The Development of Exeter’s Cathedral Close

Speaker John Allan.

In recent years John Allan and Bob Higham have been collaborating in a piece of research reconsidering the development of Cathedral Close; their works builds on previous historical studies, which extend back over a century, and on archaeological work of the past 50 years. They conclude that elements of the Late Saxon and early Norman church lands are recognisable, but other parts represent developments of the 12th and 13th centuries. In understanding this early evidence much use is made of later documentation and historic maps.