College Of Vicars Choral

The College of Vicars Choral, dating from around 1473, is constructed of coursed sandstone rubble with a Welsh slate roof and features seven stepped buttress stacks with ashlar chimneys, some restored in the 20th century. The building has a 12-window front, largely of the 18th century, with 4/4 and 6/6 sash windows in moulded surrounds. Eight gable dormers have 20th-century casements and triangular overlights. A projecting entrance bay to the right features an 18th-century Gothic-glazed 9/6 sash window and a parapet with a gable over a pointed arch, the latter adorned with quatrefoils in the spandrels. The interior of this bay is fan vaulted with an enriched ceiling, leading to a 4-centred arch and plank door.

The quadrangle fronts incorporate cloisters with unglazed 2-light mullions under 4-centred arches, along with various lights above. The cloister walls are timber-framed with leaded lights and casements, and various plank and panel doors in moulded architraves.

Inside the numbered properties, a 19th-century dogleg staircase has turned newels and stick balusters on one flight, and stick balusters on the other. The first floor contains 19th-century four-panel doors with pointed heads and overlights, while exposed timber framing, panelled shutters and stone fireplaces with pyramid stop chamfers and 4-centred arches characterize many rooms. Ground floor rooms display further exposed 15th-century timber framing, a fireplace with a massive stone lintel, 19th-century doors, a polychrome tiled floor, and a 19th-century dresser and wall cupboard. A stone-lined cellar contains a cupboard with wine bins.

The College Hall has a coved ceiling with cornices, moulded panels and architraves, a dado rail, and a stone fireplace with a 19th-century wood surround. The Canon’s Hall reveals a cusped chevron windbrace, an open trefoiled collared-truss roof with moulded plates, and a stone fireplace with a chamfered 4-centred arch.

In property number 6, another dogleg staircase has turned balusters and newels on the first floor, while a 20th-century flight of stick balusters leads to the second floor. The second floor includes a stop-chamfered purlins and a trefoil-cusped open-truss roof. Late 19th-century six-panel doors and a stone fireplace, once again with a pyramid stop-chamfered 4-centred arch, are also present.