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

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.

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.