee can be troublesome because what initially appears to be a straightforward surface mark can leave significant discolouration behind in the carpet fibres.

After appropriate stain treatment and cleaning, we were delighted with the result. As the before-and-after photographs show, the visible coffee staining was successfully removed and the affected area blended back into the surrounding carpet.

It is always worth remembering that stain removal results depend on the fibre, the substance involved, previous treatments and how long the contamination has been present, so no professional cleaner should promise that every stain can be removed. On this occasion, however, the result was excellent.

We spend our working days travelling throughout Exeter and across Devon, and places such as Old Abbey Court are a reminder of just how much history can sit quietly beneath seemingly ordinary residential streets.

Nearly nine centuries after a small community of medieval monks occupied this part of Exeter, MASTERCLEAN® was there doing something considerably more modern — professionally cleaning a house full of carpets.

Not quite the sort of work Baldwin de Redvers would have envisaged when St James Priory was founded!

MASTERCLEAN® provides professional Carpet Cleaning in Exeter and throughout Devon, backed by more than 60 years of experience.

Need Your Carpets Professionally Cleaned?

MASTERCLEAN® provides professional carpet cleaning throughout Exeter and across Devon. Contact us today to request a quotation or arrange an appointment.

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