Monument Type(s):

• COLLEGE OF SECULAR PRIESTS (Late Saxon to Medieval - 800 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

The medieval college of St Chad was sited to the SW of the old church of St Chad's [PRN 08253]. The site of the college was redeveloped in the mid 18th century and later, and is mostly covered by large Georgian houses and later structures.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA2058 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA2059 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA5232 - 2003 WB on new garden wall excavations at St Winefride’s Convent by SCCAS
• ESA5917 - 1996-1997 field visit as part of SUAD to examine suriving elements of the The College of St Chad by Richard K Morriss and Nigel Baker.

Description

History: Founded before 1042 and dissolved in 1547. In 1553 two prebendaries, two vicars choral and nine priests were receiving pensions <1a>
The buildings were bought in 1641 by the Edwardes family, Sir Francis Edwardes dying here in 1661 <1b>
Form: Built around a courtyard shut out from the street of College Hill by a high wall with a stone gatehouse where the present gate stands. A long range of buildings on the south side were entered by a porch leading into a lobby in the great chamber. The present drawing room of Clive House (PRN 01516) may have formed part of the chamber. The only part of the ancient building is the wall adjoining the churchyard. "The Colledge" is shown on Speed's Map of Shrewsbury, 1610. <1c>
Clive House is situated at SJ49121237. In the wall of the drawing room is an alcove with an inset oak framework. The wood is carefully carved, light in colour, and highly polished. It has a purely ornamental appearance, and it was not possible to tell whether it is an in situ portion of an older building or not. According to Mr AJ Lavelle, the owner-occupier, it comprises the remains of the buttery of St Chad's College and is in situ. The portion of wall referred to by Owen is at SJ49151233. It is 3.2m long, 1.4m high, and is the only discernible portion of sandstone walling incorporated in a brick building. <1d>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Medium score as one of 15 Colleges < 2>

The medieval college of St Chad was sited to the south west of the old church of St Chad's, one of the town's Saxon foundations. The buildings were probably linked to the churchyard and the site is remembered in the street names of College Hill and College Court … The site of the college was redeveloped in the mid 18th century and later, and is mostly covered by large Georgian houses and later structures. The oldest structural fabric visible is probably a small section of medieval worked and coursed sandstone towards the south east end of the east wall of No 1 College Court, facing the churchyard. The remains of at least three timber buildings were identified within No 3 College Court and Clive House adjacent [PRNs 62108, 62139, 62109]. A fourth building may be fossilised in the eastern part of No 3 [PRN 10192] as well … A thorough survey of the site would assist in understanding it, but for the present there is no obvious threat to the fabric. Structural survivals of such secular colleges are rare <6>

Watching brief carried out at St Winefride’s Convent to monitor the excavations of a foundation trench for a new garden wall to separate the convent from the school. The trench was 10 metres long by 600 mm deep at its north eastern end dropping to 800 mm deep at the south western end. The excavations cut through 250mm of turf and topsoil and a further 350-550 mm of very dark grey humic loam, containing pebbles, mortar fragments and tile (all of probably 18th to early 20th century date). No significant archeologically features or deposits were disturbed by the excavations. <7>

Number given to the block of land immediately west of the Old St Chad's churchyard known to contain the site of at least some of the collegiate buildings, confined on the west side by the line of the former Priests' Lane. For the institutional history of the college see PRN 08253. A separate house and garden was originally attached to each of the prebends of St Chad's; in 1326 the houses were said to stand next to the church [<3>]. Communal buildings are represented by the substantial remains of a late medieval hall (PRN 62108), lying north-south, the hall at the south end demolished, probably in 1752; part of the cross-passage wall containing the service entries survives within Clive House. A single large bay of a separate north-south range survives to the north, also embedded in the later buildings. The VCH account suggests the possibility of some kind of claustral arrangement on the south side of the church, and there was a covered passage between the church and the college buildings. The College Hill frontage appears to have been walled and gated, one of the canons living over the gate in c.1425. A description of the site going back (by memory) before the alterations of 1752 includes a high wall with a gateway onto College Hill, and also a long range to the south incorporating a porch and lobby leading to a great chamber with a dais, and an oriel window with roundels of stained glass, though it is unclear whether this was part of the north-south range 62108, or another [<3>]. An 'ancient red stone wall' found on the College Hill frontage during construction of the former Shropshire Savings Bank at the junction of College Court and the churchyard in the 19th century may have, as Henry Pidgeon claimed, been part of the college's enclosure wall [<4>] <8>

Sources

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