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EXETER CATHEDRAL
Interpretation of the Past,
Information for the Present
Investment for the future
The Cloister iProject!
for the 21st Century and beyond
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THE EXETER CATHEDRAL CLOISTER PROJECT 2010
Executive Summary
This Brief is compiled in the form of a statement of perceived need in accordance with the
guidance set out by the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England (Guidance Note 4).
Further reference and source material is listed at the end of the Brief.
The Dean and Chapter have, over a period of time, identified a number of pre-existing
shortfalls and obstacles to the smooth flow of visitor access and the multiple purposes
which the Cathedral is called upon to address, which become particularly evident during
the tourist season. These factors include:
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Inadequate level-access storage
Lack of a coherent and accessible visitor progression through the Cathedral
to the Cloisters
Insufficient dedicated space to facilitate and implement effective learning
programmes for children and adults
The effective discouragement to visitors in gaining access to the Cathedral
Shop during events and services in both nave and quire
Inadequacy of the existing toilet facilities particularly during high capacity
events in the Cathedral or its associated buildings and rooms
The limitations presented by the existing Refectory building in achieving
both necessary servery area and accommodating a viable number of covers
to satisfy peak demand
A covered space adjoining the Cathedral proper to provide for
interpretation in bridging the secular and the ecclesiastical
Provision of well-signposted and easily accessible meeting rooms to support
both meetings and activity groups forming an essential part of cathedral
community life
The sum of these factors points to the need for a combination of new construction within
the Cloister – west, north and east walks – and a remodelling of elements of the Church
House building on the south range. The passage of time has accentuated the need for
these developments, which will be key to the Cathedral fully demonstrating and fulfilling
its relevance in the portal of the third millennium.
The factors and resulting needs outlined above were identified at a series of dedicated
discussions of the Chapter, on occasion also with the Senior Management Team, between
September 2009 and February 2010. An earlier study ‘The Exeter Cathedral Cloister and
Library Project’ (developed between 1996 – 1998) identified a very similar range of
challenges and led directly to the commissioning of Cloister-specific archaeological
evaluations and a highly-regarded Cathedral Conservation Plan.
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The Cathedral’s Mission
In accordance with the Cathedrals Measure 1999, the Constitution of Exeter Cathedral
states that “The Cathedral Church of St Peter is the seat of the Bishop of Exeter and a
centre of worship and mission. It is also a centre of teaching.”
Within this overarching purpose, the Chapter has defined the Cathedral’s mission today in
terms of:
standing at the crossroads of sacred and secular;
acting as a connecting bridge between the spirit and the senses;
being a place where God’s work in Christ of making neighbours out of
strangers is realized.
Introduction
Exeter Cathedral is an inspiring place. The Cathedral is visited by some 250,000
worshippers, pilgrims, concert-goers, and tourists each year. It is the natural venue for
major services for the Diocese and is the high-profile location for many concerts and
special events each year. It is the nation’s finest example of decorated gothic architecture;
the view from the west door along the nave and quire to the great east window is aweinspiring.
But we are not able to meet the standards of contemporary Britain, in many ways. The
beauty of this ancient building is marred by modern problems. It was not designed for
such large numbers or for such intensive use.
The interior does not have enough storage space to cope with our current or desired levels
of activity and can become cluttered at busy times.
We do not have enough space to show our treasures and our story and do not do justice to
our visitors because we cannot tell them enough about the Cathedral’s history and
meaning.
We live in a culture in which ‘access’ to places and information is a by-word. We are
under an obligation to make the Cathedral in all its senses, its history, its treasures and
what it represents ‘accessible’ to the widest possible audience.
Many of our visitors are school groups from home or abroad; others come to us for the
quality of our services and music and others come to see us as an historic tourist
attraction. We welcome them all.
Our challenge is to assist those visitors to encounter not just the great history of the place,
not just the aesthetics, architecture and music, but the living God in whose name all these
things are what they are.
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THE CLOISTER
History
In 1655, the junta governing Exeter for the Commonwealth permitted the destruction of
the Cloister. This left the Cathedral with an open area within its own curtilage. In 1657
an open cloth hall was built in the southern range. Houses were built between the
buttresses in the northern range and were occupied by veterans of the Royalist army after
the Restoration (1660). The open cloth hall was then enclosed and still houses, amongst
other things, a noteworthy stairway leading to rooms occupied by choral scholars and
others.
In Kendall’s early nineteenth century restoration, the old buildings between the buttresses
were demolished.
In the 1880s Pearson began a rebuilding of the cloisters. This project got as far as erecting
the building that is now used for the Cathedral Café and Archives. The project was not
completed due to lack of funds.
Description
The northern side of the Cloisters is formed by the south side of the nave. There is a lower
roof over the Nave aisle and this slopes inwards towards the Cathedral. It is supported by
buttresses. There are open spaces between these and the most easterly space has been
used for the interment of ashes.
The eastern side is formed of the south tower and the Chapter house frontage with a
linking foyer. Behind this is another large room currently used as the Boys’ Vestry.
The southern side is bounded by:
a) The Pearson building. This contains the Cathedral Café and servery on the ground floor
and the Cathedral Archive, with further elements of the Library on the first and second
floors. There is a small basement which contains a gas boiler that heats this building only.
b) Church House. (This includes the Commonwealth era building.)
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In the basement are the Cathedral toilets and two store rooms, with an emergency
access to Deanery Place.
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On the ground floor facing the cloisters there is the Café preparation and washing up
room, access to the toilets, a disabled WC (which falls below current accessibility
standards), a store room, the entrance to the upper floors, and the entrance leading to
meeting rooms (Collingwood and Cloister Garth) and another store room (Matthews
Room) with other rooms off. The Matthews Room has stairs to an office above which
is used by the Café Manager, and then a tortuous alternative link to the first floor of No
1 The Cloisters.
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On the ground floor facing Deanery Place there is a corridor leading to a small outside
space (which then has access to Deanery Place), two meeting rooms (Collingwood and
Cloister Garth), the main Café kitchen, a very small office, a WC which houses the
boiler for Flat 2 above and, a sloping corridor which gives access to the food
preparation and washing up room.
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On the first floor, the accommodation is currently divided into three units: Flat 1 is
two-bedroomed (to be re-modelled to have three bedrooms), Flat 2 has one bedroom
and No 3 is an office with a partial kitchenette area and WC containing the Seamstress’
washing machine and tumble dryer. The open plan staircase from the entrance foyer
to the first floor has previously been assessed as noteworthy.
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The whole of the second floor is taken up by a spacious four-bedroom flat. There is a
tortuous access to the roof and a very confusing secondary means of escape through to
the Matthews Room and outside.
The south-western side is bounded by Nos 1 & 2 The Cloisters. No 1 houses the Cathedral
Office and floors 2 – 4 of No 2 currently provide the Second Virger’s living
accommodation. The ground floor contains five rooms occupied by the Visitors
Department and the Seamstress. Access between the ground and first floors of 1 The
Cloisters is by a difficult staircase with low headroom.
The north-western side is free of buildings, but supports railings and matching gates
which secure the Cloister when required.
CURRENT USES
Education
The Education provision is run as part of the Visitor Services Department whose office is
located in the basement of the Cathedral office. The Education Rooms in Cloister Garth
are the only meeting rooms for a wide variety of Cathedral groups as well as visiting
schools. Education activities have to share accommodation in Church House in rooms
used for many other purposes including meetings, catering functions, crèche and tapisers.
The rooms are not big enough to accommodate larger school groups, and are in need of
refurbishment. The Chapter House is the only large ‘room’ available, but is not suitable as
a dedicated learning space as the other purposes for which it is required preclude the
introduction of storage facilities.
There is need for reception, cloakroom and secure storage areas for school visits, as well as
rooms that are equipped with up-to-date IT, audio and visual display equipment if the
Cathedral is to appeal as an attractive venue for managers of hard-pressed school budgets.
Craft activities form an interactive part of our services for school groups and more suitable
provision is needed for this.
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Visitor Facilities
The Chapter-owned trading company, Exeter Cathedral Enterprises Ltd, operates the
Shop and Café. Each of these fulfils part of the Mission of Welcome. However, both are
hampered in the quality and quantity of service that they can provide.
The Cathedral Shop is a service to visitors and thereby provides a vital financial
contribution to the Dean and Chapter. Because it is within the Cathedral, the shop
frequently has to close during normal working hours when services are taking place.
There is anecdotal evidence to confirm that many visitors fail to find it, and the admission
charge scheme discourages others from asking to visit the shop alone, for which no charge
would be levied.
The Cathedral Shop is tucked away in the South Quire Aisle. It has no ‘shop front’ to
advertise its wares and the only access is through the Cathedral. The number of people
visiting the Shop has reduced since an entrance charge for the Cathedral was introduced
and also due to an increase in the number of special services and events. The Chapter has
identified an urgent need to relocate the shop outside the Cathedral to encourage
unrestricted access.
The Cathedral Cafe is also vital for its financial contribution to Chapter finances and for its
service to the Chapter and its visitors. It is located in the Victorian Cloister built by J L
Pearson, but has inadequate and illogical space for its customers, many of whom leave for
lack of a seat. Its ‘front door’ is hidden from the view of potential passing customers.
Access to the Cathedral Café is beside the Chapter House, but is effectively invisible in a
corner of the Cloister Gardens. It has no ‘front window’ with which to attract opportunity
customers.
The Cathedral visitor toilets are beneath the south range of the Cloister Garth. They are in
a poor state of repair. They do not provide full accessibility for the disabled. They are not
adequately patrolled, are a known venue for unsociable behaviour and are frequently
vandalised.
Interpretation
The Dean and Chapter are the custodians of some amazing treasures, and we need to
display them more boldly, more effectively. As it is envisaged that a Treasury will be
provided for elsewhere within the Cathedral, it does not form part of the Cloister Project.
However, there is a pressing need for both general and specific interpretation space to
form part of a pre-entry display and preparation for the main visit.
Opportunities
The Dean and Chapter consider that there is a need and an opportunity for building and
remodelling in the Cloister and for the re-allocation of space to provide enhanced facilities,
appropriate to modern needs.
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Current plans provide for the relocation of the Archive and elements of the Library to a
purpose-built Repository in the West Wing of the Bishop’s Palace. The implementation of
this is scheduled within the next 24 months, thus vacating the upper floors of the Pearson
Cloister for alternative use.
The Chapter is currently undertaking studies to actively reduce carbon emissions for the
future and has set itself the aspiration to become carbon-neutral within 5 years. Any new
build and remodelling must contribute positively to this aim.
A New Building
The Chapter and the Directors of Exeter Cathedral Enterprises Ltd, have evaluated a
number of options for relocating the Shop and have agreed that a new building across the
western side of the Cloisters, connected to the Dean’s Door, would offer the most
advantageous location. Here, it would be clearly visible from the Green and could operate
independently of events within the Cathedral. With a larger internal area, a more
prominent and accessible site and fewer restrictions on opening hours it would offer better
service to the public and increase its contribution to the Cathedral’s revenue funding. It
would also be desirable for the associated office and store room to be located close by.
By making use of the Dean’s Door, a building in this location will provide a convenient
access point for visitors and would bring the admissions desk out of the Cathedral. This
supports recommendations made by Jura Consulting in their 2006 review of Visitor
Services.
The evidence of many visitor attractions suggests that there are strong commercial benefits
from ensuring that visitors depart though the Cathedral Shop. If the Cathedral Café was
also along such a route, the commercial benefits could be increased further.
The next available space lies between the buttresses of the northern range. In this location
there is room to provide a covered walk for visitors in which displays could show the
history of the site and of the building and properties. This space would provide an
exciting opportunity to interpret and explain the site, the building and its purpose. If the
design and archaeological evaluation permits, then the space below this area and the shop
could be used either for stores or for toilets.
The Brewer Door provides a well-located access from Cathedral to Cloister which cannot be
fully utilised at present due to its stepped nature and the need for calm and sunny
weather. If protected from the weather, it could provide the main egress from the
Cathedral on the visitor route. There may be space for additional café seating adjacent to
the door in addition to the provision of interpretation information.
Whilst the Café servery and seating area could be located to gain maximum advantage of
visitor flow and the beauty of the location, the food preparation and washing up areas
need not be in the same location although they would need to be close at hand to facilitate
the movement of food between the preparation area and the servery. Thought should be
given to the location of these services, so as to optimise the space for the café seating area,
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and to consider use for events and function catering as well as daily café operations. The
need for office, preparation and storage space for the Shop and Café should not be
underestimated. If existing café working areas are vacated, it is important to identify how
the resulting spaces could be productively used.
If the existing ‘public’ toilet facilities can be relocated, it will be important to identify a
future use for the ground floor of Church House, which would benefit from an
architectural inspection to inform opportunities. It should be noted that whilst they are
accessed as a basement from Cloister Garth, they have near-level access into Deanery
Place.
It is anticipated that any new building will be of such high quality design and
attractiveness that will encourage visitors to take refreshment during their visit or even
without visiting the Cathedral. The café should also be capable of use for private
functions, outside of normal café opening hours. This would enhance the financial
contribution that this facility could make. Again, the trading pattern would not be
adversely affected by other activities in the area.
Education Provision
The space in the Pearson Cloister that will be vacated by the Cathedral Archives would
present an exciting opportunity to develop this very attractive area as a focus for
education and learning in the Cathedral context, and has emerged as the Chapter’s
preferred option. The existing layout would provide room for a toilet, an office and
storage space.
It is anticipated that, at a later stage, and in the case of the café being relocated within the
new building, the space that will be vacated by the café seating would then become the
Visitors Centre. The secondary kitchen is on the same level as the current café seating area
and could reasonably be incorporated into that area as office or storage space. The
existing toilets would remain functional.
Access and movement through this section of the building is a recognised problem and
will need to be addressed creatively to ensure that all modern requirements are met whilst
respecting the architectural features of the building. The land to the south and east of this
building is in the Chapter’s ownership, and may be capable of providing a new lift access
to the upper floors of the building.
The Design Brief
Notwithstanding the comments made above, the Chapter have identified a clear
requirement for the following facilities with the Cloister:
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A retail space of approximately 1000 sq ft;
An entrance desk/ control of access (Dean’s Door);
A café providing an area at least as large as the existing tabled area;
Dedicated education and learning space, catering in particular for school visits;
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Toilet facilities appropriate to a concert and event venue but not readily accessible
to the generality of the passing public;
The opportunity of ‘innovative-use’ in the area occupied by the existing toilet
facilities with primary access to Deanery Place;
Covered interpretation space between Dean’s Door and Brewer Door;
A new build that would attract and welcome;
A remodelling of the South Range that would enhance the appearance and respect
the history;
Incorporation of measures to actively support the carbon neutrality aim as a design
imperative in both new build and remodelling;
A presumption that wherever space may be released from one purpose, that area
will be allocated to a new function in order to optimise space usage throughout.
Archaeology
Exeter Archaeology has carried out both archaeological assessment and excavation
evaluation of the cloister area under commissions from the Dean and Chapter. Any
subsequent works will require an archaeological brief and method statement for
recording, analysing and interpreting.
Statutory Approvals
The provisions of the Ecclesiastical Exemption Order apply within the Cloisters, which are
within the ‘Red Line’. However, the inadequacy of the definition of ‘ecclesiastical use’
means that CFCE, local authority and Listed Building Consent will all be needed. The
Chapter has developed a good working relationship with the Conservation Department at
Exeter City Council which it will seek further to develop through the process.
Further References
Principle sources are listed below:
Chapter Documents. Sep 1998 The Exeter Cathedral Cloister and Library Project
Parker, R.W. 1997 Archaeo-historical assessment of Exeter Cathedral Cloisters, Exeter
Archaeology Report No. 97.42
Parker, R.W. 1998 Exeter Cathedral Cloisters Evaluation Part 1: reconstruction drawings and
documentary research, Exeter Archaeology Report No. 98.34
Stead, P.M. and Parker, R.W. 1998 Exeter Cathedral Cloisters Evaluation Part 2: archaeological
evaluation excavation, Exeter Archaeology Report No. 98.66
Cox, Dr J. Dec 2000 Exeter Cathedral Conservation Plan Keystone Historic Buildings
Consultants
Myers, R. Oct 2009 The Cathedral Green, Design & Access Statement Robert Myers
Associates
A more extensive archaeo-historical bibliography may be found in the Exeter Archaeology
reports.
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