Oh my goodness! Is the cat flap in Exeter Cathedral the oldest in the world?The 400-year-old door of Exeter Cathedral is thought to feature the world’s oldest cat flap.
The oldest cat flap in the world is thought to be a hole in a door in Exeter Cathedral, albeit it does lack one important component.
The door, which is over 400 years old, opens to a cavity hidden behind a huge clock.
Rats and mice were drawn to the clock because it was greased with animal fat.
Without a flap, a hole was created in the door to allow the cathedral cat to enter in order to regulate them.
According to Diane Walker, a cathedral historian, there was an eight pence payment made to the carpenters to make a hole in this door for Bishop Cotton, who served as bishop from 1598 until 1621.
According to records from the 14th and 15th centuries, cat maintenance costs were from 13 pence a quarter to as much as 26 pence at times.
A cat flap was built into the entrance below the astronomical clock to let the cat to perform its job, and in the 15th century, a cat’s owner would be paid a penny each week to keep down the rats and mice in the north tower.
From 1305 through 1467, payments were recorded in the Cathedral’s archives.
At that time, a penny per week was sufficient to augment the rats’ abundant diet with food.
According to one theory, Exeter Cathedral is where the children’s song Hickory, Dickory, Dock first appeared.
According to a legend, mice would climb a wall-mounted clock’s mechanism only to meet their demise at the claws of the bishop’s cat, who would wait at the bottom for them to come down.
The conflict between the cat and mouse is credited with inspiring a nursery rhyme.
The 16th refurbishment effort at Exeter Cathedral, which cost £300,000 and restored the ancient brickwork to its former splendour, was finished ten years ago.
The Gothic nave ceiling at the cathedral, which dates from 1112 but was not formally inaugurated until 1400, is noteworthy because it is the longest unbroken example in the world.
According to the directives of succeeding bishops, the structure was improved and repaired numerous times over the ages.
A German bomb struck the cathedral directly in 1942, completely destroying a large portion of the structure.
However, in order to protect them, all priceless items kept inside the cathedral were removed, and the exterior was quickly repaired.
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