Grosvenor Park - St Marys Nunnery Arch

St Marys Nunnery used to own land that stretched from the arch in the wall near the castle all the way to Black Friars, and they had a convent and gardens on it. The nuns were very powerful, the prioress holding her own court, and the nuns and their tenants being exempt from various taxes and serving on juries and inquisitions. They were entitled to supplies of timber from Shotwick Royal Park, and could have their corn ground free of charge at the Dee Mills. In the year 1281, in order to gain access to the river, the nuns were granted charters that stated:

1. "A free exit of the water from their garden, by the middle of the land which Philip the Clerk, citzen of Chester, had under the wall of the city, opposite the water of Dee, by the garden of Robert Mercener, so that he and his heirs incurred no damage and were not hindered in ploughing and sowing."
2. "A way across the croft which the same Philip the clerk had, under the wall of the city, opposite the water of Dee, by the Quarry, to be eight feet in breadth outside the ditch by his garden, and to extend to the wall of the city to Eya- that is, the Roodee."

The arch was moved to Grosvenor Park in 1871, before that it formed an entrance to the ruins at St John's Church.

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park