- And the origins of the counting rhyme “Hickory Dickory Dock”.
Exeter Cathedral evolved over the 11th to 14th Centuries with the formation of its Gothic Nave and carved bishop’s throne.
When you visit, it’s worth searching for the “cat hole” – or flapless cat flap – cut into the base of the old wooden door on the North Tower. This door leads into the void that houses Exeter Cathedral’s famous medieval clock.
This year the story has gained much interest with suggestions that this may be one of the World’s oldest cat flaps – documented by the fact that the Cathedral has evidence a carpenter was paid to make the said hole, by Bishop Cotton.
According to Diane Walker, a historian at the Cathedral, Bishop Cotton was installed in Exeter between 1598 and 1621. And records show he soon paid a carpenter eight pence to cut the hole in the door for the cat. It might lack the flap we traditionally expect for our cats, but certainly was purposely created for the cat of the day to mouse in the Cathedral.
Rats and Mice had the potential to run wild in the Cathedral 400 years ago, fuelled by their attraction to the animal fat that was used to lubricate the workings of the medieval astronomical Cathedral Clock. They would run up and down the clock which sat in the space behind the door, chewing the ropes and casing. The Bishop’s logic was to provide the hole as a route for his action mousers to work.
And a working life was very much a requirement for the Cathedral moggy. Records from the 1305 to 1467 show Exeter Cathedral accounts recorded a general allowance of 13 pence a quarter for the upkeep of the cat.
Cats continued to work in the cathedral; famously an unpaid mouser called Tom roamed the Cathedral during WW2. His likeness can be found carved into the stone of St James Chapel.
More recently Audrey, a longhaired ginger cat, has trodden the paths and used the Cathedral cat flap. And now the mantle has passed to a handsome black and white cat called Stapledon.
And what about the flap?
A popular story suggests that Sir Isaac Newton didn’t just discover gravity, but was also the figure inventing the flap for the cat door. Frustrated by his cats traversing his door when he was doing light experiments at the University of Cambridge in 1661, he was said to have made holes in his room doors and lightly covered them with fabric.
I couldn’t guarantee that is the true flap origin but it’s a nice story.
As to Hickory Dickory Dock – this popular childrens’ nursery rhyme may have some origins here.
The words of the counting rhyme where mice run up and down the clock are said to relate precisely to Exeter Cathedral’s clock, the animal fat to grease it and the said mice in our story!