Exeter Cathedral’s Working Cat Makes use of the World’s Oldest Cat Flap

2023-08-29 06:53:38

Exeter Cathedral’s Working Cat Uses the World’s Oldest Cat Flap

The cat flap of the North Tower at Exeter Cathedral.
(Photograph: Richard Gillin via Flicker, CC BY-SA 2.0)

In medieval days, cathedrals would have been overrun with mice and rats with out a feline prowling the premises. To maintain vermin in test, the magnificent Exeter Cathedral—identified formally because the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter—has employed cats for hundreds of years. Actually, they even added a cat flap to one of many construction’s doorways, gouging a cat-sized opening into the wooden. This endearing signal of a valued cat occupant has fascinated the web. There may be even historic proof that reveals these historic mousers had been well-paid for his or her looking providers.

Exeter Cathedral was constructed throughout a number of centuries of the medieval interval. It boasts two Norman towers courting from 1114 and 1133, respectively. A Thirteenth-century Chapter Home has a decadent wood vaulted ceiling. A lot of the stone knave was erected within the 14th century, together with the magnificent carved bishop’s throne. Contemplating the dimensions of this spiritual heart, many palms would have been wanted to maintain it working easily. Among the many helpers had been custors—cathedral employees who oversaw issues similar to ringing bells and ceremonial vestments. One other particular obligation appears to have been paying the cathedral cat.

These intelligent felines had been supplied with an historic cat flap, a gap carved into the North Tower door. This led contained in the cathedral, beneath the magnificent medieval astronomical clock, the place the cat would be capable to scamper about in pursuit of vermin. In return for its service, the cat was paid handsomely. From 1305 to 1467 its wages seem in cathedral information. 13 pence per quarter was given “to the custors and the cat” or “for” the cat, based on some notes. The cat’s wages, coming to 1 pence per week, had been probably utilized by the custor to complement its eating regimen of rodents with different meals. Two cats might even have been on the payroll when the expenditure doubled to 26 pence between 1363 and 1366.

Exeter’s lengthy historical past of working cats went past the medieval interval. In World Conflict II, an unpaid mouser named Tom roamed the church. Whereas Tom probably dodged the bombs that broken components of the church, he did lose an eye fixed after crossing paths with an owl. He was so valued for his work that Tom’s likeness was carved in stone within the restored Chapel of St. James. Immediately, the cathedral cat named Audrey—a long-haired orange magnificence—nonetheless makes use of the world’s oldest cat flap, following within the footsteps of her many nice predecessors.

The 14th-century cat flap within the door of Exeter Cathedral has let working cats out and in for hundreds of years.

Medieval mousers had been even paid for his or her service of protecting the church mouse and rat-free.

The oldest current cat door.

Exeter Cathedral, UK, has a 1305 AD door that’s talked about as an entrance for cats. pic.twitter.com/8UUu434LbL

— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) December 17, 2022

Immediately, Audrey the cat makes use of the identical door her predecessors did, though she is barely paid with treats and love.

Exeter Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is a medieval cathedral in England. (Photograph: WyrdLight.com by way of Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)