Cathedral close

It normally had gates which were locked at night or when there were disturbances in the wider city, hence the name – "close" in the sense of "something enclosed".

[1] It usually included buildings housing diocesan offices, schools, free-standing chapels associated with the cathedral, and the palace of the bishop and other clergy houses associated with the cathedral.

Until recent local-government reforms many cathedral closes still functioned as separate administrative units: St. David's cathedral close, in Pembrokeshire, counted as a separate civil parish distinct from that of the adjacent village-city for some 50 years after the 1914 disestablishment of the Church in Wales.

In some cities, such as Trier, property close to the cathedral is occupied by clergy.

This article about the architecture of churches or other Christian places of worship is a stub.