John White Abbott [1763-1851] - Lime kiln near Topsham on The Exe, a game of quoits in progress in the foreground,:-oil on canvas 98 x 147cm.* Provenance. Possibly Royal Academy Exhibit 1796, No.206, Landscape, Lime Kilns & Figures.* Note. There is an oil painting of a similar view in the collection of The Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery Exeter: 'The Old Lime Kiln near Topsham, signed J.W.A and dated 1808, 101 x 149cm.This lime kiln was owned by Topsham's Robert Davy who became one of the most productive merchant shipbuilders for the Navy during the Napoleonic wars. He developed six shipyards on the back of building lime 'stone boats' and 'lighters' (called 'lighters' because they made the stone boats lighter, as they came up the shallow Exe Estuary). The kilns burnt lime stone into powder using layers of 'culm' coal and, for warmth, vagrants used to sleep on them. The lime powder was used as a fertiliser and the stone for building.