Site of College of Vicars Choral at St Mary's Church

Description of this historic site

Excavations and documentary evidence show that this was the site of the College of Vicars Choral, an area of Medieval buildings, partly like a cathedral precinct in the town. The area lies between the Colegiate Church of St Mary and The Butts, Warwick.

Notes about this historic site

1 The college of the Vicars Choral and other buildings formed ‘an area like a cathedral precinct in the heart of the town’. Little is known about the college before its reconstruction between 1455 and 1464, though in 1336 there was a hall and residential accommodation. The college was extended and the boundary wall reconstructed between 1455 and 1464. The 15th century college was a two storied timber framed building constructed around a quadrangle with passages in the form of a two-storeyed cloister. Only two sides, much altered, remained in c1830. At the entrance to the college gardens was an octagonal building called ‘The Tower’. This building was demolished c1780. Warwick School was housed in the college buildings from 1699 to 1879. The building was then sold and demolished.
2 1975: Threatened with redevelopment. An excavation confirmed the quadrangular plan of the college with massive stone foundations. The floor layers of the building had been removed during destruction. The building had earlier features (PRN 5533, 5534, 5535, 6061).
5 Scheduling description.
6 Correspondence from 1975 about impending developments in The Butts.
7 Excavation photographs.
8 Full draft report from 1975.
9 Correspondence about routine maintenance work at the site.

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