Deanery Field

The banks inside the Walls around the Deanery Field are the remains of first century Roman turf walls, from the time when Chester defences were built of wood and turf, rather than stone. Nowadays a game of cricket is more likely on the Deanery Field, and more or less centre of the photo is the roller used for flattening the crease. To the right of it is Deanery Cottage, one of the many properties owned by the Cathedral.

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Stalled Building Projects

Chester, like so many other places in the current recession, has many stalled building projects. This crane is on what used to be the national bus station, and has not moved for many a month.

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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.

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Weathervanes

All over the city centre I keep seeing the same, or very similar, weathervanes on top of many of the Thomas Harrison-designed buildings. To me they look like highly stylised Viking ships. What do you think?

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Grosvenor Park - St Michaels (or Bridgets) Arch

In the south-western corner of Grosvenor Park there are complex arches which are said to have been moved here in 1897. I have seen two differing versions of where they came from. The first says that it is the porch of St Michaels Church (now the Heritage Centre), and the second says that it came from St Bridgets Church and Benedictine Nunnery, which was directly across the road from St Michaels, but is now long gone.

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Misleading Dates

On the front of Tudor House is the sign seen below, saying that it was built in 1503. However, the date came from a beam in which the second digit was smudged. Dendrochronological analysis confirms a date within the range 1592 to 1623, so the date is much more likely to be 1603, and its' earliness exaggerated in a bid to be 'the oldest building'.

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Gamul Place

Down on Lower Bridge Street, past the Brewery Tap (also known as Gamul House), is a narrow passageway with a discreet sign - Gamul Place. Named, I guess, after  Sir Francis Gamul, a Royalist supporter and colonel of the town guard, it leads to a small courtyard of houses. Follow a narrow pathway around to your left and it leads to a small green space, well hidden behind all the houses.

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