The Cathedral School - 'The ghostly pianist'
The facts of when this haunted Medieval school was first established are in fact unclear, there is some evidence to suggest that the school was an established educational institution prior to AD 1384 when John Gilbert was Bishop of Hereford. John had a deep personal interest in the youths of his day and he was the school's reputed Father so when he decided to leave it was a great loss to the school.
The Cathedral School Authorities put the date 1384 as the date of it's first Foundation. The all boys school was re- founded in 1583 and at this time the boys learnt the Virginals, Harp and Latin. A small fee was charged for writing and arithmetic.
The Music room was built in 1759, this was built to house the triennial Three Choirs Festival of Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford which was founded in 1724. The school was also kept in this room and it was where the boys received a gratuitous education. Times got hard in the mid-nineteenth century as the school room of the West Cloister was demolished in 1835, numbers of pupils were so low that the school carried on teaching in one room at the back of the master&'s house which was built in 1779./p.
In 1842 Dr Wolley became Headmaster and the North East corner was given over to the school as a temporary measure at a rental to the Dean and Chapter of £5 a year. The premises were old and they were built around the time of Edward IV, there was a large hall, two classrooms and a Chapel.
Soon after this drastic improvement the Headmaster was Reverend Charles Taylor and he was teaching 30 boys. In 1853 the choristers were taught separately in the chapel of The College of Vicars and because there was no more boarding at the school many boys who lived out of the City were picked up by a Coach and Horse about 7am in the morning. It was a four hour journey which the boys would of found incredibly boring and most certainly cold in the winter, but boys were boys and they made sure that they would have much more fun on the journey home by smoking cigars!
The school's Library was built in 1861, this was done to commemorate the five hundredth anniversary of the school, this was celebrated in many ways. There was cricket matches and an Old Boys dinner was also held, this was a special service that took place in the Cathedral, there would of been an evening concert and the Choristers would sing.
In 1898 the choristers were now under the care of Dr GR Sinclair who was the organist, this man was of a kind nature and he really fathered the boys, this was a man who the boys looked up to and all he wanted was for them to be happy and so he arranged a common room to be built in his garden, this room was known as The Ark, the choristers would organize popular carol services and part of the money they raised would go in to the upkeep of The Ark. Around this time vast changes and improvements were made to the school.
The school is said to be haunted by a ghostly Monk. The sound of the piano playing on it's own accord in the Music room has been heard on many occasions. The ghostly Monk was also seen looking out of the window of the music room. Two cleaners actually left the school due to it's spooky occurences , they witnessed many supernatural events happen including keys being turned by ghostly hands...