Faith Features

Nicholas Orme has been gathering clues for a quarter of a century.

Writing in periodicals, he has told the tales hidden in Exeter Cathedral's nooks and crannies.

He has refreshed his collection of anecdotes to say something new about the things seen around the building.

It's often the tiniest objects that reveal the most.

In former times, it was not unusual for a church to bring in a cat to deal with rats and pigeons.

But an odd thing about Exeter Cathedral's cat came to Nicholas's attention as he browsed the old accounts.

"The interesting thing is it was a salaried cat," revealed Nicholas. "It was an official member of the cathedral staff!

"Beginning in 1305, I found a regular payment to 'custoribus et cato' - that's 'verger and cat' in Latin.

"The cat was paid 13 pence per quarter, or a penny a week.

"If you keep a cat to catch rats and pigeons, you've got to feed it as well, otherwise it will go elsewhere."

The tomb of the Countess of Devon features a pair of sobbing swans.

"This leads us to a wonderful legend about the countess's family, the Bohuns," explained Nicholas.

"They claimed to be descended from swans.

"The countess had it put on her tomb as a reminder of her ancestry."

Let bygones be bygones?

Other stonework reveals denominational tensions during the Middle Ages.

On the altar in St Saviour's Chapel, the images depicting the Nativity and the Annunciation remain damaged.

"They left the smashed figures there to turn things on their head.

"For the Catholics, these were images to be venerated.

"The Protestants damaged them and left them there to prove a point.

"For them, they were superstitious images and they wanted it seen that they had destroyed them."

The Cathedral Cat - Stories from Exeter Cathedral, is available from the cathedral shop.