A very restored 12thc. doorway forms the Canon Lane entrance to Residentiary House, built in 1871.

The building of stone houses along Canon Lane probably began in the mid-12thc., 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 doorway had formed part of the previous dwelling on the site, but was probably ex situ (Building News, 13 October 1876, 15).

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 discovery 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.