Close

Close is a name for the enclosure of a cathedral, surrounded by a wall, and bordered by the houses of the dignitaries, canons, and minor members of the foundation. ῥ In the 14th century, Wells, Lichfield, Lincoln, and Exeter were enclosed with walls- and in tile rid-lowing century St. David's (Hereford) and St. Paul's, owing to the acts of violence perpetrated within the precinct by robbers, mid the danger accruing to the canons on their way to church. In the 12th century the canons in English cathedrals had their separate houses, and the dignitaries possessed oratories attached to them. The close included also a chapter-house, library, school, vicars' college and, in some instances, a cloister, as at Hereford, Chichester, Wells, Salisbury. St. Paul's, St. David's, Exeter, and Lincoln. Large gate-houses at various points gave access to the precinct. At Bury St. Edmund's the precinct, in the 10th century, was marked by four crosses, at the four cardinal points of the abbey jurisdiction. Some of the ancient houses remain at Chichester, Exeter, Wells, and Bayeux. Markets, fairs, and every kind of traffic were forbidden in the close, which usually extended to a distance of one hundred and eighty feet on each side pf the church. The well-kept close is peculiar to England.