page_title: Wells Theological College
section_title: Buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Wells Theological College / Buildings
caption_attribution_description: The Cedars, The Liberty - Wells
context_page_description: Wells Theological College began operation in 1840 within the Cathedral Close of Wells Cathedral. It was one of several new colleges created in the nineteenth century to cater not just for non-graduates, but for graduates from the old universities who wished to receive specialist clerical training in preparation for ordination into the Church of England. It was founded by Bishop Law.
  In 1971 it merged with Salisbury Theological College, the students moved to Salisbury, and the new institution became known as the Salisbury & Wells Theological College, now Sarum College.
context_section_description: A guide book of 1862 notes that the students were using the Vicars' Hall as a library, but in 1896 they purchased a nearby building for this purpose on Cathedral Green. Rebuilt in the 15th century for Archdeacon Holes, it was still used as a house in 1555 when Bishop Polydore Vergil surrendered it to the Crown. In the late 18th century it became a brewery, but was extensively restored 1886. It is now a Grade II* Listed Building and is the Music School and Concert Hall of the Wells Cathedral School.
  The college acquired the lease of the chapel in Vicars' Close in 1875. The Cedars, a house built in 1758 for MP Charles Tudway, was leased by the Trustees of the Theological College in 1919 for use as a hostel for some of the students.
caption: The Cedars
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