The interior of Broadgate

The clergy occupied a separate enclosed area within the city - The Close, surrounding the cathedral. Of its seven gates, the Broadgate, leading to High Street, was the grandest. It was removed in 1819. Broadgate was the principal entrance into the Cathedral Close in the late middle ages. Following the murder of the cathedral Precentor in 1283, the clergy protected each of the seven entrances into the Close with a gate. The one at Broadgate, leading into High Street, was the most impressive, with an elaborately carved archway and rooms above. It was eventually demolished in 1819 because it was a barrier to traffic. The watercolour is by the local artist John Gendall.

Acknowledgments: RAM Museum