to the E. cloister, and a corresponding chamber runs the length of the
cloister opposite, now used as a choir practising room. Note in E.
cloister (1) external lavatories, (2) doorway in E. wall leading to a
quiet little burial-ground. This was the site of an additional lady
chapel (late Perp.) built by Bishop Stillington (1466-91). It was
destroyed at the instigation of Bishop Barlow by Sir John Gates, a
fanatical Puritan, the wrecker of the palace hard by. Some fragments of
the vaulting are piled up in the cloisters, and a few traces of
panelling remain on the exterior face of the doorway. The burial-ground
is a good position from which to view the external features of the
choir. The high architectural merit of Bishop Ralph's work will be
quickly discerned, and due note should be taken of the skilful way in
which a structural necessity has been turned to artistic advantage in
the erection of the flying buttresses. In the earlier work they exist,
but are hidden away as unsightly props beneath the roof of the aisles.
Their artistic possibilities having caught the eye of the builder, they
are here brought out into the light, and form a very pleasing feature
in the general design. The visitor should now return to the cathedral
in order to inspect the _Vicars' Close_, one of the unique features of
Wells. The flight of stairs which gives entrance to the chapter-house
leads also by a covered bridge--known as the _Chain Gate_--across the
street into the Close, and thus forms a private passage whereby the
singers may pass from the church to their quarters. The public have to
find their way by returning to the street. Pass under the chain-gate,
turn sharply to the left under another archway, and the Close is before
you. It is a quaint oblong court closed at one end by the entrance
gateway, and at the other by a chapel. On either side is a "quiet range
of houses" with picturesque gables and high chimneys. Note the
"canting" escutcheons of Swan, Sugar, and Talbot, Beckington's
executors, on some of the chimneys. The houses, which were intended as