It is missing one crucial element, but a hole in a door at Exeter Cathedral is believed to be the world’s oldest cat flap.

The door dates back more than 400 years and leads to a cavity behind a large clock. The clock was lubricated with animal fat, which attracted rats and mice.

To keep them under control, a hole was cut in the door – without a flap – so the cathedral cat could get in. Cathedral historian Diane Walker said: ‘We have a record that says there was a payment of eight pence for the carpenters to cut a hole in this door for Bishop Cotton [bishop from 1598 to 1621].

She added that records from the 14th and 15th centuries showed payments of 13 pence a quarter – and sometimes as high as 26 pence – for the upkeep of a cat.

A cat’s owner would be paid a penny a week in the 15th century to keep down the rats and mice in the north tower and a cat flap was cut into the door below the astronomical clock to allow the cat to carry out its duties.

A cat tries out the world’s oldest cat flap at Exeter Cathedral. Cats’ owners would earn a penny a week in the 15th Century to rid the cathedral of unwanted rodents

The door dates back more than 400 years and leads to a cavity behind a large clock

The clock was lubricated with animal fat, which unfortunately attracted rats and mice

Exeter Cathedral, which dates from 1112 but was not officially opened until 1400, is notable for the ceiling of its Gothic nave – the longest unbroken example in the world

Records of payments were entered in the Cathedral archives from 1305 to 1467, the penny a week being enough to buy food to supplement a heavy diet of rodents.

One theory is that the nursery rhyme Hickory, Dickory, Dock began life at Exeter Cathedral. 

The tale goes that mice would climb the mechanism of a clock hanging on the wall only to meet their doom at the claws of the bishop’s cat who would settle at the bottom waiting for them to come down. The battle between cat and mouse is said to have given rise to nursery rhyme.

Exeter Cathedral marks ten years since it completed its 16th renovation project – costing £300,000 – restoring its ancient masonry to its glory.

The cathedral, which dates from 1112 but was not officially opened until 1400, is notable for the ceiling of its Gothic nave – the longest unbroken example in the world.

The building was enhanced and renovated many times over the centuries on the instructions of successive bishops. In 1942 the cathedral sustained a direct hit from a German bomb, destroying a substantial amount of the building.

But all the precious artefacts held inside the cathedral had been removed to protect them, and the exterior was soon restored.