EPW024108 ENGLAND (1928). St Peter's Cathedral, Exeter, 1928

Regrettably very severely damaged by fire 28th/29th October 2016.

It's actually the 14th century refectory of the College of the Vicars Choral, the only part of the extensive college still standing in 1942. St George's church, demolished in the 1830s, was on the other side of South Street.

The College of the Vicars Choral.





The ancient College of the Vicars Choral and related buildings was between South Street and Cathedral Yard. The College of the Vicars Choral were the subordinate clergy who sang at the daily services of the cathedral. The college was constructed between the years 1383 and 1388 by Bishop Brantingham.



The entrance was through an archway situated in Cathedral Yard to the south-west of the West Front of the Cathedral. The archway led into a narrow street known as Kalendarhay, named after the Kalendar Brethren who prepared the ecclesiastical calendar of obits – these were masses, normally held once a month for the souls of rich people who had died. A sum of money would be left in their will for such a purpose, and hence fund a job creation scheme for a whole cabal of priests. Henry IV in 1405 granted a charter to the Corporation of the Custos and College of the Vicars Choral.



On each side of Kalendarhay were small individual lodges for each member of the college, allowing close supervision by the cathedral authorities. The lodges were demolished in stages between 1850 and 1893. At the end of Kalendarhay was the Hall of the Vicar's Choral where the priests who resided in various houses and cottages around Cathedral Close, including those in Kalendarhay, would gather to meet and to eat. The Hall had a kitchen that was also used as an inn and which in the early nineteenth century was known as the College Kitchen, and later, the Bear Inn. The public water conduit in South Street was situated at the front of the Hall of the Vicars Choral



The Hall was one of Exeter's architectural gems, which attracted numerous visitors before the war. The walls were lined with sixteenth century linen fold panelling, and the furniture was of ornately carved oak dating from James I (VI of Scotland). A fireplace bearing the coat of arms of five bishops, dating from the early eighteenth century, was a gift from the Cathedral Treasurer.

Yes wolfpaw is correct, I have amended below.