The Bishop’s Cat Flap, Exeter Cathedral, Devon

It was a game of cat and mouse in Exeter Cathedral. From 1305 to 1467 two cats were paid a penny a week to eradicate mice and rats from the north tower. A hole carved into the wooden door below the cathedral’s 13thcentury astronomical clock allowed the dynamic duo access to hunt down rogue rodents. The pennies in question were used to reward the felines with an alternative menu.

Perhaps the attraction of vermin to the cathedral’s ancient clock was not surprising as it was once maintained using animal fat. The famous timepiece could well have provided the inspiration for the nursery rhyme “Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock”.