The Wharncliffe Companion to Chester: An A to Z of Local History

By Roger Stephens

Aimed at visitors and residents alike, this companion to the history of Chester is an indispensable reference guide to the long, varied and sometimes surprising story of the town. Essential information on the people, places and events that played key roles in the story is presented in a convenient A to Z format. Famous and notorious individuals are portrayed here, dramatic, sometimes tragic events are remembered, and familiar local myths and legends are explored. The volume is a source of fascinating insights into Chester's past and should provide answers to frequently asked historical questions - the whos, wheres and whys that make up the rich history of the town.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 31, 2006
• ISBN: 9781783408542

Roger Stephens

ROGER STEPHENS is a local author and illustrator who has also worked as a tourist guide for over 20 years. His knowledge of Cheshire is superb and he gives talks on local and natural history. His illustrations have appeared in local books and magazines, as well as on display boards for nature reserves and visitor attractions. He lives and works in Chester.

Book preview

A

ABBEY GATE

This well-weathered sandstone gateway is rarely given a second thought by those who use it as a handy short-cut, but, when built in the fourteenth century, it was the grand entrance to the Abbey of St Werburgh. From Northgate St, we see the pointed gothic arch of the carriage entrance with a smaller postern on the right, both enclosed by a rounded arch. Inside, it consists of three vaulted bays and, where the ribs intersect, there are carved bosses, one showing an image of St Werburgh.

The blocked doorway on the right used to lead to a porter’s lodge, for two porters were employed ‘to kepe the gates and shave the company’–a surprising combination of jobs! There was also a spiral staircase leading to the rooms above, where, according to tradition, the Protestant martyr George Marsh was held before being burnt as a heretic at Boughton. This upper storey, despite its gothic-looking windows, was completely rebuilt in the early nineteenth century.

In the Middle Ages, the area in front of the gateway was a more significant focal point than it is today. The Abbot’s Fair was held here and the annual pageant of Mystery Plays began here, as did (and still does) the Midsummer Watch Parade.

In the north-west corner of Abbey Square is another, smaller entrance: the Little Abbey Gateway, a simple sandstone arch that is rarely noticed.

e9781783408542_i0003.jpg See MARSH, GEORGE; MIDSUMMER WATCH PARADE; MYSTERY PLAYS.

ABBEY SQUARE

On stepping through the old gateway, an elegant square opens up. This is Chester’s best example of textbook Georgian architecture where, in the eighteenth century, ‘some of our finest quality’ lived. Along the north and west sides of the square are terraces of brick houses built in the 1750s, all with slightly different doors and entrances, yet in perfect proportion with each other. At that time, each house in a terrace was built by a different developer who adhered to a basic pattern while adding their own stylistic details.

In the north-east corner is the Bishop’s House, which was built at around the same time on the site of the old gothic Chapel of St Thomas. On the east side are two cottages whose crumbling sandstone walls suggest that they are older. They are all that remains of four that were erected in 1626 as dwellings for the lay clerks of the cathedral.

e9781783408542_i0004.jpg

Abbey Square in the late eighteenth century

The uneven cobbling underfoot was improved by paving stones that run through the square like railway lines, giving carriages a smoother ride. In the middle is a central green with a tall sandstone cross. In the past, a stone pillar, salvaged from the old Exchange building, stood here.

Before redevelopment, Abbey Square was a courtyard surrounded by buildings belonging to the cathedral and, before that, the monastery: kitchens, a bakehouse and a smelly brewery which the bishop himself had cause to complain about. There was also a pond, perhaps where the green is now, called the Horse Pool, where visitors could water their horses. It was deep enough for a man to drown in, as proved by an inquisition of 1523 into the death of Roger Ledsham, keeper of the great gate of the abbey, who ‘was drowned by simple misfortune in the pit called le horse pole ’. It was filled in in 1584.

ABBOT, RUSS (b. 1947)

The well-known comedian, entertainer and actor was born in Chester to a family with no show-business connections. While still schoolboys, he and his friends formed a comedy pop group called the Deesiders, which, after they left school, became ‘The Black Abbots’. After a period of success with the group, Russ, who was the group’s drummer, went on to become a comedian and all-round entertainer. His own comedy shows brought him great popularity, reaching a peak in the 1980s, when millions watched shows like Saturday Night Madhouse. He has been voted the Funniest Man on Television five times, released a solo album and appeared in a number of television series as an actor.

ADMIRAL OF THE DEE

When the mayor of Chester awards prizes at the annual Raft Race on the River Dee, he does so in his capacity as ‘Admiral of the Dee’, however inappropriately pompous that may sound. On such occasions, he carries a silver admiralty oar as an emblem of his power, nearly a foot long and inscribed with the city arms. This oar was made by Chester goldsmith Richard Richardson in 1719-20, but the title itself has a much longer history.

In the mid-fourteenth century, the Mayor of Chester was given his additional title, which allowed him to ‘make attachments in the water of the Dee between Chester and Arnold’s Eye (near Hoylake) for tolls and other customs belonging to the same citizens and duties on imports, and also for offences committed in ships’. This meant that all the lands, possessions and harbours along the river and estuary from Hilbre to Eaton weir were answerable to him and not to the Admiral of England.

These rights, and those of other seaports, were finally abolished by the Municipal Corporation Act of 1835, but the title itself remained. In 1974, when local government was reorganized, the mayor’s right to carry his oar as Admiral of the Dee was confirmed.

e9781783408542_i0005.jpg See DEE, RIVER; MAYORS AND SHERIFFS.

AETHELFLEDA

After the collapse of Roman administration in Britain, in the early fifth century, Chester was absorbed into the Welsh kingdom of Powys, and did not fall into Mercian hands until the mid-seventh century. It remained a part of that kingdom until the end of the ninth century, when Danish forces captured the city and used it as a base for attacking the unsubdued portion of Mercia. In King Alfred’s reign it was reconquered, and his daughter Aethelfleda founded a burh (fortified town) here and at other places, including Eddisbury, Runcorn, Stafford and Bridgenorth. Aethelfleda was the wife of Aethelred, ealdorman of Mercia, but she overshadowed her husband in military affairs, earning the title ‘Lady of the Mercians’.

Aethelfleda (variously spelt Ethelfleda, Aethelfled, or even Elfleda) has also been credited with repairing and extending the city walls to their present dimensions, but archaeologists now doubt this. The fourteenth-century monk Ranulph Higden expressed it thus: ‘Northumbres [i.e. Danes from Northumbria] destroyed this citee somtyme; but afterward Elfleda, lady of Mercia bulde it agen and made it wel more’, while the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says, baldly: ‘907. Chester was restored’.

e9781783408542_i0006.jpg See WALLS.

AMPHITHEATRE

One day in 1929, a workman was digging at the Ursuline Convent School on Little St John St when his spade threw up a coin which looked Roman. It was reported to an archaeologist who identified it as a coin of the Emperor Hadrian, who visited Britain in about AD 121. He went to view the site and found that the work had uncovered part of a curved wall built of huge stones, which the workman was busy smashing with a crowbar and hammer. The wall proved to be eight and a half feet thick with massive buttresses and pottery evidence dated it to the first century AD. Dewa’s amphitheatre, about which there had been so much conjecture, had at last been found.

Part of the arena was dug out in the early 1930s, but it was not until 1959 that excavation began in earnest and the official opening had to wait until 1972. Even then only half could be revealed, because part of the ellipse of the amphitheatre lies under the convent, a listed building which dates back to 1730.

It was quite common for a Roman fortress or civilian settlement to have an amphitheatre outside the walls, in this case, by the south-east corner, sitting on a bluff overlooking the river. First, a relatively small amphitheatre was built, but this was later incorporated into a much more impressive one, with a diameter of 315 feet (96 m) at its widest point, making it the largest amphitheatre ever found in Britain. The outer wall was 35-40 feet high (10.5–12 m), which is almost twice the height of the city walls at this point, with the seating sloping down to an inner wall about 12 feet (4 m) high. Such an auditorium could seat over 7,000 spectators (sixteen times as many as the Gateway Theatre!), probably both soldiers and civilians. ‘So, what happened to all that stone?’ you may ask. It was almost certainly pilfered by medieval builders; no doubt, the walls of St John’s church and the south-east wall of the city contain much of it.

Only two of the four entrances, the east and north, are exposed. At the eastern doorway, part of an external stairway has been found, the only other known example being at Pompeii. In a room by the north entrance, an altar to the goddess Nemesis was found, which now resides in the Grosvenor Museum. This, according to its inscription, was put there by the centurion Sextus Marcianus, as a result of a vision. Nemesis was the goddess of justice and retribution, giving divine backing to the executions which may well have been carried out here - there is evidence of post holes in centre of arena, perhaps where a temporary scaffold was set up. Gladiators may also have made offerings before entering the arena.

And did gladiators really fight to the death in Chester’s arena? There is no record of what went on here, but it seems likely that it followed the usual Roman pattern. Excavations in the area have turned up a bone sword handle and a tile, decorated with the figure of a retarius, a gladiator who fought with a trident and net. Around the outer wall, there are post holes which suggest that stalls or booths were erected, and, here, a multitude of chicken bones and beef ribs have been found. Snacks sold to the spectators?

e9781783408542_i0007.jpg See DEWA.

ANCHORITE CELL

Below St John’s church lies the site of the old quarry from which the stone was probably taken (now converted into a bowling green). Nearby, on a slice of uncut rock, stands a quaint, stone-built house called the anchorite cell (also known as the hermitage or the rock house), a medieval building which was restored as a private house in the nineteenth century, probably using stones taken from the ruins of the church. Its fame rests on a legend, first recorded in the twelfth century by Gerald of Wales:

They maintain that King Harold is buried there. He was the last of the Saxon Kings in England and, as a punishment for his perjury, he was defeated by the Normans in pitched battle at Hastings. He was wounded in many places, losing his left eye through an arrow which penetrated it, but, although beaten, he escaped to these parts. It is believed that he led the life of an anchorite, passing his days in constant attendance in one of the local churches, and so came contentedly to the end of life’s journey.

The fourteenth-century Chester monk Ranulf Higden named his dwelling as St James’s Cell, which then stood on the same spot, so Harold’s local church would surely have been St John’s, founded by another great Saxon king, Aethelred of Mercia, in 689. While few would doubt that Harold died on the battlefield, it is quite possible that an unknown hermit made a name for himself by claiming to be the king - at least until 1069, when William’s forces took the city!

e9781783408542_i0008.jpg See HIGDEN, RANULPH; ST JOHN’S CHURCH.

ANNE, QUEEN (1665–1714)

The old Exchange building faced south, down Northgate St, and, in a niche on the front, there was a statue of Queen Anne in her coronation robes. It survived more than one of the city’s riots, being battered during the election of 1784, and again around the election of 1812, when part of her hands and her orb and sceptre were broken off. When the building burnt to the ground in 1862, she was rescued and removed to another niche in the spur wall that connects Bonewaldesthorne’s Tower with the Water Tower. There she stayed until the 1960s, when she fell from her perch (perhaps with a little help from vandals), and the pieces were disposed of by council workmen.

e9781783408542_i0009.jpg See BONEWALDESTHORNE’S TOWER AND THE WATER TOWER; EXCHANGE.

e9781783408542_i0010.jpg

The Exchange, showing the statue of Queen Anne above the centre window

ARCHERY

Archery practice was taken very seriously in the Middle Ages, and nowhere more so than in Chester, where about a thousand archers were stationed. After the famous victories at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, Cheshire longbowmen grew to be feared throughout Europe.

In Chester, the safest place to practise was the Roodee, where a competition was held during each Midsummer Fair, with a silver arrow given to the winner. The teaching of archery was a serious matter too: there is at least one case in Chester of a man brought before the court for training boys to shoot without a licence.

In 1539, the redoubtable mayor Henry Gee, perhaps fearing that the citizens were losing interest in the sport, decided that, on Sunday afternoons, all children in the city must

Shute on Roodey, or elsewhere, for pinns or points ... All parents of children to buye them Bowes and Arrows to shute with on Roodey, accordinge to the Statute of Artillery, beinge the Auntient use and means of defence of this Kingdom.

Later in the same century, a set of rules was drawn up regarding the correct use of the butts, making sure everyone had a chance to use them, forbidding their use at the time of divine service, and even forbidding ‘Bragginge words’, such as ‘yf thow darr Shoote with me, or darr bett with me’. There are still a few crenellations on the wall overlooking the Roodee which were used by medieval archers.

e9781783408542_i0011.jpg See KALEYARDS GATE; MARKETS AND FAIRS; MAYORS AND SHERIFFS; ROODEE.

ARMS OF CHESTER

The arms of the city of Chester were granted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1580, and, apart from a few adjustments made in 1977, are unchanged since that time.

The shield is divided into two halves, combining the arms of England (three gold lions on a red ground) with those of the earldom of Chester (three gold wheatsheaves on blue). The gold border is charged with eight acorns, representing the earldom’s ancient connection with Delamere Forest, while oak branches entwine the sword which stands on the crest. The supporters are the golden lion of England and the white wolf of Hugh Lupus, the first Norman earl of Chester. Around the neck of each is a crown with a red castle hanging from it, referring to the old fortresses of the area, such as Beeston and Shotwick. The badge features the wolfs head of Hugh Lupus against the red and blue background of the shield, all wreathed in oak. The motto is Antiqui Colant Antiquum Dierum (Let the Ancients Worship the Ancient of Days).

e9781783408542_i0012.jpg See also EARLS OF CHESTER.

B

BALLOONS

In August 1785, a charismatic young Neapolitan named Vincenzo Lunardi took a room at the White Lion in Northgate St, and put an advertisement in the Chester Chronicle announcing that, if enough subscribers could be found, he would perform a death-defying ascent in a hydrogen balloon from the castle. The craze for ballooning had begun three years earlier, when the Montgolfier brothers made their first flight in France. Lunardi was a professional whose recent ascent in London had brought him instant fame, so before long the inn was besieged by people eager to see the intrepid aeronaut.

Huge crowds gathered in the castle yard to see the red, white and blue balloon slowly fill with gas to the accompaniment of cannon fire. Unfortunately, Lunardi burnt himself with the acid used to generate hydrogen and refused to go through with an ascent. The spectators, who had paid up to 10 shillings each, threatened to riot, however, so he sent a servant up in his place, even though the balloon was only half filled with gas. A week later, Lieutenant French of the Cheshire Militia, who had raised money to pay for Lunardi’s stay, went up in the balloon himself. He rose ‘majestically, with the greatest coolness and collected courage’ and threw down a basket containing refreshments for the spectators. The balloon ascended quickly and soon disappeared into the clouds. French was in the air for two hours before making a safe landing in a field near Macclesfield. Lunardi, meanwhile, was still at the White Lion, keeping his listeners spellbound with talk of navigation in the air. One of them was Tom Baldwin, a Chester clergyman and Cambridge graduate with a great interest in science. He had already made small experimental balloons at his father’s home, Hoole Hall, and longed to make an ascent. In the end, he had to hire Lunardi’s balloon, having failed to find sponsorship for one of his own. So, on a calm September day, ‘the intrepid aeronaut stepped into the car amidst the acclamations of his fellow citizens and an applause that was mixed with terror and delight’. There was general anxiety when the balloon appeared to be heading out to sea, but Baldwin was able to steer it back towards land. His trip ended at Rixton Moss, near Warrington, two and a half hours later. For several hours afterwards, he kept the locals entertained with more ascents, keeping the balloon tethered, and next day returned to Chester in triumph: ‘His flags were carried in procession, the bells rang, and every other demonstration of joy was shewn on the occasion.’

Baldwin did not miss the opportunity for scientific experimentation while he was in the balloon. He had taken instruments with him, including a