Transcribed from the [1858] Hugh Roberts edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

[ ]

ROBERTS’
CHESTER GUIDE;

WITH

FORTY-SIX ENGRAVINGS.

AND AN

ILLUSTRATED PLAN OF THE CITY.

REVISED BY

JOHN HICKLIN,

Editor of the Chester Courant, and Honorary Secretary of the Chester Archæological
and Historic Society.

CHESTER:
HUGH ROBERTS, EASTGATE ROW.
LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO.; AND WHITTAKER & CO.
AND OTHER BOOKSELLERS.

INDEX.

PREFACE.

The visit of the Royal Agricultural Society of England to Chester in July, 1858, seems a fitting occasion on which to present to the public an entirely NEW EDITION of the CHESTER GUIDE, which has been carefully revised throughout, with the requisite care and intelligence for securing to strangers a useful memorial of the “old city.” The work is also embellished with a numerous series of engravings, and an illustrated plan, which will facilitate the visitor’s inspection of the interesting remains and modern attractions with which Chester abounds; and also supply a pictorial reminiscence of scenes and places that may perchance excite pleasant memories. In this hope our Manual is committed to public favour, which, the editor trusts, will be so heartily manifested, as to require, at no very distant day, a renewal of his services as a literary “Guide.”

Chester, June 24, 1858.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHAPTER I.
THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHESTER.

Three are but few places, if indeed there are any, which can present such varied attractions to the antiquary as this remarkable and ancient city. It is rich in memorable incidents and associations. It has a history chronicled not only in books, but in its walls, towers, rows, and venerable remains.

The origin of Chester is of very remote date. No definite conclusion has been reached respecting the exact time of its foundation. Various hypotheses have been started, some of them grotesque and ridiculous enough, but its origin is lost in those mists of antiquity where history fades into fable.

It is quite clear, as an authenticated matter of fact, that Chester was in very early possession of the Romans. It was the headquarters of the 20th Legion, which, we find, came into Britain before the year 61; for it had a share in the defeat of Boadicea by Suetonius. After that important victory this mighty and intrepid people marched onward towards North Wales, and established their authority in Cheshire.

Scattered through the city, have been discovered many vestiges of their power, which enable us to trace their history with considerable distinctness. Wherever they planted their settlements, they left permanent records of their greatness and skill. Many of these memorials have been discovered, in various parts of the old city; and through the intelligent and zealous investigations of the Chester Archæological Society, these antiquities are now made tributary to the instruction of the inhabitants respecting the history of their own locality.

Not only to the antiquarian, however, is Chester interesting; there is scarcely any order of mind or taste but may here find its gratification. Its noble arched bridge, venerable cathedral and churches, unique rows, and ancient walls encompassing the city, with a considerable number and variety of relics, all combine to make Chester an attractive place of resort. It is the metropolis of the county palatine of that name, and is pleasantly situated above the river Dee, on a rising ground. Its names have been various. Its Roman name was Deva, undoubtedly, because of its being situated on the river Dee. Then Cestriæ, from Castrum, “camp;” and Castrum Legionis, “the Camp of the Legion.” Its British names were Caer Lleon, “the Camp of the Legion;” and Caer Lleon Vawr, or Ddyfrdwy, “the Camp of the Great Legion on the Dee.”

During the brilliant lieutenancy of Julius Agricola, A.D. 85, it became a Roman colony; and the place was called from them and from its situation, Colonia Devana. This is clearly demonstrated by a coin of Septimus Geta, son of Severus, which has this inscription:—

Col. Devana. Leg. xx. Victrix.

For two or three centuries after this date, Chester appears to have continued undisturbed in the power of the Romans; during which period “it was a centre of operations while conquest was being produced; a centre of civilization and commercial intercourse when the dominion of the empire was established. The actual form of the city, its division by streets into four quarters, exhibits the arrangement which the Romans established in their camp, and which they naturally transferred to the cities which took the place of their military stations. Traces of the work of that wonderful people still remain on our walls, and on the rocky brows which surround them; and excite the attention, and reward the diligence of the antiquarian. Those pigs of lead, the produce of Roman industry, which are first mentioned, in ‘Camden’s Britannia,’ as being found in the neighbourhood of Chester, and two of which have recently been discovered, are memorials of the early period at which the mineral wealth of this district was known, and of the commerce to which it gave rise.” It is a fact, clearly established by history, that to the Romans we are greatly indebted for the introduction of a much higher order of civilization than that which they found existing when they took possession of the country. They were the pioneers of social and religious progress. Previous to the Roman invasion, the inhabitants were unacquainted with the laws and arts of civilized life;—painted their bodies,—despised the institution of marriage,—clothed themselves in skins,—knew very little of agriculture,—were furious in disposition, and cruel in their religious superstitions. We find that the practice of human sacrifices was very general amongst them, and in every respect their social and moral condition rude and barbarous in the extreme. So wedded were they to their idolatrous worship and cruel rites, that the Romans, after their conquest, found it necessary to abolish their religion by penal statutes; an exercise of power which was not usual with these tolerating conquerors. About the year 50, the Emperor Claudius Cæsar subdued the greater part of Britain, and received the submission of several of the British states who inhabited the south-east part of the island. The other Britons, under the command of Caractacus, still maintained an obstinate resistance, and the Romans made little progress against them until Ostorius Scapula was sent over, in the year 50, to command their armies. This renowned general found the country in a state of great excitement and dissatisfaction, but speedily advanced the Roman conquests over the Britons—defeated Caractacus in a great battle—took him prisoner, and sent him to Rome—where his magnanimous behaviour procured him better treatment than those conquerors usually bestowed on native princes. He pardoned Caractacus and his family, and commanded that their chains should immediately be taken off.

Holinshed is of opinion that Ostorius Scapula was the founder of Chester, and the reasons he adduces are certainly very plausible. He says, “It is not unlike that it might be first built by P. Ostorius Scapula, who, as we find, after he had subdued Caractacus, King of the Ordonices, that inhabited the countries now called Lancashire, Cheshire, and Salopshire, built in those parts, and among the Silures, certeine places of defense, for the better harbrough of his men of warre, and keeping downe of such Britaines as were still readie to move rebellion.”

Passing over the space of a few years, we find Julius Agricola completing the conquest of this island. Such was his formidable power and skilful policy in governing the people, that we are told they soon became reconciled to the supremacy of the Roman arms and language. He quelled their animosity to the Roman yoke, and certainly did very much for the progress of the people in civilization, knowledge, and the arts of peace.

There is perhaps no place in the kingdom that can boast of so many monuments of Roman skill and ingenuity as Chester; but as these will be described in detail as we proceed, we need not specify them here.

About the year 448 the Romans withdrew from the island, after having been masters of the most considerable part of its territory for nearly four centuries, and left the Britons to arm for their own defence. No sooner, however, had the Romans withdrawn their troops, than the Scots and Picts invaded the country with their terrible forces, and spread devastation and ruin along the line of their march. These vindictive and rapacious barbarians, fired with the lust of conquest, made a pitiless onslaught upon the property and lives of the people. The unhappy Britons petitioned, without effect, for the interposition of Rome, which had declared its resolution for ever to abandon them. The British ambassadors were entrusted with a letter to the legate at Rome, pathetically stating their perilous dilemma, and invoking their immediate aid.

The intestine commotions which were then shaking the Roman empire to its centre prevented the masters of the then world from affording the timely aid sought at their hands.

Despairing of any reinforcement from Rome, the Britons now invoked the aid of the Saxons, who promptly complied with the invitation, and under Hengist and Horsa, two Saxon chiefs, who were also brothers, wrested Chester from the hands of the invaders. The Saxons, perceiving the weakness of their degenerate allies, soon began to entertain the project of conquering them, and seizing the country as their spoil. During the conflict which ensued between the Britons and Saxons, who from allies became masters. Chester was frequently taken and retaken, and suffered severely in various sieges. Ultimately, the Aborigines were totally subjugated under the mightier sway of Saxon arms.

In 607 Ethelfrid, King of Northumbria, waged a sanguinary battle with the Britons under the walls of Chester, whom he defeated.

It is recorded that he came to avenge the quarrel of St. Augustine, whose metropolitan jurisdiction the British monks refused to admit. Augustine is said to have denounced against them the vengeance of heaven, for this reason, three years previously.

Sammes, in his Antiquities of Britain, gives an interesting statement of this celebrated battle: “Edelfrid, the strongest King of the English, having gathered together a great army about the city of Chester, he made a great slaughter of that nation; but when he was going to give the onset, he espied priests and others, who were come thither to entreat God for the success of the army, standing apart in a place of advantage; he asked who they were, and for what purpose they had met there? When Edelfrid had understood the cause of their coming, he said, ‘If, therefore, they cry unto their God against us, certainly they, although they bear no arms, fight against us, who prosecute us by their prayers.’”

The victory was not destined, however, to be an abiding one. The supremacy of Ethelfrid over the Britons was not long in duration. History tells us that a few years after he had achieved his conquest, the united forces of Brocmail and three other British princes rescued from his hands the possession of Chester, and put his armies to flight. In 613, the Britons assembled in Chester, and elected Cadwon their king, who reigned with great honour for twenty-two years.

From this period to the close of the Heptarchy, we have but very scanty materials respecting the history of Chester. The Britons appear to have retained possession of it until about the year 828, when it was finally taken by Egbert, during the reign of the British prince Mervyn and his wife Esylht.

In a few years afterwards (894 or 895) the city underwent a heavy calamity, from its invasion by Harold, King of the Danes, Mancolin, King of the Scots, and another confederate prince, who are said to have encamped on Hoole heath, near Chester, and, after a long siege, reduced the city. These predatory pirates were soon after attacked and conquered by Alfred, who utterly routed them from the military defences in which they had embosomed themselves, and destroyed all the cattle and corn of the district.

After the evacuation of the city by the Danes, it remained in ruins until about the year 908, when it was restored by Ethelred, the first Earl of Mercia, and Ethelfleda, his wife, who, it is said, enlarged it to double the extent of the Roman town. Sir Peter Leycester says that “Ethelred and his countess restored Caerleon, that is Legecestria, now called Chester, after it was destroyed by the Danes, and enclosed it with new walls, and made it nigh such two as it was before; so that the castle that was sometime by the water without the walls, is now in the town within the walls.” All the narratives which have been handed down to us of this celebrated woman represent her as possessed of incomparable talent, great enterprise, and pure mind. She employed the great power and opportunity she possessed with admirable wisdom, and made them subservient to acts of munificence and piety. She died at Tamworth in 922, whence her body was translated to Gloucester. Leycester gives a lengthy record of her good deeds, which prepares us for the fact that her loss was deeply and universally regretted throughout the whole kingdom.

The security of Chester against the Danish invaders was ultimately effected by the victories of Edmund, in or about 942, after which it was occasionally honoured by the residence of the Saxon sovereigns. Pennant says, King Edgar made this one of the stations in his annual circumnavigation of his dominions. About the year 973, he visited Chester, attended by his court, and received the homage of his vassal kings. It is said that one day entering his barge, he assumed the helm, and made his eight tributary princes row him from the palace which stood in the field at Handbridge, opposite the castle (and which still bears his name), up the river Dee, as far as the monastery of St. John’s. In the following century Chester was possessed by the Earls of Mercia, until the Norman Conquest in 1066. The tyranny, violence, and bloodshed which marked the course of William the Conqueror, met with determined resistance in various parts of the country; but in the course of six or seven years he utterly crushed all opposition, and became absolute master of the island. He introduced into England the feudal system, “with its military aristocracy, its pride, its splendour, and its iron dominion. The importance of Chester, as a military station, was shown by its being assigned as a fief to one of the chief leaders in the Norman army, and on his death by its being given to the nephew of the Duke himself, under whom it was invested with privileges which raised it almost to the rank of a separate principality. Under Hugh, the first Earl of Chester, and his immediate successors, we may suppose that most of those castles were built, which form objects of antiquarian research in the neighbourhood, but which are melancholy records of the state of society at the time, since they were evidently built to protect the frontiers from the continued invasions of the Welsh. Some of these still remain, and, from their extent and magnificence, appear to have been the residences of the Earls themselves. Many more have perished, and can only be traced by the banks which mark the outline of their plan. These were probably of an inferior description, and are rather to be considered as guard-houses for the protection of some particular pass than as regular fortresses. There are traces of this kind at Doddleston, at Pulford, at Aldford, at Holt, at Shotwick, beside the larger and more distinguished holds at Beeston, Halton, Chester, and Hawarden; and probably few years passed but that some inroad of the Welsh carried fire and slaughter to the very gates of Chester, and swept the cattle and produce from the fields.” [7]

For many years previous to the Norman Conquest, Chester was governed by Dukes or Earls; but William, perceiving the danger of entrusting so large a territory in the hands of any one of his barons, curtailed the provinces within narrower limits, and thereby crippled the power which had often proved dangerous to the throne, and at the same time augmented his own, by having a larger number of gifts and emoluments to bestow on his followers. In the first instance, William gave Chester to Gherbodus, a noble Fleming, who, having obtained permission of the king to visit Flanders for the transaction of some private business, there fell into the hands of his enemies, and was obliged to resign the earldom to Hugh Lupus, the nephew of the Conqueror, who was appointed in his stead. The Earldom was now erected into a Palatinate. Camden says, “William the 1st created Hugh, surnamed Lupus, the first Earl of Chester and Count Palatine, and gave unto him and his heirs all the county, to be holden as freely by the sword as the king himself held England by his crown.”

By reason of this grant, the Earls of Chester were invested with sovereign jurisdiction, and held their own parliaments. It is supposed that Lupus was invested with his new dignity at Chester by William himself, when he was present there in person in 1069.

He created several barons to assist him in his council and government, some of whom we find upon record, as Nigel, Baron of Halton; Sir William Maldebeng, of Malbanc, Baron of Witch Malbanc, or Nantwich; Richard de Vernon, Baron of Shipbroke; Gilbert Venables, Baron of Kinderton; Hamon de Massey, Baron of Dunham Massey; Warren de Poynton, Baron of Stockport; Eustace de Monthalt, Baron of Monthalt. He converted the church of St. Werburgh into an abbey, by the advice of St. Anselm.

He continued Earl thirty-one years, died the 27th of July, 1101, and was buried in the churchyard, but afterwards removed to the present Chapter-house of the Cathedral, where his body was found in 1724, wrapped in leather, enclosed in a stone coffin.

His Sword of Dignity forms one of the many valuable curiosities preserved in the British Museum. His parliament was formed of eight barons, who were obliged to attend him. Every baron had four esquires, every esquire one gentleman, and every gentleman one valet. The barons had the power of life and death. Hugh Lupus was succeeded by his son Richard, who was drowned in his passage from Normandy. He governed nineteen years, and was succeeded by Ranulph, surnamed Mechines, son of Margaret, sister to Lupus. Ranulph died at Chester, A.D. 1129, [8] and was succeeded by the heroic Ranulph II., surnamed Geronjis, who, having held the earldom twenty-five years, was poisoned in 1153, and was buried at Chester.

Hugh II., his son, surnamed Cyvelioc, succeeded him, and continued in the earldom twenty-eight years. He died at Leek, in Staffordshire, and was buried at Chester.

Hugh was succeeded by his son Ranulph, surnamed Blundeville, who, for his benevolence, was styled Ranulph the Good. He served in the holy wars, and was as celebrated as any of the Seven Champions of Christendom. After his return, he built Beeston Castle, in Cheshire, a noble and imposing fortress, which, before the use of fire-arms, might have been deemed impregnable. It is built on an insulated rock, and its summit is one hundred yards above the level of the brook that runs at its base. It endured three sieges during the civil wars. The middle part of the slope is surrounded by towers, which time, however, has dismantled; the well in the upper part was cut through the rock to the depth of one hundred yards; in the course of time it became nearly filled up with rubbish, but within the last few years was cleared, built round, and enclosed, by J. Tollemache, Esq., M.P., to whom the castle belongs. It is ten miles distant from Chester, on the London and North-Western Railway.

This Earl Ranulph was besieged by the Welsh in the castle of Rhuddlan, and was relieved by Ralph Dutton, son-in-law of Roger Lacy, Constable of Chester, at the head of a large body of fiddlers, minstrels, &c., who were then assembled at the fair of Hugh Lupus. A remarkable privilege of this fair was, that no thief or malefactor that attended it should be attached or punished, except for offences then and there committed. With this motley crew Dutton marched into Wales, and raised the siege; for which Ranulph rewarded him with full power over all the instruments of his preservation, and the privilege of licensing the minstrels. The anniversary of this achievement was formerly celebrated on the festival of St. John the Baptist, by a regular procession of the minstrels to the church of their tutelar saint, St. Werburgh, in honour of whom Hugh Lupus granted to the minstrels, &c., the above-mentioned privilege, which is recognized in all subsequent vagrant acts, by a special exception in favour of the minstrel jurisdiction of the Duttons, of Dutton, in Cheshire. The last Earl Ranulph died in 1232, and was buried at Chester.

John Scott succeeded Ranulph, who died without issue; not without suspicion, Leycester says, of being poisoned by the contrivance of Helene his wife.

The Earls of Chester continued to exercise their local sovereignty for about one hundred and sixty years. They held that sovereignty, it is true, as the representatives of the paramount sovereignty of the King of England, and as owing allegiance to him in all things; but so far as the government of the Palatinate was concerned, their rule, though nominally mediate, was actually absolute, for the King does not appear to have thwarted their jurisdiction, or in any way to have exerted his supreme authority, beyond retaining a mint at Chester.

After the death of the seventh Earl, in 1237, Henry the Third united the Earldom to the Crown; he afterwards conferred it upon his eldest son, Prince Edward, about A.D. 1245, who, two years after this, received the homage of his military tenants at Chester. From that period to the present the title of Earl of Chester has been vested in the eldest son of the reigning sovereign, and is now held by His Royal Highness Albert, Prince of Wales.

In 1255 Llewellyn ap Gryffid, Prince of Wales, provoked by the cruel injuries his subjects had received from Geffrey Langley, Lieutenant of the County under Prince Edward, carried fire and sword to the gates of Chester. In 1257 Henry the Third summoned his nobility and bishops to attend, with their vassals, at Chester, in order to invade Wales; and in 1275 Edward the First appointed the city as the place for Llewellyn to do him homage, whose refusal ended with the ruin of himself and his principality; for in 1300 Edward of Carnarvon here received the final acknowledgment of the Welsh to the sovereignty of England; and in a few years afterwards, Llewellyn was brought hither a prisoner from Flint Castle. Richard the Second visited this his favourite city in 1397, and in 1399 he was brought a prisoner from Flint Castle to the castle of Chester, which Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry the Fourth, had seized.

In Owen Glendower’s wars this city was a place d’armes for the English troops in the expeditions against the Welsh, who, ever tenacious of their independence, were as unwilling to submit to the Norman as the Saxon yoke.

In 1459 Henry the Sixth, with Queen Margaret and her son Edward, visited Chester, and bestowed little silver swans on the Cheshire gentlemen who espoused her cause.

It appears that Henry the Seventh and his Queen also visited Chester in 1493. In 1554 George Marsh, the pious martyr was publicly burnt at Boughton, for his steadfast adherence to the Protestant faith. In the year 1617 the city was honoured with the presence of James the First, when Edward Button, the then Mayor, presented the King with a gilt cup containing one hundred jacobuses of gold.

From this time no event of any great importance appears to have transpired, until the city was involved in the calamities of a siege, in consequence of its loyalty to Charles the First. The city stood the siege for some months; but the inhabitants at last, reduced to the extremity of famine, so that they were compelled to eat horses, dogs, cats, and other animals, abandoned their resistance, made honourable terms of capitulation, and yielded the city on February the 3rd, 1645–6.

Chester was, probably, in the time of the Romans, or earlier, a thriving port. The Saxon navy was stationed here, and it was also the seat of the Mercian kings. About the time of the Conquest the imports and exports appear to have been considerable. But as an illustration of the times we may mention, that one article of the latter was slaves, obtained, it is conjectured, from the captives which were made in the frequent wars with the Welsh. It is quite clear that Chester was, in ancient days, a busy and nourishing port, because of the perfectly navigable condition of the Dee. All the early writers of its history unite in bearing testimony to this point. It may here be mentioned as a curious and interesting fact, that some centuries ago, Flookersbrook was covered with water, and that a deep and broad channel flowed through Mollington, Stanney, and that direction, which emptied itself into the estuary now called the Mersey. Holinshed, after tracing minutely the course of the Dee through Flookersbrook up to Stanney, distinctly states that it “sendeth foorth one arme by Stannie Poole, and the Parke side into Merseie arme,” &c. Speed distinctly marks out this course in his map; and it is still more broadly defined in an old Dutch map, of a much earlier date, printed at Rotterdam.

In consequence of the uncertain and imperfect state of the river, the once thriving commerce of this ancient port has dwindled into comparative insignificance, and Liverpool has reaped the advantage. Spirited efforts have latterly been made to improve the navigation and port of Chester.

With regard to the ecclesiastical history of Chester, it may suffice to observe that, according to King’s ‘Vale Royal,’ Theodore, the first Anglo-Saxon Primate, ordained at Rome in 669, appointed St. Chad the first Bishop of Chester, who fixed his seat at Lichfield. “After him one Winifred was bishop, who, for his disobedience in some points, was deprived by Theodore, who appointed in his place one Sexulph. The said Theodore, by authority of a synod held at Hatfield, did divide the province of Mercia into five bishoprics, that is to say, Chester, Worcester, Lichfield, Cederna in Lindsey, and Dorchester, which after was translated to Lincoln. After Sexulf, one Aldwin was Bishop of Lichfield, and next to him Eudulfus, who was adorned with the Archbishop’s pall, having all the bishops under King Offa’s dominions suffragans to him.”

The diocese of Chester seems to have continued one with that of Lichfield to the time of the Conquest, when Pennant says a Bishop of Lichfield, in the year 1075, removed his episcopal seat to Chester, and during his life made use of the monastery of St. John’s for his cathedral.

His successor was Robert of Lindsey, chaplain of Wm. Rufus, who removed the see to Coventry; St. John’s church, however, continued collegiate up to the time of the Reformation, at which period it had a dean, eight canons or prebends, and ten vicars choral. The prelate and his successors, although having seats at Lichfield and Coventry, as well as Chester, continued to have the designation of Bishop of Chester, until the appointment of John Ketterich, in 1415, who was not so styled, nor any of his successors until the time of the Reformation. “The bishops that were before that time (although they were commonly called Bishops of Chester) were Bishops of Lichfield, and had but their seat or most abiding in Chester.” Henry the Eighth erected Chester into a distinct diocese in the 33rd year of his reign, “turning the monastery of St. Werburgh into the Bishop’s palace; unto which jurisdiction was allotted Cheshire, Lancashire, Richmondshire, and part of Cumberland; and was appointed to be within the province of York.”

John Bird, D.D., “formerly a fryer of the order of the Carmelites, was the first bishop of this new foundation.” He was deprived of his bishopric by Queen Mary, A.D. 1544, because of his adhesion to the Protestant faith. He was succeeded by George Cotes, who survived his consecration only about two years. He died at Chester, and was buried in the Cathedral near the Bishop’s throne. His memory is stained with the blood of George Marsh, who, during his episcopate, suffered martyrdom at Boughton. The next Bishop was Cuthbert Scott, who was vice-chancellor of Oxford in 1554 and 1555, one of the delegates commissioned by Cardinal Pole to visit that University, and one of the four Bishops who, with as many divines, undertook to defend the Church of Rome against an equal number of reformed divines. He was deposed by Queen Elizabeth, for some abusive expressions uttered against Her Majesty. William Downham, chaplain to Queen Elizabeth before she came to the crown, was consecrated Bishop of Chester, A.D. 1561. He died Nov., 1577, and was buried in the choir of the Cathedral, having sat Bishop sixteen years and a half: from that time to the present there has been a regular succession of Bishops of the Reformed Church.

John Graham, D.D., formerly Master of Christ’s College, Cambridge, was consecrated to the see of Chester in 1848, in succession to the present Archbishop of Canterbury, and is at present fulfilling the duties of his high office with pious earnestness, diligence, and general approbation.

Municipal institutions were first introduced into Britain by the Romans. York was one of the first towns in England on which they were conferred. We can discover very little to aid us in tracing the progressive history of the municipal government of the ancient city of Chester until the time of Ranulph, the third Earl Palatine, and nephew of the Earl Hugh; but being a Roman colony, the inhabitants no doubt were regarded as Roman citizens, and as such entitled to the same privileges which Rome itself possessed. Pennant supposes that the Roman prætorium occupied the site on which St. Peter’s church is now built. In this tribunal, if the case be so, the civil law and power would be exercised in those days.

“Before the city had any charter,” says King’s ‘Vale Royal,’ “they used by prescription divers liberties, and enjoyed a guild mercatory, that is, a brotherhood of merchants, and that whosoever was not admitted of that society, he could not use any trade or traffick within the city, nor be a tradesman therein. And the tenor of this guild mercatory did even run in these words:—‘Sicut hactenus usi fuerint;’ and was after confirmed under the Earl’s seal. And there were appointed two overseers, and those were appointed out of the chiefest of the citizens, and were greatly respected of the citizens as officers that had the special care of maintaining those privileges, before a mayor was ordained.” These officers were elected annually, and were denominated leave-lookers; they were accustomed to go round the city to see that its privileges were preserved, and sometimes used to take small sums, called leave-lookerage, for leave for non-freemen to sell wares by retail.

In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the government of the city was vested in twelve judges, selected from the vassals of the king, the earl, and the bishop.

The first charter granted to the city was by the first Ranulph, also styled Ranulph le Meschin, third Earl of Chester, who died in 1128. It grants to his tenants demesne of Chester, that none but they or their heirs shall buy or sell merchandise, brought to the city by sea or land, except at the fairs holden at the nativity of St. John the Baptist, and on the feast of St. Michael; and is directed thus—Ranul. com. Cestræ. constabulario. dupifero justiciar, vicecom. baron. militibus bullivis et omnibus servientibus suis præsentibus et futuris, salutem; Sciatis, &c.; and so makes a large grant to the city, and warrants the same strongly against his heirs, and appoints forfeitures upon all that shall withstand. The charter, which is without date, is witnessed by Domino Hugone, Abbate Cestriæ. Domino Hugone le Orebi, tunc. justiciar. Warren de Vernon, &c., &c. It was confirmed by the other two Earls Ranulphs, and also by Earl John, who strictly prohibited all buying and selling except as aforesaid, with other additions. King John and Henry the Second also established it, with the addition of some further privileges. Henry the Third granted three charters, in the first of which he recites, that he hath seen the former charters of the Earls, and doth grant and confirm domesticis hominibus Cestr. &c., that none shall buy or sell merchandise in the city, but citizens, except in the fairs, &c., sub pœna £10.

It was at this time that, so far as we can ascertain, the first mayor was created. [14] In the 26th year of Henry’s reign, Sir Walter Lynnet was the first who was invested with civic honours and authority. The mayoralty of Chester is, therefore, a very ancient one, only 58 years younger, we believe, than that of London.

In 1300 Edward the First confirmed the former charter of his father, Henry the Third; and by the same charter gave the city of Chester, with the appurtenances, liberties, and freedoms to the citizens of Chester and their heirs, to be holden of him and his heirs for ever, paying yearly £100. He granted them also the election of coroners and pleas of the crown, and that the citizens shall have sock, sack, toll, theme, irfangtheof, outfangtheof, and to be free throughout all the land and dominion of toll, passage, &c.

Many other charters follow, and other matters connected with the government of the city.

Richard the Second, in 1347, “for the furtherance of justice and better execution thereof, grants unto his subjects, maiors, sheriffs, and commonality of the said city, to hold their courts; and limited what processes they may award in actions, personal felonies, appeals, process of uttagary, as at the common law;” and since then the sessions of the peace have continued to be held down to the present time.

Henry Seventh, “in consideration that through the decay of the haven and river, by many burstings forth, was become sandy and impassable, as before, for merchandise,” remitteth £80 annually of the fee farm rent. And the said King Henry Seventh granteth that the city of Chester and the suburbs, towns, and hamlets thereof, the castle excepted, should be a county of itself, by the name of the county of Chester.

Henry the Eighth sent letters in parchment under his privy seal to the Mayor of Chester, charging that the citizens should not be pressed unto the war, but remain within the city for the defence thereof. He also, by letters patent, discharged the city from being a sanctuary for malefactors, which was by proclamation removed to Stafford. In the 32nd year of the same reign, the city obtained the privilege of returning two burgesses as its representatives in the English parliament.

The important changes effected in the municipal corporations of England and Wales in 1835 render it unnecessary to enter further into the various charters granted to the city of Chester. By that Act, the local government was vested in town councillors, elected by the burgesses, and who serve for a term of three years. Chester is divided into five wards for the election of the council; each ward elects six councillors, two of whom retire from office annually. The councillors elect ten aldermen, who hold their office for six years; and any member of the council is eligible to the office of mayor.

The following is a list of those who have served the office of mayor of Chester:—

1251 Sir Walter Lynnett, Knt.

1677 William Ince, Esq.

1696 Peter Bennet, Esq.

1700 Hugh Starkie, Esq.

1702 William, Earl of Derby.

1704 Edward Partington, Esq.

1705 Edward Puleston, Esq.

1708 James Mainwaring, Esq.

1709 William Allen, Esq.

1710 Thomas Partington, Esq.

1711 John Minshull, Esq.

1712 John Thomason, Esq.

1714 Francis Sayer, Esq.

1715 John Stringer, Esq.

1715 Sir Richd. Grosvenor, Bart.

1716 Henry Bennett, Esq.

1717 John Hodgson, Esq.

1718 Alexander Denton, Esq.

1719 Randle Bingley, Esq.

1720 Thomas Edwards, Esq.

1725 John Parker, Esq.

1729 Thomas Brock, Esq.

1731 Trafford Massie, Esq.

1733 Peter Ellamies, Esq.

1734 Roger Massie, Esq.

1736 W. W. Wynn, Esq.

1737 Sir Robt. Grosvenor, Bart.

1738 Nathanael Wright, Esq.

1743 Thomas Davies, Esq.

1744 Thomas Maddock, Esq.

1745 Henry Ridley, Esq.

1746 Edward Yearsley, Esq.

1747 William Edwards, Esq.

1748 Edward Griffith, Esq.

1750 John Hallwood, Esq.

1754 Wm. Cooper, Esq., M.D.

1757 Richard Richardson, Esq.

1758 Thomas Grosvenor, Esq.

1759 Thos. Cholmondeley, Esq.

1760 Thomas Cotgreave, Esq.

1761 Holme Burrows, Esq.

1763 Edward Burrows, Esq.

1764 George French, Esq.

1765 Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart.

1769 Gabriel Smith, Esq.

1773 Panton Ellamies, Esq.

1779 Thomas Amery, Esq.

1781 Henry Higg, Esq.

1783 John Hallwood, Esq.

1784 William Harrison, Esq.

1787 Sir Richd. Grosvenor, Bart.

1795 Richard Ollerhead, Esq.

1803 Edmund Bushell, Esq.

1807 Robert, Earl Grosvenor.

1809 Thomas Evans, Esq.

1810 Thomas Grosvenor, Esq.

1811 Robert Bowers, Esq.

1813 Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart.

1814 John Bedward, Esq.

1815 Sir J. Cotgreave, Knt.

1816 Thomas Francis, Esq.

1817 Henry Bowers, Esq.

1818 Thomas Bradford, Esq.

1819 John Williamson, Esq.

1820 William Seller, Esq.

1821 John S. Rogers, Esq.

1822 William Massey, Esq.

1823 Robert Morris, Esq.

1824 George Harrison, Esq.

1825 John Fletcher, Esq.

1826 John Larden, Esq.

1827 Thomas Francis, Esq.

1827 Henry Bowers, Esq.

1828 Robert Morris, Esq.

1829 William Moss, Esq.

1830 Titus Chaloner, Esq.

1831 Richard Buckley, Esq.

1831 George Harrison, Esq.

1832 John Fletcher, Esq.

1833 George Harrison, Esq.

1834 The same.

1835 The same.

1836 William Cross, Esq.

1837 Thomas Dixon, Esq.

1838 Ed. Samuel Walker, Esq.

1839 John Uniacke, Esq.

1840 The same.

1841 William Wardell, Esq.

1842 William Brown, Esq.

1843 Wm. Henry Brown, Esq.

1844 Henry Kelsall, Esq.

1845 Charles Potts, Esq.

1846 Edward Tilston, Esq.

1847 R. P. Jones, Esq., M.D.

1848 The same.

1849 Sir E. S. Walker, Knt.

1850 John Williams, Esq.

1851 The same.

1852 P. S. Humberston, Esq.

1853 Henry Brown. Esq., who, dying during his mayoralty, Dr. R. P. Jones was appointed to the office for the unexpired period.

1854 John Smith, Esq.

1855 W. H. Brown, Esq.

1856 Major French.

1857 Peter Eaton, Esq.

1858 P. S. Humberston, Esq.

CHAPTER II.
ROMAN ANTIQUITIES.

Altars, Roman pavements, pigs of lead, coins, and other precious relics of former times, have been discovered in various places in the city and neighbourhood, some of them within a very recent period. Now that the people are happily being taught to estimate local antiquities at their proper worth, and a spirit of inquiry is being invoked respecting them, it is to be hoped that any future discoveries that may be made will be carefully preserved. There is no doubt that, through recklessness or ignorance, many links in the chain of our local history have been neglected and lost.

On a projecting rock in Handbridge, situate at the south end of the bridge, is a sculptured figure of Minerva, with her symbol, the owl. Time has very much obliterated and defaced this ancient sculpture, called Edgar’s Cave, which is doubtless of Roman date. Close to the figure is a great hole in the rock; and the field in which it is situated is known by the name of Edgar’s field to the present day.

In the year 1653 an altar, supposed to have been dedicated to Jupiter, was dug up in Foregate-street, and which is preserved among the Arundelian marbles at Oxford. The back of it is plain: on the sides of it there are neatly sculptured a Patera, a cup which was used in their libations; and a Thuribulum, or censer for burning incense. The inscription, when perfect, was—

I . O . M . TANARO
T . ELVPIVS . GALER
PRAESENS . GUNTA
PRI . LEG . XX . V . V
COMMODO . ET . LATERANO
COS
V . S . L . M.

which Leigh, in his ‘Natural History of Lancashire and Cheshire,’ explains thus—

JOVI OPTIMO MAXIMO TANARO
TITUS ELUPIUS GALERIUS
PRÆSENS GUBERNATOR
PRINCIBUS LEGIONIS VICESSIMÆ VICTRICIÆ VALERIÆ
COMMODO ET LATERANO CONSULIBUS,
VOTUM SOLVIT LUBENS MERITO.

In the year 1693, on the occasion of digging a place for a cellar in Eastgate-street, an altar was found buried amongst a great quantity of ashes, horns, and bones of several animals. On the back of the altar is represented a curtain with a festoon, over which is a globe surrounded with palm branches. On one side is a vase with two handles, from which issue acanthus leaves, supporting a basket of fruit; on the other side is a Genius with a Cornucopia in his left hand, and an altar on his right: on the top of the altar is a well sculptured human face within the Thuribulum.

This altar was found with the inscription downwards, and near it were two medals, one of Vespasian, the other is assigned to Constantius Chlorus, son-in-law of Maximian. The inscription, with restorations, runs thus:—

PRO . SAL . DOMIN
ORUM . NN . INVI
CTISSIMORVM
AVGG . GENIO . LOCI
FLAVIVS . LONGVS
TRIB . MIL . LEG . XX . VV
LONGINVS . FIL
EIVS . DOMO
SAMOSATA
V . S

Mr. Roach Smith says, “The persons who erected this altar were of Samosata, a town of Syria, celebrated as the birth-place of Lucian.”

In 1779 an altar was found in Watergate-street, which is still preserved in the grounds of Oulton Park, the seat of Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, Bart, M.P.: at the sides are the rod of Esculapius, the Cornucopiæ and rudder, a patera, urn, sacrificial knife, and other instruments. The inscription, with a few restorations, is as follows:—

FORTVNAE . REDVCI
ESCVLAP . ET . SALVTI . EIVS
LIBERT . ET . FAMILIA
CAII . PONTII . T . F . CAL . MAMILIANI
RVFI . ANTISTIANI . FVNINSVLANI
VETTONIANI . LEG . AVG
D . D

In the year 1821 a handsome altar was found by some labourers in a field called “The Daniels,” in Great Boughton, near Chester, between the Tarvin and Huntingdon roads: it is now preserved at Eaton Hall, the seat of the Marquis of Westminster. It is of red sandstone; the mouldings are bold, but it has no other ornaments upon it except the scrolls which support the Thuribulum. The inscription is the same on both sides, and is as follows:—

NYMPHIS
ET
FONTIBVS
LEG XX.
V V

It has been supposed that the reason why this altar was erected on that particular spot, was because of the pure water which springs on that side of the town: the old Abbot’s well is in that quarter, whence water was formerly conveyed by pipes to some of the monasteries in Chester.

In 1729, in digging a cellar in Watergate-street, a stone was found with an inscription, of which the following fragment only remains:—

NVMINI . AVG
ALMAE . CET
NVS . ACTOR
EX . VOTO . FACI

In the Chapter-house of Chester Cathedral, there is a red sandstone, 24 inches by 8 inches, found on the site of the Deanery, bearing this inscription:—

COH . I . E. OCRATI
MAXIMINI . M . P

Mr. Roach Smith, an eminent authority in such matters, says that this inscription is to be ascribed to the century of Ocratius Maximus, of the first Cohort of the 20th Legion: it has evidently been a facing stone, probably in the city wall; it resembles in character the centurial commemorations on the stones in the great northern wall, and, like them, apparently refers to the completion of a certain quantity of building.

In the year 1738, in digging the foundation of a house in the market-place, a fragment of a slate stone was found, on which was cut in bas-relief, the figure of a Retiarius armed with his trident and net, and a considerable part of the shield of the Secutor. The Secutores and the Retiarii were gladiators, distinguished by their armour and manner of fighting. They bore in their left hand a trident, and in the right a net, with which the combatant attempted to entangle his adversary, by throwing it over his head, and suddenly drawing it together, and then with his trident he usually slew him.

Horsley describes a small statue of stone found near the Dee, supposed to be either Atys or Mithras. It had a Phrygian bonnet, a mantle on the shoulders, a short vest on the body, and a declining torch in the hands.

On pulling down the old Eastgate in 1768, some portions of the original Roman structure were discovered, consisting of four arches, two in a line, and fifteen feet distant from each other; between the two arches fronting the east was a statue of the god Mars, holding in his right hand a spear handle, and his left resting on a shield. This was cut in one large stone, of about a half ton weight. There was also found a piece of rude sculpture about two feet in height, representing a Roman soldier.

In the year 1800 a Roman Ring, with an onyx stone in the centre, was found by some workmen when digging in a garden in Upper Northgate-street, and is now in the possession of R. J. Hastings, Esq., of Chester.

In 1803 part of a mosaic pavement, about five feet square, was discovered about six feet below the surface of the earth, on digging a cellar in what was then known by the name of the Nun’s Garden, near the Castle.

In 1813 in sinking the foundation of a cellar at Netherleigh House, a short distance from Chester, a considerable number of large vases of red clay were discovered; they were regularly arranged in vaults, each vault containing four or six vases. Some of these were filled with calcined bones and small lumps of white clay. One of the vases was secured in a perfect state, but the others in most part were destroyed, through the carelessness of the workmen. A demi-figure, habited in a sacerdotal costume, was found at the same time.

In 1814 a tesselated pavement was discovered near the gateway of the Castle, in making the alterations there, part of which was destroyed, and the remainder covered up again.

In April, 1850, whilst excavating for a drain on the premises belonging to Mr. Wynne, carpenter, on the east side of Bridge-street, adjoining the Feathers-lane, a portion of a tile flooring, of mediæval construction, was discovered, in a remarkably good state of preservation. This floor was made the subject of a lecture by Mr. Harrison, architect, which is embodied in the reports published by the Chester Archæological Society. Large square Roman tiles of red clay are frequently found in removing old buildings, and breaking up the pavements, in Chester. Many of these are stamped with the inscription of the 20th Legion, LEG. XX. VV., and others are marked, LEG. VV. Œ.

These tiles were manufactured by the soldiers of the Legion, who were accomplished masons, being trained to use the pickaxe, spade, and trowel, as well as military arms. In times of peace they were employed in building houses and public edifices, constructing roads, and tilling the fields. To them “we are indebted for nearly all the inscriptions discovered in this country, which abound in the districts where they were regularly quartered, or employed on public works, and are comparatively scarce in other localities.”

A great number of coins have been found at various times within the walls of Chester, of Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Fl. Val. Constantius, and other Roman emperors, some in brass and others in silver. A very fine gold coin of Faustina the elder, wife of Antonius Pius, was found a few years ago, near the Castle; and in 1826 a very beautiful gold coin was dug up in a field at the east end of Captain Wrench’s house, which is in the possession of Captain Wrench. On the obverse is the head of Nero, with his title, NERO CESAR AVGVSTVS, and on the reverse is a figure in a sitting posture, and the legend SALVS.

Whilst excavating a drain in Grosvenor-street, in 1828, several coins were found, some of which were in very good preservation, especially one of Trajan and another of Geta. A lamp made of lead, and an ivory stylus, were also dug up at the same time. In the same year was found, near the new church of St. Bridget, a small altar, without any inscription to assist the antiquarian in ascertaining anything respecting its dedication. Within the space of a few inches from the altar was found a brass medal, on which the figure of the god Neptune is clearly delineated, with his trident, and a ship with her sails. The legend on it is NEPTVNVS; on the reverse is Hercules with his club, and a female figure by his side, and around is the inscription HERCVLES ET PALLAS.

A short time ago a small votive altar was found by W. Ayrton, Esq., at Boughton, near to the spot where the altar, previously described as dedicated to the Nymphs, was discovered.

The inscription has been interpreted thus:—

GENO. AVERNI. IVL. QVINTILIANVS.
Julius Quintilianus to the Genius of Avernus.

Examples of dedication to genii are very numerous; the belief that they presided over the welfare of cities, families, and individuals, was part of the religious system of the Romans. It was generally believed that every individual had two genii, the one good, the other bad. With reference to the particular inscription to the genius Avernus, Mr. Roach Smith says, “that he finds no other mention: but the locality in which the altar was found confirms the literal interpretation that the genius of the well known lake in Carpania is here to be understood as addressed by Julius Quintilianus. The waters of the lake were much used by the Romans in magical rites, as the classical reader will be reminded by the line in Virgil’s description of the incantation scene, preparatory to Dido’s death:—

“‘Sparserat et latices simulatos fontis Averni.’”

A short time ago there was found in Common Hall-street, imbedded in a thick wall several feet under ground, a singular block or pig of lead.

Unfortunately the inscription has only been partially preserved, inasmuch as it presents a different reading from others which have been discovered, and which Camden mentions as being very general in Cheshire; but those which he records as having come under his notice had inscribed on them:—

IMP . DOMIT . AVG . GER . DE . CEANG.

These pigs of lead appear to have been paid as tribute by the Britons to their Roman masters, “the harsh exaction of which was one of the causes of the insurrection.”

A great quantity of the Red Samian, and other kinds of pottery, have been discovered within the walls of Chester, which are supposed to have been of foreign origin. The names of the potters were:—

HIVNV.—SEV. . . .—BELINOIM.—ALBINVS.—BITVRIX.—ATILLVS.—VABIVS . F.—I | OFFIC.—CRESI . M.—PVONI . M.—E S CV S I . M.

The following recent discoveries we extract from the First Report of the Chester Architectural, Archæological, and Historic Society, incorporated in a most able and interesting paper by C. Roach Smith, Esq.

Weaver-street.—In excavating for sewers was found, at the depth of seven feet, a raised foot-path, edged with curb-stones, and a regular paved road, of marble stones set in sand; four feet above this, a layer of charcoal; at ten or eleven feet deep, a quantity of Roman tile.

Common Hall-street.—Up the centre, a row of foundations formed of concrete (broken marble stones in hard mortar), about nine feet apart, all in a line, and about ten feet deep, presenting the appearance of having supported columns. A large square block of stone, four feet two inches square, and sixteen inches deep, without lewis holes, on a bed of concrete. A portion of a column of very debased classical form, about two feet in diameter; at the top is a hole, four inches and a half square, and the same deep, and a similar hole at the bottom; the square part seems never to have been smoothly dressed; the workmen said it was fast to the grouted concrete, at the depth of ten feet; mouldings, broken tiles, and pottery, coins of Pius, Tetricus, &c.; a quantity of animals’ bones, a stag’s skull, with the horns sawn off, and a wild boar’s tusk. In the adjoining street, a moulded block of cornice, eight inches thick, on the under side of which is a rude inscription; imbedded in a thick wall, at the same place, a pig of lead; a capital of a pillar. The tiles are of various forms, some overlapping one another, some with a kind of pattern or letters, others with marks of animals’ feet. One perfect, twenty-one inches by thirteen, of singular form. Also, what appears to have been a portion of a gable end.

In December, 1850, whilst fresh drains were being made, an old Roman vase was found in a yard belonging to Mr. Parkinson, plumber, in Northgate-street, between the Abbey-square and the Abbey Green. The labourer who was employed in the drain in that neighbourhood unhappily shattered this vase in pieces. The fragments, however, were collected together with great care, and re-united by Mr. Parkinson, in whose possession it now remains. There were found with it some portions of annular brass money, much corroded.

Near to the Feathers Hotel, in Bridge-street, in a cellar now occupied as an earthenware shop, are the remains of the Roman hypocaust and sweating bath, the use of which appears to have been very general amongst the Romans, and regarded by them as one of their chief luxuries. From the details which have been handed down to us by ancient historians, respecting these curious erections, we learn that they were not only constructed so as to secure the comfort and convenience of the bathers to the fullest extent, but were often built in the most magnificent style of architecture. The one in Bridge-street, which circumstances have happily spared, is in a tolerably perfect state. It is fifteen feet long, and eight wide, and six feet seven inches deep. There is an adjoining chamber, or præfurnium, of the same dimensions. The Hypocaust is supported by twenty-eight square pillars, two feet eight inches high, and one foot square at the top and bottom. Over these pillars are placed bricks, eighteen inches square, and three inches thick, which support others two feet square, perforated with small holes, about six inches asunder, for the purpose of conveying the heat upwards. Immediately above this uppermost layer of bricks is a terrace floor, composed of several layers of lime, pounded bricks, &c., in different proportions and degrees of fineness. The room above is the Sudatorium, or Sweating Room, which received the hot air from the Hypocaust below. Around the walls were benches, rising one above another, on which the bathers sat, until they burst out into a free perspiration; after which they were scraped with a bronze instrument called a Strigil—thin and flexible, like a hoop—by which all impurities were removed from the skin; they were then shampooed, rubbed down with towels (Lintea), and their bodies anointed with oil, by an attendant called Aliptes, after which they returned to the Tepidarium, where they attired themselves, and cooled gradually before returning to the open air.

In 1779, another Hypocaust, and the remains of several adjoining rooms of a Roman house, were discovered in digging the foundations of houses near the Watergate. The pillars of this Hypocaust, the altar dedicated to Fortuna Redux, Esculapius et Salus, and a few other antiquities, were found at the same time, and were removed to Oulton Park.

But small portions of the original Roman wall of Chester now exist, although undoubted vestiges of that ancient work are easily discernible. The present wall, no doubt, stands on the original foundation. The Roman pavement has been often discovered at the depth of a few feet below the modern road, in the principal streets, which, in all probability, run in the same direction as those of the Roman City. During the last few years, many remarkable antiquities have been discovered in making excavations for new buildings; and among such remains, a fine Roman altar, bearing a Greek inscription, has excited great interest and speculation.

CHAPTER III.
A WALK ROUND THE WALLS OF CHESTER.

The Chester walls are the only perfect specimen of this order of ancient fortification now to be met with in England. There is nothing, perhaps, which impresses a stranger more forcibly, or sooner attracts his interest and curiosity, than these embattled memorials of the olden time.

In King’s ‘Vale Royal’ it is stated that they were first built by Marius, King of the Britons, A.D. 73. Leland and Selden, both authors of credit, attribute to the Romans the foundation of Chester. According to Geoffry of Monmouth, Higden, Bradshaw the Monk, and Stowe, it is of an origin more ancient than Rome itself, and was only re-edified by the legionaries; but, in support of their assertions, the aforesaid writers, all of whom delight in the marvellous, give no other authority save vague tradition. On the other hand, the Walls of Chester, at this hour, bear witness to the truth of Leland and Selden’s account of their origin.

They are built of soft freestone, and command extensive and beautiful prospects. The view from the Northgate, with the Welsh Hills in the distance, is universally admired. The Walls are a mile and three-quarters and one hundred and twenty-one yards in circumference, and are kept in repair by the Corporation.

We commence our perambulation at a flight of steps on the North side of the Eastgate. Proceeding to the right a short distance, the venerable Cathedral arrests our attention.

At the end of Abbey-street is a small archway or passage through the Walls, leading to the Kale-yards, or cabbage gardens, which formerly belonged to the Abbot and Convent of St. Werburgh. This opening was permitted to be made for their convenience, in the reign of Edward I., to prevent the necessity of bringing their vegetables by a circuitous road through the Eastgate.

A few paces farther on was a quadrangular abutment, on which formerly stood a tower called The Sadlers’ Tower, from the Company of Sadlers holding their meetings there. The tower was taken down in 1780; and the abutment, which marked the place where it stood, was taken down, in 1828.

The elevated tower on the Canal bank belongs to the extensive Shot and White Lead Manufactory of Messrs. Walker, Parker, and Co., and forms a prominent object in the different approaches to the City.

The lofty tower which stands at the angle is called

The Phœnix Tower,

which was formerly used by some of the companies of the city, whose arms were placed upon it, as a chamber for business. Of these the Phœnix, the crest of the Painters’ and Stationers’ Company, which was put up in 1613, now only remains.

From the summit of this tower, King Charles I. had the mortification to see his army, under the generalship of Sir Marmaduke Langdale, defeated by the Parliamentary forces, which were led by General Pointz, at the battle of Rowton Moor, on the 27th September, 1645. From its elevation and command of view over the township of Newton, it was formerly called Newton’s Tower. Linked as it is with that eventful battle during one of the most significant epochs of our national history, it is not surprising that it is always regarded with intense curiosity, as a suggestive memorial of most interesting occurrences. The mind is involuntarily carried back to the period when our country was involved in the discord, strife, and bloodshed of civil war; and, perhaps, as involuntarily reflects on the genial and happy change which the progress of knowledge, freedom, and religion has accomplished in the minds and institutions of the people. We can now occupy the very spot on which the hapless monarch beheld the discomfiture of his hopes and power; but can gaze upon a prospect very different from that which greeted his vision, and with emotions more grateful than those which then distracted the monarch’s breast. His Majesty remained that night in Chester, and on the following day marched with 500 horse into Wales.

Beneath the walls here, deeply cut in the solid rock, is the Ellesmere and Chester Canal.

Between the Eastgate and Phœnix Tower the remains of the Roman Walls are conspicuous in the lower courses. At the distance of about seven feet from the top of the parapet, the Roman portion is terminated by a cornice, which extends in broken lengths for at least 100 yards.

In the time of the great Rebellion, a ditch surrounded the Walls, from the Eastgate to the Water Tower. The view which is obtained from the elevation of this part of the Walls is very extensive and beautiful. As you approach the North from the Eastgate, the ranges of Peckforton Hills, Beeston Castle, and the Forest of Delamere, form the background of the landscape, marked on the foreground with Waverton and Christleton churches; and, still nearer, the commodious Railway Station.

Next we arrive at

The Northgate.

The ancient gate, over which the gaol was situated, and where criminals were formerly executed, was taken down in 1808, and the prisoners removed to a more commodious building on the south side of the infirmary.

The present gate is a Doric structure, forming a capacious elliptic arch of white stone, divided from two smaller ones at the sides by two pillars. It was erected at the expense of the late Marquis of Westminster. The North side bears this inscription—

PORTAM SEPTENTRIONALEM SVBSTRVCTAM
A ROMANIS VETVSTATE JAM DILAPSAM
IMPENSIS SVIS AB INTEGRO RESTITVENDAM
CVRAVIT ROBERTVS COMES GROSVENOR.
A. R. GEORGII TERTII LI.

On the South side is the following:—

INCHOTA GVLIELMO NEWELL ARM. MAI.
MDCCCVIII.
PERFECTA THOMA GROSVENOR ARM. MAI.
MDCCCX.
THOMA HARRISON ABCHITECTO.

The summit of this gate commands a most extensive and delightful prospect. On each side of the gate is a commodious flight of steps, by which the passenger may descend into Northgate-street.

Near the gate, and on the left hand of Upper Northgate-street, stands the Blue-coat Hospital, which was founded by subscription in 1700, at the suggestion of Bishop Stratford. The greater part of the present structure was built in 1717, partly at the expense of the Corporation and partly by benefactions. Thirty-two boys are boarded, clothed, and educated, from the age of twelve to fourteen. There are also sixty probationary day scholars, who succeed to the vacancies of the former. They are well educated in the various branches of useful knowledge, and at the age of fourteen are provided with respectable situations.

The chapel, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, called Little St. John’s, occupies the south wing of this building; it was formerly an hospital, or sanctuary, and endowed with great privileges. It is extra-parochial, and a perpetual curacy is in the gift of the Corporation. The Rev. William Clarke is the present curate. The hospital is of great antiquity, having been founded by Randal, Earl of Chester, for a master, three chaplains, and thirteen citizens of Chester, being either “poor or sillie, or poor or feeble persons.” The mastership was granted in the ninth year of Edward Second to the prior of Birkenhead.

The chapel and hospital being destroyed during the civil wars, were rebuilt by Colonel Roger Whitley, to whom King Charles Second granted the hospital estate for his life and twenty years after. When the city charter was renewed in 1686, the reversions were granted to the mayor and citizens for ever, as trustees for the hospital. The Corporation obtained possession in 1703, and have since exercised the right of presentation. In the time of King Henry VIII. it consisted of a chaplain and six poor brethren; and had lands and profits to the amount of £28 10s. 4d. In later days there were in the Chapel-yard six almshouses for widows, who were each allowed £1 6s. 8d. a year and some perquisites. In 1801, Alderman Crewe bequeathed £30 per annum to be divided amongst them in equal proportions. Under an amended scheme, by order of the Court of Chancery, in 1852, the almshouses were rebuilt, and provision is now made for thirteen “poor and impotent persons of both sexes,” to each of whom the sum of £26 a year, by weekly payments of 10s., is given. They have free occupation of the houses, and £30 per annum. Alderman Crewe’s legacy is expended for their benefit in coals and other articles of domestic comfort.

Proceeding on our circuit, we next reach a curious square building called Morgan’s Mount, a platform on the right, accessible by a flight of steps, underneath which is a sort of chamber, apparently one of the stations for a sentinel. From the summit we have a wide-spreading and enchanting prospect, exhibiting the windings of the Dee to its estuary; Flint Castle; the Jubilee Column, on Moel Fammau; the Lighthouse, at the point of Ayr; the beautiful range of the Clwyddian hills; and the church and castle of Hawarden. On the right, a very excellent view is presented of the

Training College,

which was erected from a design and under the superintendence of Messrs. J. C. and G. Buckler, of London, at an estimated cost of £10,000, raised by public subscription, assisted by a grant from Government, and was completed in September, 1842. The institution is under the presidency of the Lord Bishop of the diocese, and has the sanction of the Deans and Chapters of Chester and Manchester. The object it seeks to promote is, the supply of the parochial schools of the Diocese of Chester with masters well qualified by a sound religious and scientific training, for the discharge of their important duties. Hitherto, it has nobly sustained its purpose, and, by regularly sending forth men whose minds have been brought under thorough discipline, and well furnished with general knowledge and science, is doing very much towards the elevation of parochial education in the diocese. The college is under the able direction of the Rev. Arthur Rigg, M.A., of Christ’s College, Cambridge. A handsome chapel is attached to the college.

In the Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education for 1850, there are the following remarks, by the Rev. Henry Moseley, upon the Chester Training College:—

“I have to bear the same testimony as heretofore to the excellent discipline of the Institution; to the great order that pervades it; and to the judicious arrangements made in respect to the industrial training of the students, the industry, cheerfulness, and activity with which these labours are pursued, in the intervals of study, is most pleasing to contemplate. I know no other training school which, in respect to these things, appears to me superior to this; and I attach to them, in a moral point of view, the first importance. Nor do I know any other in which the buildings appear to me better adapted to the use of a training school, or in which those minor arrangements, on which the domestic comfort of the inmates and the good order of the household depend, are more carefully observed.”

A few paces further on is an ancient tower, formerly called the Goblin’s Tower, but now known by the name of Pemberton’s Parlour. Being in a ruinous condition, part of it was taken down in 1702, and the remainder renovated and repaired. On the front was some excellent carved work in stone, and the names of the then Mayor (the Earl of Derby) and the other corporate officers of the year in which the repairs were made; but in consequence of the stone being of a soft and friable nature, and from other causes, both the inscription and the carved work are now almost obliterated. The inscription, so far as it is legible, is as follows:—

“ * * * year of the glorious reign of Queen Anne divers wide breaches in these walls were rebuilt, and other decays therein were repaired; 2,000 yards of the pavement were new flagged or paved, and the whole repaired, regulated, and adorned, at the expense of £1,000 and upwards. Thomas Hand, Esq., Mayor, 1701. The Right Honourable William, Earl of Derby, Mayor, 1702, who died in his Mayoralty.”

On the left is a large field, anciently called Barrow Field, which was used by the Roman soldiers for their military exercises; a vast number of bodies were buried here at one of the periods when the plague raged so severely in the city.

Continuing our route westward, we next come to

The Water Tower,

an ancient fortress, erected for the purpose of repelling the approach of maritime foes, for it appears that formerly the river flowed under this part of the walls, so that vessels could sail close by the Tower. At high tide, the whole of the land on which are now situated Crane-street and the neighbourhood, was covered with water. At the south angle of the walls is an old square tower, anciently called Bonwaldesthorne’s Tower, from which is an embattled passage to the Water Tower, which was built in 1322, by contract for £100, by John Helpstone, a mason. The dimensions were 24 yards in height, and 10½ yards in diameter. It had openings for cannon and rings in the walls, to which ships were formerly moored. This noble bulwark is suggestive of reflections of deep historic interest; for at the siege of Chester by the Republican army, this place was bombarded from the farm-house called Brewer’s Hall, on the opposite side of the river, but without success. Many a gallant sentinel has here kept loyal watch against the approach of the enemy. Happily, our age needs not these ancient fortifications for the warlike purpose to which they were originally devoted, and as an exhibition of the genius of the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries in happy contrast, this tower, built for war, is now occupied as a

Museum of the Mechanics’ Institution,

and is devoted to the more beneficent object of science and general improvement. Although the Museum is but of recent origin, the zeal and liberality of its supporters have already well furnished it with valuable relies, which will interest the antiquary, and other curiosities of more modern date, which afford gratification to all. The munificent liberality of William Wardell, Esq., a devoted friend to every enterprise which contemplates the social and intellectual advancement of the citizens, enables us to point out an attractive object in the

Camera Obscura,

which is situated on the upper part of the tower. We can promise the reader much amusement from this excellent instrument, which will furnish him with a most charming prospect of the diversified and lovely scenery of the district. On the top of the tower is fixed a very good telescope by Dollond, which commands a most extensive and magnificent view. If the day be favourable, and the atmosphere clear, we can stretch our gaze over a wide and truly grand range of objects, embracing the Great Ormshead at Llandudno in Carnarvonshire, the Wrekin in Shropshire, Moel Fammau and the Welsh Hills, towering aloft in their tranquil majesty. Across the river is Brewer’s Hall, which we have mentioned, where Cromwell’s army erected a battery, for the purpose of destroying this tower, “but which had no great effect;” close by is the Railway Viaduct of forty-seven arches, and the Bridge crossing the Dee on cast-iron girders; the whole scene forming an exceedingly fine panorama.

At the foot of the flight of steps close by are the City Baths and Wash-houses. The swimming bath is very capacious, and the necessary adjuncts most complete: there are also private and shower baths.

We now resume our walk; and, proceeding southwards from the Water Tower, on the left, is

The Infirmary;

a handsome brick building, founded by Dr. William Stratford, who bequeathed £300 to the charity. It was opened on the 17th March, 1761. It is capable of containing 100 beds, with commodious offices, and excellent accommodation for its respective officers. The north part of the building is exclusively devoted to a fever ward. This asylum for the afflicted is liberally supported by voluntary subscriptions. Donors of twenty guineas, and subscribers of two guineas per annum, are governors, with the privilege of recommending two in-patients, and six out-door patients annually.

The inmates receive the most humane and skilful attention from the medical staff, which consists of Honorary Physicians and Surgeons, a Resident Surgeon, and an Assistant.

The number of patients admitted during the year 1857 were—

Of all the charitable institutions which do honour to the benevolence of the city, the Infirmary ranks the first in beneficial and important operations, and eminently deserves the sympathy and support of the public.

The next large building close by is

The City Gaol,

which also includes the House of Correction; both are under the superintendence of a committee of the Town Council. The Gaol is in the western part of the building, with a good Doric entrance. Over the front entrance, within the iron railing, the condemned criminals are executed. The entrance to the House of Correction is at the east end, and is also of stone. Each of these establishments has four courts, with cells and day rooms adjoining; and both are under the government of one gaoler and a male and female assistant. There is a chapel common to both establishments. The chaplain is appointed by the Corporation. In consequence of the escapes the prisoners have succeeded in making from time to time, many improvements have been made in the internal arrangements of the prison, since it was first built, respecting the classification of prisoners and other matters; and the outworks of the building have received some important additions to ensure their greater security. A little further on to the left is Stanley-place, a pleasant, open square of modern residences, leading to the Linen Hall Cheese Mart, which is well supplied at the fairs, held six times during the year, with Cheese from the dairies of Cheshire and North Wales.

We now ascend a handsome gateway called

The Watergate,

the custody of which formerly belonged to the Earls of Derby, who held a valuable river jurisdiction, in executing the mayor’s warrants on the Dee, which formerly flowed close underneath. It was purchased from the Derby family by the Corporation in 1778, taken down in 1788, and the present structure erected in 1789, the expense being defrayed out of the murage duties fund. It consists of a wide and lofty arch, thrown over the Watergate-street, where a rapid descent adds much to its apparent elevation. The west side bears the following inscription:—

IN THE XXIX. YEAR OF THE REIGN OF GEO. III. IN THE
MAYORALTY OF JOHN HALLWOOD, AND JOHN LEIGH, ESQUIRES,
THIS GATE WAS ERECTED.

THOMAS COTGREAVE, EDWARD BURROWS, ESQUIRES, MURENGERS.

The view from the summit of this gate is very extensive, the objects immediately surrounding adding much to the pleasure of the scene. On the opposite bank of the river Dee is Curzon Park, with its beautiful villa residences. On the left is Grosvenor Bridge, with its far-famed noble arch, the widest arch of masonry in the world; a little beyond may be seen the grand lodge entrance to Eaton Park, erected at the cost of £14,000, the toute ensemble forming a most charming picture. The site of the present Crane-street and the parts adjacent were formerly under water.

Immediately below is the beautiful and spacious meadow called the

Roodeye.

It contains about eighty-four statute acres of land, and is let by the Corporation as a pasture for cattle. It was once the arena for ancient sports, and the city games and gymnastics were celebrated here, respecting which there are many curious records extant. Of these, however, the horse races alone remain, which continue to be held in the first week of May, this Spring meeting being considered one of the most important and interesting illustrations of the national sports of the turf. The course is little more than a mile, and affords the spectators the singular advantage of seeing the horses during the whole race. The Earl of Chester’s Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry assembles annually on the Roodeye for exercise.

The antiquity of the Chester races appears from the following extract from the collection of the late Mr. Nicholls of Chorlton, to whose researches the authors of the ‘History of Cheshire’ are much indebted. The MS. from which this is extracted is entitled,

“Certayne collections of anciante times, concerning the anciante and famous cittie of Chester, collected by that Reverend Man of God, Mr. Robert Rogers, bachelor of divinitie, archdeacon of Chester, parsone of Gooseworth, and prebande in the Cathedral of Chester, being put in scattered notes, and by his son reduced into these chapters following:—