#The Enclosure and Gates# of the cathedral and priory have an interesting history. The church was so close to the south wall of the city, which bounded its domains on that side, that we find the line of the fortifications moved time after time to allow of the growth of its dependencies. Three acres of land, as appears from a deed of quit-claim executed by Gundulf, had been acquired by the monks, about 1090, on the south side of the town, and fenced round by a wall, which was probably of slight construction, as no traces of it have been found. The first extension of the city walls, which at the Conquest still followed the old Roman lines, was made, also in Early Norman times, near the south gate, so as to enclose the episcopal precinct, within which the palace was then built. A little later Ernulf had to make more changes to obtain room for his new monastic buildings. For this purpose he too overstepped the old wall and used it apparently to form the northern side of his southern range which lay just beyond. This would explain the massiveness of the north wall of the refectory, which is 7 or 8 feet thick, while the other walls are only 2 1/2 or 3 feet. In this old wall is the fine transitional doorway here pictured, with round arches, but with the well-known dog-tooth moulding. Its inner trefoil arch is of a form very uncommon in this country, but more usual on the Continent. Having gone beyond the old wall, Ernulf had to raise a new one; this ran from the south-east corner of the city to the corresponding corner of the bishop's precinct. He probably then erected a predecessor to the present Prior's Gate, for we find a gate of this name mentioned on the site, before the one now to be seen was erected. [Illustration: THE PRIOR'S GATE IN 1825 (DRAWN BY H. P. CLIFFORD FROM A LITHOGRAPH BY W. DADSON).] Ernulf's wall continued to be the boundary of the city until 1344, when there was again an extension to the south. To this time our present Prior's Gate probably belongs. The new wall, of which the demolition must have been complete in 1725, when Minor Canon Row was built on its line, was about 5 1/2 feet thick, about 16 feet high, and crenellated. Its foundations have to a great extent been traced. Later--it is not certain at exactly what date--still more of the monastic property was enclosed by yet another wall, of which the course is to some extent known.