Vicars' Close, in Wells

Wells

Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England is claimed to be the oldest purely residential street with its original buildings all surviving intact in Europe.
John Julius Norwich

John Julius Norwich

John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich CVO — known as John Julius Norwich — is an English historian, travel writer and television personality.-Early life:...

 calls it "that rarest of survivals, a planned street of the mid-14th century".
It comprises numerous Grade 1 listed buildings,
comprising 27 residences (originally 44), built for Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury

Ralph of Shrewsbury

Ralph of Shrewsbury was a Bishop of Bath and Wells. He was elected 2 June 1329 and consecrated 3 September 1329...

, a chapel and library at the north end, and a hall at the south end, over an arched gate. It is connected at its southern end to the cathedral

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....

 by way of a walkway over Chain Gate.

The Close is about 460 ft (140 m) long, and paved with setts

Sett (paving)

A sett, usually the plural setts and in some places called a Belgian block, often incorrectly called "cobblestone", is a broadly rectangular quarried stone used originally for paving roads, today a decorative stone paving used in landscape architecture...

.
Its width is tapered by 10 ft (3 m) to make it look longer when viewed from the main entrance nearest the cathedral. When viewed from the other end it looks shorter.

By the nineteenth century the buildings were reported to be in a poor state of repair, and part of the hall was being used as a malthouse

Malthouse

A malt house, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain foods. The traditional malt house was largely phased out during the...

.

Origins

The Close owes its origins to a grant of land and buildings by Walter de Hulle, a canon of the cathedral, for the purpose of accommodating thirteen chantry priests.
Bishop Jocelin

Jocelin of Wells

Jocelin of Wells, also known as Jocelinus Thoteman or Jocelin Troteman, was a medieval Bishop of Bath and Wells. He was the brother of Hugh de Wells, who became Bishop of Lincoln. Jocelin became a canon of Wells Cathedral before 1200, and was elected bishop in 1206...

 styled these priests the Vicars Choral, their duty being to chant divine service eight times a day.
Previously they had lived throughout the town, and Bishop Ralph resolved to incorporate them and provide subsistence for the future. The Vicars Choral were assigned annuities from his lands and tenements in Congresbury

Congresbury

Congresbury is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated in the Unitary authority of North Somerset, and in 2001 had a population of 3,400. It lies on the A370, roughly equidistant between Junction 21 of the M5 and Bristol Airport, approximately south of Bristol city centre,...

 and Wookey

Wookey

Wookey is a village and civil parish west of Wells, on the River Axe in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. Wookey is often confused with its sister village Wookey Hole which is perhaps best known today for the Wookey Hole Caves...

, an annual fee from the vicarage of Chew, and endowed them with lands obtained from the Feoffee

Feoffee

A Feoffee is a trustee who holds a fief , that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use of such trustees developed towards the end of the era of feudalism in the middle ages and became...

s of Walter de Hulle.
The residences he built became known as the College, or Close of the Vicars.

The Vicars' Hall and gateway

The first part of the Close to be constructed were a first floor barrel-roofed common hall and store room below, kitchen and bakehouse which were completed in 1348.
Chain Gate was abutted to it in 1459 by Thomas Beckington

Thomas Beckington

Thomas Beckington was the Bishop of Bath and Wells and King's Secretary in medieval England.-Life:...

. This included a gallery over the gate into the cathedral for the vicars' convenience. The entrance arch into the close is divided into a pedestrian gate and a waggon gate, and has a lierne vault

Lierne (vault)

A Lierne in Gothic rib vaulting is an architectural term for a tertiary rib spanning between two other ribs, instead of from a springer, or to the central boss...

 ceiling.

Vicars Chapel and Library

The chapel was built c1424-1430 at the north end of the close against the northern boundary wall of the Liberty. The lower floor was a chapel, and a spiral stair lead up to the library. It is now used by Wells Cathedral School

Wells Cathedral School

Wells Cathedral School is a co-educational independent school located in Wells, Somerset, England. The school is one of the five established musical schools for school-age children in the United Kingdom, along with Chetham's School of Music, the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Purcell School and St....

.

The residences

The residences originally comprised a ground floor hall of approximately 20 ft x 13 ft (6 m x 4 m), and an upper floor of the same size. Both had a fireplace in the front wall. The date of some of the buildings is unclear but it is known that some had been built by 1363 and the rest were completed by 1412. From the 15th century onwards many alterations have been made, including extensions at the rear and knocking through walls to create larger dwellings.
Following the Reformation

English Reformation

The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....

 when clerical marriage

Clerical marriage

Clerical marriage is the practice of allowing clergy to marry. Churches such as the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox exclude this practice for their priests, while accepting already married men for ordination to priesthood...

 was permitted, larger households would have been required.
In a charter of c.1582 Queen Elizabeth restricted the number of vicars to twenty.

In the fifteenth century, Bishop Thomas Beckington

Thomas Beckington

Thomas Beckington was the Bishop of Bath and Wells and King's Secretary in medieval England.-Life:...

 left much of his estate to the Vicars Choral, enabling repairs to be carried out. The chimney shafts were renewed.
Each stack incorporates two heraldic shields and the upper sections of the stacks are octagonal.
The shields are those of the Bishop, a beacon above tun, and the arms of his three executors; sugar loaves for Hugh Sugar, three swans for Richard Swan, and the talbot

Talbot (dog)

The talbot was a white hunting dog which is now extinct because of its lack of purpose and need for constant care, but it has been credited with being an ancestor of the modern beagle and bloodhound...

for John Pope.

No. 1 Vicars Close was once a larger property, but has since been divided and part is now No. 1 St. Andrew Street.

Shrewsbury House is architecturally different to all the other buildings. It was re-built in the 19th century after a fire that burnt down the original structure.

The gardens were not part of the original scheme. The garden walls were added in the 15th century.

In 2009, two large trees that grew in the front gardens of two residences were cut down because they obscured the view, and the roots were at risk of damaging the ancient buildings.