The Vicars’ Court or Vicars’ Choral in Lincoln, is situated in the Minster Yard to the south of

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

. It was founded as a college of priests by

Bishop Sutton Bishop Sutton () is a village on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, within the affluent Chew Valley in Somerset. It lies east of Chew Valley Lake and north east of the Mendip Hills, approximately ten miles south of Bristol on the A368, W ...

in the late 13th century. These priests would take services in the Cathedral in the absence of the

Prebendaries A prebendary is a member of the Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the choir s ...

. The Vicars‘ Choral of Lincoln is one of eight such colleges in England, and it is also one of the earliest and best preserved. The great majority of the building survives (although not the hall and the chapel). By 1305 the hall, the kitchen and certain chambers were finished. In 1328 lay brothers were admitted and further houses were built for them During the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, the buildings were badly damaged and afterwards were converted into four houses.

Architecture

The buildings consists of four irregular two-storeyed ranges set around a spacious sloping turfed courtyard. The entrance range facing the cathedral with an entrance gateway is from 14th century and has the arms of Bishop Gravesend above the entrance arch. The northern block, on the left, has a near-central 14th century doorway, with a

hood mould In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin , lip), drip mould or dripstone is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a '' pediment''. This moulding can be ...

and mask stops, flanked to left by a four-centred arched window with another hood mould, and a small pointed arched casement window. The southern range has a central flat headed doorway with a keystone and a shield above it. To right are a flat headed window with a three pointed arched lights, and a moulded doorway with hood moulds which are 19th century. Beyond is a single

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d buttress. Above are a large gabled

dormer window A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

s to left with two smaller dormer windows to right. Above is a central canted wooden

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

on a shaped bracket. At the back are four brick and stone external buttressed chimneystacks, and a

garderobe Garderobe is a historic term for a room in a medieval castle. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives as its first meaning a store-room for valuables, but also acknowledges "by extension, a private room, a bed-chamber; also a privy". The word der ...

tower. The interior has several intact

s, and at the north end there is a ground floor medieval ceiling with transverse

chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...

ed beams on double

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

''See also'': Residences of other Vicars’ Choral

Vicars' Close, Wells Vicars' Close is a dead end street in Wells, Somerset. It is reportedly Europe's oldest Residential area, residential street with the original buildings still intact. John Julius Norwich called it "that rarest of survivals, a planned street of ...

*Vicars' Court, Lincoln * College of Minor Canons, St Paul's London *Exete

*Herefor

*

Bedern Bedern is a street in the city centre of York, in England, which originated as a college for the vicars choral of York Minster. History The Bedern College was founded in 1252, to house 36 vicars choral associated with York Minster. The name "B ...

, Yor

''See also'': Other Residences in Lincoln Cathedral Close and Minster Yard

* The Old Deanery, Lincoln *

Lincoln Medieval Bishop's Palace The Old Bishop's Palace is a historic visitor attraction in the city of Lincoln, England, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. When it was first built, in the late 12th century, it was at the centre of the vast Diocese of Lincoln, which stretched from the ...

References

Bibliography

*Antram N (revised), Pevsner N & Harris J, (1989), ''The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire'', Yale University Press. *Jones S. (1987) ''The Survey of Ancient Houses in Lincoln'' Vol. 2. 40-62 *Padley J.S., (1851) ''Selections from the Ancient Monastic Ecclesiastical and Domestic edifices of Lincolnshire, Lincoln'

*Stocker, D.A., (1999). ''The College of the Vicars Choral of York Minster at Bedern: architectural fragments'', The Archaeology of York 10/4, CBA: York. {{ISBN, 1902771028.

External links

*British Listed Building

Buildings and structures in Lincoln, England