THE historic Vicars’ Close, in Wells, Somerset — home to most of the cathedral lay staff — has been awarded £4.4 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund so that a backlog of urgent repairs can be addressed.
The Close and five places of worship are to receive a share of £7.4 million from the Fund, it was announced on Tuesday. Wells Cathedral has already raised £1 million through donations towards the restoration project. There is another £1.6 million still to be raised.
Vicars’ Close is described as the “most complete and continuously occupied medieval street” in Europe. It contains 30 Grade I listed residencies, built in the mid-14th century to house the Vicars Choral, originally a large body of singers employed to sing the daily services in place of the canons. The Close continues to house Vicars Choral and Choral Scholars, and family members, as well as cathedral vergers, staff, and, more recently, a handful of private tenants.
In 2022, the culture at the cathedral, including the Close, was widely criticised in a report by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), which independently audited safeguarding practice in Church of England cathedrals (News, 18 March 2022). The then Dean of Wells, the Very Revd John Davies, retired the following January with immediate effect, aged 65 (News, 13 January 2023). A special visitation had been carried out the previous September.
The Chapter had commissioned the SCIE audit in the expressed belief that “Wells Cathedral will benefit from external scrutiny by measuring ourselves against current best practice in this vital area.” The auditors concluded that the culture for the 75 cathedral staff and 400 volunteers, at the time, was one of “unhappiness and fear”, and that there was a power imbalance.
Vicars’ Close, where there was reported to be “little privacy”, was seen by the auditors to raise several issues in terms of culture, and to “sound uncomfortably close to being a closed community”.
The auditors reported that a lack of “strategic and operational oversight of safeguarding of the cathedral’s own staff, and challenge of hypercritical or punitive practice” — described as “unacceptable” and “beginning to cascade downwards from other managers, causing an extension of this culture” — was compounded by having staff living in close quarters.
“The issue of Vicars’ Close was discussed several times during the audit, and it was hard to envisage a viable solution. At present the terms on which people live there creates dependency which then risks subtly infantilising people until they act out their feelings in a way that is not adult.”
The auditors reflected that it might be possible to create, over time, a more mixed economy, where staff houses were interspersed with privately rented houses whose occupants had no professional connection with the cathedral.
The new Dean, the Very Revd Toby Wright, who was installed in June, said in a statement to the Church Times on Tuesday: “On the publication of the SCIE report, the cathedral immediately took on board the recommendations, and put an action plan in place to address them, including those raised about Vicars’ Close, and Bishop Michael signed off the completed actions in May this year.
“A new culture is being built with positivity and hope, and this has already had significant impact. The Chapter recognise the vital role of ensuring Vicars’ Close is not a closed environment, and are working in close collaboration with the much-valued residents, both those who work within the Cathedral and those who rent the properties, to not only improve their living conditions and conserve these exceptional buildings, but to fuel the imagination of the public and open up this historic gem to all.”
The conservation plans have been drawn up by the cathedral in partnership with Somerset Council, Historic England, the Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), the Georgian Group, and the Victorian Society.
Each of the residential properties in the Close is to be restored. The work includes re-roofing, new insulation, drainage improvements, wall conservation, and exterior joinery repairs.
No. 27 is to be made into a permanent visitor centre, while 12, 22, and Vicars’ Hall are to be opened to the public all year round, for the first time. The gardens of 12 and 22 are to be redesigned “with medieval inspiration and using the latest research to investigate the horticulture of the high and late Middle Ages”, a cathedral press release says.
The funds will also be used support a three-year programme of events, activities, and community outreach, including temporary exhibitions, an oral-history project, artist residencies, and a musical outreach programme.
Other awards from this tranche of funding are:
- £579,000 for St Peter’s, Forncett, in south Norfolk, to repair its Saxon round tower, which dates from 1000;
- £587,000 for the Heart of the Headland project at St Hilda’s, Hartlepool, in Co. Durham, to remove the building from Historic England’s At Risk register;
- £965,000 for St Mary’s, Totnes, in Devon, to stabilise the Grade I listed building and provide training;
- £618,000 for St Osyth Priory and Parish Trust, near Clacton-on-Sea, in Essex, also to remove the building from the At Risk register;
- and more than £145,000 for the PCC of St Andrew’s, Althorne, in Essex, to stabilise and repair the medieval Grade II listed church.