On the Catherine Street side of the church is a building, formerly an
almshouse, which has an attached chapel of much interest dedicated to
St. Catherine. The chapel is conjectured to have been built by the
Annuellor monks, whose college originally stood on the site of Mol's
Coffee House, where traces of it may still be seen in the cellars. The
narrow passage of St. Martin's Lane, known to the present-day citizens
as "Luxury Lane", on account of its shops, leads direct from the busy
High Street to the Cathedral Close.

THE CATHEDRAL

The present cathedral church of the diocese of Exeter may be said to be
the third building that has stood on the site. Nothing remains of the
Saxon church elevated to the dignity of a cathedral when the bishopric
was removed from Crediton, and of the Norman church erected by
Warelwast, a nephew of the Conqueror, only the two massive towers are
standing, the remainder of the building belonging almost entirely to
the late Decorated style, of which it is one of the most beautiful
examples we possess.

The city of Exeter does not appear to have been divided into parishes
until the year 1222, in pursuance then no doubt of Archbishop Langton's
Constitution of the same year. The Cathedral itself was first
constituted a parish by being placed under the charge of a single
dignitary, the dean, by Bishop Briwere, in 1225.

Four years after he ascended the throne in 1042, Edward the Confessor
gave the united bishopric of Crediton and Cornwall to his chaplain,
Leofric, who, observing that Crediton was an open town, difficult to
fortify against the Danish raiders, obtained from Pope Leo IX permission
to remove the episcopal see to Exeter, when the Benedictine minster of
St. Mary and St. Peter became the cathedral church of the diocese.

Although no part of this church remains, an ancient seal of the
Cathedral is of special interest as showing some of the architectural
features of the Saxon church. It depicts the west front with two towers,
the northern square and the southern circular, the latter surmounted by
a cross, and pierced by three round openings in the walls. There are two
porches, one in the centre the other in the north tower, and the walls
show indications of characteristic Saxon masonry. On the central roof
is a large fleche or turret of two stages carrying a weathercock on a
very tall shaft.

Of the succeeding church the only contemporary pictorial representations
we have are thos