‘If we don’t look after this treasure, we’re going to lose it’: the fight to restore one of the UK’s most historic streets

Home to choir singers for 650 years, Grade-1 listed Vicar’s Close by Wells Cathedral is in need of funding to keep its medieval houses liveable – and its unique history alive

Choir singers have lived in two handsome terraces of silvery-pink-stoned medieval houses beside Wells Cathedral for more than 650 years. But the gated close – which is thought to be the most complete and continuously occupied medieval street in Europe – is now in desperate need of restoration.

“It’s a privilege to live here – it’s a unique place,” says Matthew Minter, 52, who has lived in the close for almost seven years and sings in the cathedral. “But [the house] is cold. The windows leak £10 notes every time you put the heating on… and the roof leaks actual water.”

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