1912? - Cathedral School - Singing School

The Singing School used by the choristers for daily rehearsals, situated on the first floor at the northern end of the school buildings. The exterior of this room, and giving a good idea of its location, can be seen in the photographs of the Cadet Force - it is the room above the row of arches to the right of the cadets; it was accessed by external stone stairs built against the rear wall of the school playground. It can also be seen in several of the photographs of the 1940s Gibb Archive.

This room ceased in use during the Second World War as a consequence of being destroyed by the bombing. Post-War photographs of rehearsals indicate that at various times, a hall in the Old Deanery and the Chapter House were used for chorister rehearsals. By the mid-1970s, the Song School (no longer called Singing School) was in the small room above the chapel on the north side of the quire. In about 2014 it moved to the West Wing of the Bishop's Palace as part of a large project of refurbishment of the West Wing of the Palace and the connecting area of the cathedral (Oldham's Passage); the boys' Song School was located in the former chapel of the Bishop's Palace, which had been previously used as the clergy vestry (which now moved into the West Wing, and became called the Sacristy), and the girls gained their own Song School in a room next to the clergy vestry (the girls' rehearsal area had previously been in the Cathedral School's Kalendarhay Hall).

Photograph probably dates to 1912, when other postcards were made of the newly developed school buildings.

Source: Exeter Cathedral Archive