Features / history
This is Bristol’s oldest door
Bristol’s oldest door is also the second oldest door in the whole of England.
It has two years on it – 1667 and 1867 – so it had long been assumed that it dates from 1667 and was renovated in 1867.
But it is likely to be much older than even that, dating from as early as the mid-12th century.
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This is a very old door indeed – photo: Martin Booth
The oak door is at the top of the night stairs at Bristol Cathedral, which used to lead to the abbey’s dormitory.
The steps of the night stairs have been worn due to centuries of use and are now covered by protective wooden steps.
The stairs leading up to the door are accessed from the south transept, with on the other side of the door being the sacristy – a room where priests prepare for services – and a room which was previously the diocese’s ecclesiastical court.
Bristol Cathedral’s night stairs have seen multiple centuries of use – photo: Nev Boundy
The true date of the door was discovered in 2000 when an expert carrying out an audit of the cathedral’s historic woodwork noticed the door’s similarity to a more ancient example from another church, which was dated from to 1120 to 1140.
It is now thought that the door here in Bristol Cathedral has been here since a monastery was founded on this site in the mid 12th century.
That makes it the second oldest door in the country, with only a door at Westminster Abbey in London older, which was constructed sometime in the 1050s.
What is now Bristol Cathedral began as St Augustine’s monastery founded in 1140.
There were monks here until 1539 – walking daily through the door – with the abbey becoming a cathedral church in 1542.
The door opens onto the sacristy where clergy prepare for a service in the cathedral – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo: Martin Booth
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