| Summary : Vicar's Close is two parallel terraces of stone houses flanking a long narrow closw founded in the mid 14th century for the Vicars Choral of the Cathedral. The houses are two-storeyed and originally consisted of a single room upstairs and one down. There was a latrine at the back under the stairs, and a small yard. Possibly the most striking feature of the Close is the high chimneys on which are plaques bearing the arms of the see of Bath and Wells. The houses were originally identical but have undergone many alterations. Most windows are now 18th century sashes with glazing bars and many of the doors are panelled, in wood doorcases with flat hoods. The lay-out of Vicar's Close with gatehouse, hall, kitchen and store at one end; chapel with library over, at the other end; and the vicars' quarters in between, built around a quadrangle was the prototype of Oxford and Cambridge colleges built after this time. The quadrangle is no longer. In about 1400 the vicars demanded gardens, and the front gardens were created and walled, leaving the central part of the quadrangle as a roadway. |