Chetham's School of Music
Manchester Cathedral began life as a church on a sandstone bluff at the confluence of the rivers Irk and Irwell.  In 1421 it was transformed into a collegiate foundation.  A series of buildings were constructed on the site of the manor house of the de la Warre family.  The college was dissolved in 1547 and in the years that followed the buildings were put to a variety of uses.  In 1653 the executors of the will of a wealthy merchant Humphry Chetham purchased them and founded a library and a bluecoat school. 





1.  Entrance Porch
 2.  Hall
 3.  Cloister Court
4.  West Cloister
 4A.  North Cloister
 4B.  South Cloister
5.  Reading Room (Audit Room)
 5A.  Janitor's Room
 5B.  Muniment Room
6 - 7, Fellow's Cells
 8. Jacobean Stairs
 9.  Kitchen
9A.  First Minor Hall
 10.  Brewhouse & Bathroom
 11.  Hospitium
12.  Old Gateway
 13.  Passage to River Irk
 14.  Old River Steps
15.  Pump Court


Here is a view of the college in the mid 1700s from a map by Casson.  There have been a number of additions to the complex of buildings but the ones shown above are still there.



The view below was taken in 2009 and the core of the complex of buildings is still made up of those of the medieval college and library.



The school describes itself as follows: "With 290 or so students, aged 8 - 18, Chetham's is the largest specialist Music School in the UK and the only Music School based in the North of England."





Above: The Millgate Building with the following plaque.










Below the Vallins Arts Centre




Below:  College House and the Gatehouse



The photograph below, taken in the 1980s shows the site prior to the construction of New College House.



Below is the New College House in October of 2009
Below is the Palatine Building (the white building on the right) which is the former Palatine Hotel built in 1842 - 3 by J. P. & I. Holden.  It was acquired by the school in 1969.
In October of 2009 excavation began for the new extension to Chetham's School on Hunt's Bank.

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