This paper presents an experimental study of the motions, drag force and vortex shedding patterns of an elastically mounted circular cylinder, which is held at various heights above a plane wall and is subject to vortex-induced vibration (VIV) in the transverse direction. The cylinder is neutrally buoyant with a mass ratio ⁎m=1.0 and has a low damping ratio ζ=0.0173. Effects of the gap ratio (S/D) ranged from 0.05 to 2.5 and the free-stream velocity (U) ranged from 0.15 to 0.65 m/s (corresponding to 3000≤Re≤13 000, and 1.53≤⁎U≤6.62) are examined. The flow around the cylinder has been measured using particle image velocimetry (PIV), in conjunction with direct measurements of the dynamic drag force on the cylinder using a piezoelectric load cell. Results of the vibrating cylinder under unbounded (or free-standing) condition, as well as those of a near-wall stationary cylinder at the same gap ratios, are also provided. For the free-standing cylinder, the transition from the initial branch to the upper branch is characterized by a switch of vortex pattern from the classical 2S mode to the newly-discovered 2PO mode by Morse and Williamson (2009). The nearby wall not only affects the amplitude and frequency of vibration, but also leads to non-linearities in the cylinder response as evidenced by the presence of super-harmonics in the drag force spectrum. In contrast to the case of a stationary cylinder that vortex shedding is suppressed below a critical gap ratio (S/D≈0.3), the elastically mounted cylinder always vibrates even at the smallest gap ratio S/D=0.05. Due to the proximity of the plane wall, the vortices shed from the vibrating cylinder that would otherwise be in a double-sided vortex street pattern (either 2S or 2PO mode) under free-standing condition are arranged into a single-sided pattern.