No. 4 Canon Lane, Chichester, Sussex

I Location

Site Location: Chichester
National Grid Reference: SU 858 047
County: traditional: Sussex
now: West Sussex
Diocese: medieval: Chichester
now: Chichester
Type of building/monument: Archdeaconry

II General Description

A very restored 12thc. doorway forms the Canon Lane entrance to a residentiary of 1871.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) Reset doorway

: Doorway, L capital

: Doorway, arch

: Doorway, arch, L side

Round-headed doorway of two orders, facing N.

Dimensions

h. of opening	2.145 m
w. of opening	1.18 m

L capital:
h. of block	0.185 m
h. of capital	0.10 m
w. (N face)	0.14 m
w. (W face)	0.145 m

First order

Plain arch carried by impost blocks. The doorposts have angle rolls which terminate in shields. The stonework of this order is completely renewed except for the upper course of the L doorpost.

Second order

This comprises engaged nook shafts with scalloped capitals carrying a fat nook roll. The L capital, carved from a larger block, is a triple scallop capital with Vs on the cones; the scallop capital on the R is modern. The face of an archivolt on the plane of the wall is carved with two rows of lateral chevron, with a ball in the triangular space of each unit. The label is decorated with a single row of chevron and a band of folded ribbon.

VII History

The building of stone houses along Canon Lane probably began in the mid-12th century, but Hoveden tells us that the fire of 1187, which severely damaged the Cathedral, burnt the houses of the Bishop (at the W end of the Lane) and canons. No. 4 Canon Lane was built on land cut out from the NW corner of the Deanery. In the early 19th century there were two houses on the site. The present house belongs to the Archdeacon and was built in 1871. The original position of the reset doorway is not known.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The doorway is probably reset, but its original location is not known. VCH, iii, 106, suggested that its original position may have been the W front of the Cathedral, but the discover of bases in the 1970s has shown that the W doorway had four major orders. The voussoir motif of chevron enclosing balls recurs at North Marden in a similar form.

IX Bibliography

I. C. Hannah, 'The Vicar's Close and adjacent Buildings, Chichester', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 56, 1914, 92-109 (not checked)
I. Nairn and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Sussex. Harmondsworth 1965, 168.
T. Tatton-Brown, 'The Buildings of the Bishop's Palace and the Close' in Chichester Cathedral: An Historical Survey, ed. M. Hobbs, 1994, 232.
Victoria County History: Sussex 3 (City of Chichester), 1935.