January 2020 Picture of the Month

My first 'Picture of the Month for 2020 is a late summer afternoon view of Vicar's Close, the beautiful mediaeval street which stand to the north of Wells Cathedral in Somerset. It is said to be the oldest purely residential street with original buildings surviving intact in Europe. Planned in the mid-fourteenth century, construction work started in 1348 and the most 'recent' house was completed around 1420. Entry to the street is through the archway from St Andrew's Street, under Vicar's Hall at the cathedral end of the Close. Although there have been modifications to some of the houses over the centuries, and rebuilding and restoration in Victorian times, the mediaeval integrity of the street has not been diluted.