Vicars' Close, Wells, Somerset

Yesterday afternoon we said "goodbye" to Son #3 in Oxford and moved on to say "hello" to Son #2 in Bath, with the plan to take him and his girlfriend/partner out for the next 2 days to places they can't easily reach by public transport, as they don't have a car.
 
Today we had a trip to Wells to visit the gorgeous Cathedral and the associated Bishops' Palace. Needless to say, many photos were taken, several of which vied to be today's blip. However in the end I chose to blip this diptych of Vicars' Close next to the Cathedral.
 
This street has the honour (so it is claimed) of being the oldest continuously occupied purely residential street in Europe. It was built in the mid 14th Century to house the clergy associated with the Cathedral. It is weird in that it is 9-10 feet narrower at the top end than at the bottom end, which confuses the perspective; therefore the street appears longer when viewed from the bottom end (left-hand picture) than when viewed from the top end (right-hand picture)! These two pictures were taken a few minutes apart with the same camera and lens, one from each extreme end of the street, with the lens set at the same focal length (18mm) in each picture. I fib not.

(Note: You can see the Cathedral in the background of the right-hand picture.)
 
We were told another fun story about the street by a local chap walking his dog (I can't vouch for its veracity but it sounds plausible). Prior to the Reformation, the young clergymen were obliged to be celibate, but being young men they often had other ideas. They used to slip out in the evenings to visit one or more of five nearby public houses to seek various forms of enjoyment and entertainment. One of the bishops felt this behaviour was inappropriate and had a large gate installed to prevent them doing so without going through the Cathedral building itself where he could challenge them as to their intentions. What a spoil-sport!!

Note: The first "extra" was taken of me by my "Editor". She is regularly amused by the antics we blippers get up to in the interests of our photographic art. On this occasion I was trying to get a good shot of the roof of the Chapter House of the Cathedral - the shot I was taking is the 2nd "extra"...!  :-)