Old Fire Station/Chez Jules

Up on Northgate Street there is a restaurant called Chez Jules, but once upon a time it was the Northgate Fire Station. Built at a cost of £3,000 in 1911, to replace the previous one in the Potato Market, it lasted until 1971, when the main fire station relocated to St Anne Street.

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Flowers

Even though it is still January, and winter, there are plenty of flowers about.

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New Crane Wharf

The wharf was developed during the second half of the 18th century. A new road (New Crane Street) was built to connect it to the Watergate, and it could take sea-going vessels up to 350 tons. The riverside warehouse is a listed building, and is now a training base for sea cadets.

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Barclays Bank Northgate Street

What is now Barclays Bank was originally a school. First held in the Refectory, or any available part of the Cathedral, as well as St Nicholas' Chapel, this building was built in 1873, to give the King's School, founded by Henry VIII, a permanent home. The school later moved out into other venues before reaching its' present location south of the city.

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Grosvenor Park - The Ship Gate

The Ship Gate, or Shipgate, once stood a little to the left of the Bridgegate. It was an entrance for cargo to be brought up St Mary's Hill into the city. There was a gatekeeper, who took taxes and locked the gate at night. A ferry once ran from the Shipgate to Handbridge, which was cheaper than the toll to cross by the Old Dee Bridge, and there was also a ford at that point in the river. The gate was built during the reign of Henry II or Edward I, demolished in 1831, and moved to Grosvenor Park.

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Northgate Gaol

The City Gaol was housed in the old Northgate, and is now a private residence. Prisoners were held in dungeons cut deep into the sandstone below the city wall. There were no windows in some dungeons and the only air the prisoners got was by pipe, which could be blocked from outside, if they had enemies. If you look carefully in the second photo below, you can see the blocked airholes in the top left.

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River Dee

For centuries, the fortunes of Chester were tied to the River Dee. Ships carrying cargo arrived and left, bringing wealth to the citizens. Gradually, however, the river silted up, and the mooring places moved out along the river. In Roman times the harbour would have been approximately where the race course is now, then it moved to the Water Tower, then the Water Tower was extended out into the river, then to the Old Port area, then on out to Parkgate and Meols, from which coach services were run. These photos are down by the Cop, and if you look at the river bank on the largest one you can see some fallen stones, which I think are either from a quay wall, or from an attempt at dredging.

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Bridge Of Sighs

Just by the Northgate, between the chapel in the Bluecoat Hospital and what used to be the Northgate prison, is the Bridge of Sighs. It got its' name because it used to be used for prisoners taking their final walk across to receive the last rites, before going to the gallows in the Bluecoat.

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Fishing Boats On The Dee

There have always been fishermen on the Dee, and there still are a few, though I'm not sure whether any of them make a living solely by fishing any more. There are still a few fishing boats kept down there, though.

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The Cop

Down on Sealand Road, by the River Dee, is an area of land known as The Cop. Once upon a time there was a warehouse here,  used for exporting Cheshire cheese - 7,000 tons of cheese were exported to London each year in the late 18th century. It now has a children's playground and a graffiti wall on it, but, if you look carefully at the top edge of the green area in the photo below, you can see a raised bank. This is known as the Bund, and is the defence against flooding, should the river overflow its' banks. Not for nothing is the road called Sealand...

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Bishop's House

The Bishop of Chester gets to live at No. 1 Abbey Street, just off Abbey Square, and a very fine residence it is too. I especially love the attached conservatory on the far end.

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Edgar's Field II

In 973 the English King Edgar brought his fleet to Chester, shortly after his coronation in Bath. Legend has it that he was rowed up the River Dee by eight British princes to attend a service in St John's Church. This act symbolised their recognition of Edgar as their overlord. Edgar's Field is said by some to be the location of Edgar's Palace and the place from which he was rowed. It is now home to a children's playground.

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Chester Guilds

The Guilds were once very powerful in Chester, and each guild would have had its' own meeting place. Now there is a small museum in the Guild Hall which commemorates them. The Guilds used to perform the Chester Mystery Plays, performed every five years, of which there will be a cycle next year. The list of guilds involved in the plays was as follows:

Barkers, Tanners
Drapers, Hosiers
Waterleaders, Drawers in the Dee
Barber Surgeons, Waxchandlers
Cappers, Wiredrawers, Pinners
Wheelrights, Slaters, Tylers, Daubers, Thatchers
Painters, Glaziers, Embroiderers
Vintners
Mercers, Spicers
Goldsmiths, Masons
Smiths, Forbers, Pewterers
Butchers
Glovers, Parchment-makers
Corvisars
Grocers, Bakers, Millers
Bowyers, Fletchers, Stringers, Coopers, Turners
Dyers
Ironmongers, Ropers
Cooks, Tapsters, Ostlers, Innkeepers
Skinners, Plastercard-makers, Hatters, Painters, Girdlers
Saddlers
Tailors
Fishmongers
Shermen
Hewsters, Bellfounders
Weavers, Walkers

A corvisar was a cobbler, i.e. someone who make shoes, forbers burnished metal, and a sherman was someone who finished cloth.

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The High Cross

The Cross used to be known as the High Cross, and its' existence was first recorded in 1377. It was knocked down during the Civil War, after the siege of Chester (which, incidentally was not a very good siege, it leaked like a sieve - food got in and out of the city quite easily, as long as you had money). Parts of the Cross were found hidden under the steps of the church shown in the photo in 1806, but the Cross wasn't rebuilt until 1975, and even then with some bits missing. Parts of it are still in Plas Newydd, Llangollen, and the figures from the head have never been found.

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Sewage Works

Once upon a time this was a reasonably nice late Victorian or early Edwardian house, which was divided into two, then the right half was extended, not very sympathetically.  It is hidden down a little unadopted side road, and would be a relatively cheap property, if it were up for sale. But as you see in the second photo, the real problem with it is that it is in the grounds of the sewage works, and a distinct advantage for any would-be owner would be a lack of a sense of smell.

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Overleigh Cemetery

By the 1830s the churchyard cemeteries in Chester were full up, and what is now known as Overleigh cemetery came into existence. You can learn more about it, and even search for anyone who is buried there here:
http://archivedatabases.cheshire.gov.uk/cms/LacOverleighCemetery/home.aspx

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Roman Street Signs

I am told, though I don't know whether it is true, that Chester is the only place in Britain that still has the signs on its' main street in both English and Latin.

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Walls Repairs

Chester Walls are pretty much constantly being repaired, and modern day murengers are currently in action around the Northgate and King Charles Tower, where they have built a raised walkway to take you around the repairs.

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Edgar's Field

Edgar's Field is over in Handbridge, and was originally the site of a Roman Quarry. The stones quarried were almost certainly used in the construction of Chester. The sandstone outcrop  towards the centre of the park holds the nation's only remaining in-situ Roman shrine, to the goddess Minerva. You should just about be able to make it out in the photos below, and you can tell it is Minerva because of the owl (you need a bit of imagination, mind).

Publish Post

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Smile Day

The third Monday in January is supposed to be the most miserable day of the year, so charitable organisations in Chester are trying do do something about it, by launching Chester Smile Day. There is pizza making, artwork, photography, a hall of mirrors, seaside stock, and a straight face competition on at the Wesleyan Methodist in St John St.

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The Rectory Restaurant

Right opposite the Cathedral, in what used to be the offices of a firm of solicitors, is a restaurant called the Rectory. They have a January special offer, so we thought we would try it. Unfortunately I cannot recommend them - there was a long wait for service, and my food, a vegetable tagine, was distinctly undercooked. In fact the vegetables (aubergine, courgettes and onion) were nearly raw and I couldn't eat it. Coffee was good, and the stuffed peppers were okay, though.

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Clock Cleaning

Yesterday I was walking down Eastgate St, and there was scaffolding up and a cherrypicker out whilst a team of men cleaned and serviced the clock. I kept worrying that they would drop bits of it, but of course they didn't.

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Three Old Arches

The Three Old Arches are thought to be Britain's oldest surviving shop front. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Old_Arches
There used to be an interesting food shop and deli downstairs (part of Owen Owen), and it would be great to see something like that there again.

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The Rows - Theories of Origins II

The second theory of the development of the rows is as follows: they evolved to offer the inhabitants better security from potential invaders. This theory suggests that businesses and living accommodations were deliberately built at a higher level joined by linked walkways and accessed by staircases dotted along their length. The staircases could then have been protected by shutters and gates to prevent invaders gaining access to the upper levels, giving inhabitants an extra level of protection (after the city walls and gates). This theory seems less likely - after all, invaders could simply have set fire to the lower levels, since undercrofts were supported by wooden beams, although that would have destroyed much of the value that lay in capturing the city.

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The Rows - Theories of Origins I

No-one really knows why the Rows, which are pretty much unique to Chester (although fragments exist elsewhere, Chester is the only complete surviving structure), came into being. There are two main theories, and the real answer is probably a mixture of the two, but could be something else entirely.
Theory I - the amount of debris and standing remains that still existed from Roman times prevented any sort of extensive building program at or on street level, so mediaeval builders were forced to create a new elevated ground level. It is certain that the Roman buildings were massive - Chester was the largest Roman legionary fortress in Britain, and it is highly likely that some building skills and techniques would have been lost after the Romans left Britain.

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Greenway Street

Greenway Street is in Handbridge, and leads down to the river Dee. Traditionally all the houses were fishermens cottages, and this area was home to the long gone salmon fishing industry, although there are still one or two fishermen about, and I have eaten salmon caught here.

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Ye Olde Edgar

A few doors down from the Bear & Billet are these two former town houses which were once joined together as an inn. Ye Olde Edgar is actually much older than the Bear and Billet, dating from c1570, and one of the best examples of late Tudor building in Chester. The name commemorates the tradition that in AD 973, the Saxon King Edgar was rowed down the river Dee by eight tributory Celtic kings, in token of their submission to him. The inn name survives, although the building has been converted back to two dwellings. Gyles Brandreth used to live here when he was the M.P. for Chester.

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