Linked to an 8th Century ecclesiastical complex, the gardens exist as a series of three. The gardens now (2014) form publicly-accessible spaces within the Cathedral Precincts, one functioning as a tea rooms’ garden and the cloister garth containing memorial plantings to commemorate local people. The two 14th Century gardens survive in their original layout which was formed as part of an expansion of the Priory around its Church. The 12th Century Cloister Garth's garden was created in the late 19th/early 20th Centuries by the well-known rose gardener and writer, Dean Hole.