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Bridge of Sighs II

A Virtual Stroll Around the Walls of Chester 1. The Northgate

Northgate part II

This is the highest point in the city and from here you can observe the course of its ancient defensive wall running gently downhill on each side, east to the Phoenix Tower, west towards St. Martin's Gate, the Watertower and the Clwydian hills of North Wales and, less obviously, south towards the city centre, the High Cross and beyond to the River Dee.

Our photograph shows the view from the Northgate into the city as it appeared over a century ago. Should the visitor compare it with the same view as seen today, it is truly remarkable how little seems to have changed, only the buildings on the right hand side having since been replaced, as we shall learn later.

Dead Men's Room
This second Northgate, first mentioned in documents in 1096, comprised a "dark, narrow and inconvenient passage, under a pointed arch, over which was a mean and ruinous gaol."
Part of this prison- the entrance to which was on the west side of the gate (the right hand side as viewed from outside the walls)- was excavated from the rock up to 30 feet below the street. Descriptions of it in the 17th century talk of it being "noisome, pestilential, stinking, and crowded with venomous creatures"- one cell was known as 'the snake pit'- and of a "dark and stinking place called the Dead Men's Room" where prisoners who had been condemned to death were confined, in order to "make them more callous to their impending fate". It had no window, and was accessible only by a trapdoor in the roof.
There was another cell known as the Chamber of Little Ease, which was described by a contermporary visitor as "a hole hewed out in a rock; the breadth and cross from side to side was seventeen inches from the back to the great door; at the top seven inches, at the shoulders eight inches and at the breast nine inches and a half; with a device to lessen the height as they were minded to torture the person put in, by drawboards which shot over across the two sides, to a yard in height or thereabouts".
Another account described it thus, "In the court of the said House of Correction in a hole in the side of a rock is a little prison place called the Little Ease in which stubborn youths are thrust, and a grate locked upon them, where they can neither stand, sit, kneel nor ly, but are bent in all their joyntes, & have no resting place for any part".

From the reign of Elizabeth I in the 1560s, the Spanish Armada in 1588 to the so-called 'Popish Plot' concocted by Titus Oates in 1678, persecution of the Catholics resulted in many being imprisoned both here and at the Castle. It was a foul place out of which few escaped and some died- but in which one or two conformed and went to church. One Ralph Langton, however, was confined here after he boasted that "he would never go to church for any man's pleasure in Chester".

In the 17th century, during Oliver Cromwell's English Commonweath, Chester's Quakers were actively persecuted by the Puritans and Prebyterians, and many of them were imprisoned at the Northgate. Of one poor Quaker it is recorded: "that, being a portly man, he was too large for the dungeon known as little ease, but was nevertheless squeezed into it and the door shut, which caused the blood to run from his nostrils".

These cells were continually wet and the only way air could enter was by the way of pipes which led from the street above. There is a story that when some men were suspected of sheep stealing and one of them was captured and placed in the Dead Man's Room, his accomplices stuffed rags into these pipes, suffocating the prisoner overnight before he had a chance to reveal their names.
In 1663, a widow named Elizabeth Powell was convicted of witchcraft. Debatably more fortunate than others, such as the three women who a few years earlier had been hanged at the Castle for the same offence, she was sent to the Northgate Gaol where she died six years later.

In the 18th century, debtors, too, were confined at the Northgate, where they could be held for a decade or more, but their treatment was, relatively speaking. not as severe as for other classes of criminal. They were allowed to stroll about on the North Wall and even wander a little way down Northgate Street and 'gentlemen' could, for a weekly rent of five shillings, live in the relative comfort of the 'Blue Room'.
Felons, too, had the use of a day room but they had to wear irons and return to their windowless cells at night.

When prison reformer John Howard visited the Northgate Gaol in 1787, he reported that both convicted prisoners and those awaiting trial had shackles around the necks, hands, waists and feet which would be attached to the floors during the day and their beds at night. They were allowed to beg for several hours a day- a necessity, because they were not given enough food to live on by the authorities, a situation Howard described as a "disgrace to such an opulent city."
We will be meeting with the great John Howard again later in our stroll, when we visit Chester Castle.

In addition to those at the scaffold and stake at Boughton, outside the city walls, untold numbers of public executions were carried out over the centuries at the Northgate Gaol. As late as 1801 it was recorded that Aaron Gee and Thomas Gibson were hung here by being pushed out of windows in the attics on the gaol's south (city) side. Dropping just forty inches, their bodies "beat against the windows beneath so as to break the glass in them".
On September 10th 1802, Thomas Griffiths was sentenced to death here for stealing "One Gelding the property of Samuel Jackson". In 1786, James Buckley was convicted of burglary and received the same harsh penalty. These sentences certainly appear severe when compared with the six months imprisonment, and fine of 6s 8d with a recognizance of £100 to keep the peace for three years imposed on John Davies on October 24, 1805. Mr Davies was found guilty of 'wilfully, maliciously and with malice of aforethought drowning John English in the waters of the Ellesmere Canal'. It would seem that, in Chester, property was deemed of greater value than life.

On the site of Sayer's the Bakers immediately next to the modern gate once stood a timber-built tavern known as the Hen and Chickens which is said to "have reaped golden harvests when, in the days of the old Northgate Prison, unfortunate malefactors suffered, close to this spot, the last penalty of the law at the hands of the public hangman" (Hughes 1858).

The outside of the Northgate was defended by a drawbridge. In the city's accounts for 1569, we read, "For making the north-gate bridge new, grette joists and thick planks: £4 3s 2d".

This dreadful place was in regular use for over 700 years. By 1801 it was recognised as being desperately inadequate for its purpose and calls were made for its replacement. It was described by the Mayor, Daniel Smith, the Recorder, Hugh Leycester and other worthies as "Insufficient, inconvenient and in want of repair. The place whereon the present gaol is situate is improper and inconvenient, the gaol ought to be removed to another part of the city".

In 1807, this came about when a new City Gaol was erected across the city on a site near the walls now occupied by the Queen's School. When the old one was demolished in the following year, abundant proof of its Roman origin was found; large stones, regularly laid without mortar, and not nearly so weathered as the upper courses, laid probably five or six hundred years later.

Chester guide and author Thomas Hughes remarked of its passing "the gaol, with its attendant miseries, has gone, but the dungeons we have pictured abide there still, beneath the ground we are now standing on- though filled up, it is true, and for ever absolved from their ancient uses".
And such remains the case to this day. Spare a moment to think of those awful dungeons still lying beneath the pavement when you visit the place for yourself.

Here is a beautiful watercolour of the final days of the medieval Northgate by Moses Griffith (1747-1819). The stone bridge seen crossing the canal cutting is still in use today but decorative iron railings have since been added. Notice how the wall-top walkway went round three sides of the Northgate. On the far left, you can see the diagonal line where the large weathered blocks of the 2nd century Roman wall ends and the medieval work begins, much as we see it today.

This writer, for one, had thought that the Roman wall had formerly existed beyond this point, joining with the medieval gate, and that it had been cut back to its present extent when the gate was replaced in 1808. This painting shows this not to have been the case. It may have been an oversight by the artist, but he was 60 years old when the old gate was demolished, had a keen eye and presumably knew it well.
To find out more about Moses Griffith's life and work, be sure to visit this excellent website, written by Alexa Chipman, a student at the far-away Dominican University of California...

The other side of the canal, where a utilitarian electricity substation now stands, was occupied by the House of Correction, seen on the right of the picture, where 'petty' crimes were punished by confinement and hard labour. In 1693, it was ordered that three apprentices, Joseph Harrison, John Litherland and George Eaton, were to be "committed to the House of Correction, and be there severally whipped for their disorderly behaviour within the hearing of this court and continue there until further notice". The punishment seems to have had a beneficial effect as all three are recorded as being admitted as Freemen of the City in later years.
One Richard Geary Smith was sentenced to one month's stay in the House of Correction on March 13, 1799, for being a 'Rogue and Vagabond'. On January 19th of the same year, Samuel Starkie received a month's sentence for deserting his wife and child, therefore leaving them chargeable on the Parish. Starkie also had to pay 2/6d to his wife or the Parish before he could be discharged.
The House of Correction also served as a sort of workhouse; in 1685, Ann Mynshull left in her will "rents for the maintainance of poor freemen's children at work in a house called the House of Correction standinge neare unto the Northgate".

Beyond this at the top of the steps, a corner of the Bluecoat School is just visible. We will learn much more about this in our next chapter.

The old Northgate saw much action during the Civil War Siege of Chester in 1645-6. Most of the buildings standing beyond it outside the city walls, if not burned by the besiegers were demolished by the townspeople themselves so as not to afford shelter to Parliamentary snipers. The city's principal entrance, the Eastgate had been blocked with earth and rubble as a defensive measure, so the Royalist defenders used this gate when sallying forth to attack their foes surrounding the town.

More happily, a century later, a 1750 edition of the long-defunct Chester Courant gave notice of a series of plays to be performed "for every night during the Fair-Week at the theatre near to the Northgate". We have no clue where this theatre was located.
Also, in an August 1750 edition of the Courant, appeared the following announcement, "Notice of Benefit Performances. For the benefit of the prisoners in the Northgate and the Castle, on Thursday next will be presented "The Suspicious Husband" with a musical entertainment called "The Chaplet".

The terrible medieval Northgate was eventually replaced by the structure upon which we now stand, a miniature masterpiece of Neo-Classicism designed by Thomas Harrison (portrayed right- we will encounter his works frequently throughout our stroll around Chester) and built in 1808-10, the last of Chester's ancient fortified gates to be so replaced. On the north side is the inscription- and a test for your Latin:
PORTAM SEPTEMTRIONALEM SUBTRACTA A ROMANIS VETUSTATE JAM DILAPSAM IMPENIS SUIS AB INTEGRO PRESTITUENDAM CURAVIT ROBERTUS COMES GROSVENOR, A.R. GEORGII TERTII LI.
And on the south appears the following:
INCHOATA GULIELMO NEWELL, ARM, MAI, MDCCCVIII. PERFECTA THOMA GROSVENOR, ARM, MAI. MDCCCX. THOMA HARRISON, ARCHITECTO.
Built of finely cut grey Runcorn sandstone, this new arch was commisioned by Robert, 2nd Earl Grosvenor, when he became Mayor of Chester in 1807-08. Grosvenor initially wanted a 'Gothic' design so Harrison produced drawings of a "pretty confection" with a parapet of arches carrying a vaulted passage over the road. He also, however, pointed out that the new gate would stand on the site of a Roman predecessor and was located close to an impressive surviving stretch of Roman wall and persuaded Earl Grosvenor of the merits of an alternative design which, with its Doric columns, paid homage to Chester's Roman origins.
Harrison duly presented his proposals to the City Council's Assembly Committee, but, when a vote was taken, only two were in support, the other ten preferring a copy of Joseph Turner's Watergate, built twenty years earlier, in 1789 (Turner had also, in 1782, designed the replacement Bridgegate). Mr Anderson, the contractor who was supplying the stone for the project, said that he could build Turner's design for £280 rather than the £350 which Harrison estimated his would cost. Money considerations aside, there were also hints in the Minutes and in the ensuing public controversy that that some people considered Harrison a "pushy outsider" and party politics also enterered into the row, some supporting the recently-elected tory MP and others the city's other MP- Earl Grosvenor's own brother- who was a Whig.
Within a fortnight, Anderson had commenced the foundations for the Turner design but strong opposition was already being expressed in the City to the idea of a copy of an 'old-fashioned' gate when a more modern alternative was available. Grosvenor's faction, who were willing and able to pay the higher price, were eventually successful and the new gateway was built to Harrison's design. It was actually modified somewhat during the construction process; Harrison had wanted fluted columns on each side of the arch, rather than the plain Doric columns we see today, on the grounds that they were "more authentically Greek" but had been persuaded to drop the idea by the Town Clerk, who feared that the delicate flutings would be damaged by the mob "at a time of disputed elections". The modifications resulted in a more severe appearance that gained something of the "quiet simplicity and quiet grandeur" of his Shire Hall portico at the Castle, erected a few years earlier.

The Northgate hasn't changed much since it was built almost exactly 200 years ago. The photograph of it above shows how it was over a century ago, looking much as we know it- although today the gas lamp no longer stands on top.
To illustrate, however, how much the nearby Market Square has changed over time, below is an interesting old etching by George Batenham showing the area as it appeared around 1817, a decade after the gate was rebuilt. Virtually all the buildings shown have now vanished.
The large Georgian house on the extreme left was the city residence of the Massey Family of Moston.
Next door, the family of Sir Hugh Cholmondeley, who owned a very large amount of property in various parts of Cheshire, owned a grand town house which formed the centre section of the buildings between Princess Street and Hunter Street. This house was in the occupation of the Chamberlaine family in the early years of the 19th century and later in that century the premises were occupied by William Hewitt, a coach builder. About the year 1900 they were taken over by a similar firm and re-built. They were rebuilt once again on a grander scale in 1913 to a design by Philip Lockwood for the Westminster Coach and Motor Car Works and this remains with us today- for the moment at least- as the facade of Chester Library. This is soon to be demolished as part of the Northgate Redevelopment Scheme and the elegant terracotta facade will then apparently form an entrance into the promised new public square.
The site of the old mansion was replaced in the 19th cenury by a fine building in a similar style which is now occupied by the Shropshire Arms public house and a florist's shop. The fine half-timbered house to its right was to be demolished shortly after this print was made. Its last tenant was the artist James Hunter, who gave his name to the adjoining lane, Hunter's Passage- later widened and known since the 1890s as Hunter Street. In its place rose the imposing Northgate House, a private residence which was later used as offices and later still as lodgings for the judges at Chester Assizes. This in turn was demolished and the handsome Grade II listed Odeon Cinema was built here in 1936.
Before construction of the cinema commenced, an archaeological dig took place, conducted by the great Professor Robert Newstead. This unearthed some interesting Roman and medieval remains, some of which were put on show in the upper lounge and may still be seen there today.

Also soon after the print was made, the wooden stalls of the meat shambles on the far left of the picture were replaced by a stone and brick market building, shown in this fine illustration of the old Exchange.
It is recorded that, in 1581, the city magistrates bought the old Shire Hall at the Castle "for six Cheshire cheeses", and had it moved to the Market Square, where it was first served as a granary, and was then appropriated by the city's butchers, becoming the flesh shambles.

The house on the far right is Folliot House, built in 1778 and formerly the home of the architect and designer of the Northgate, Thomas Harrison. Though now converted to offices (home to the Citizen's Advice Bureau and other social services), closely hemmed-in by commercial premises and robbed of its extensive gardens, it is the only building in the illustration that remains with us to this day, albeit in a brutally truncated form, as shown by the two photographs below...

The picture on the left was taken (we think) during the Second World War when when the house served in the unglamorous but vital role of a storage depot for ARP (air raid precautions) equipment such as respirators and waterproof garments. Training exercises for the AFS (Auxilliary Fire Service) volunteer firemen were also carried out here.
At an undetermined date since, the fine old Georgian mansion was unceremonially 'chopped in half'- the bricked-in shapes of former interior windows and doors can still be clearly seen on the blank wall nearest to the camera in the modern view- and the space between it and the Odeon Cinema is now occupied by a bookmaker's premises. The ancient Pied Bull public house next door looks exactly the same except for the reduction in height of its tall chimney. We will learn more of it and other neighbouring inns in the third part of our wander around Northgate Street...

Thomas Harrison was a prolific architect here in Chester- in addition to the Northgate, he was responsible for the great Grosvenor Bridge, the rebuilding of the Castle and its (now-demolished) County Gaol, the Commercial Newsrooms at the further end of Northgate Street, the refacing of St. Peter's Church after the removal of the Pentice at the Cross and much else. Elsewhere, his most noted surviving buildings include the Skerton Bridge and County Gaol at the Castle in Lancaster, the Portico Library in Manchester and the Lyceum and rebuilt tower of the Parish Church of Our Lady and St. Nicolas in Liverpool.

The attractive timber building next to the former Bluebell Inn was built in 1911 as a fire station, designed in the Vernacular Revival style by James Strong, a pupil of John Douglas, complete with oriel windows beneath picturesque overhanging gables- in Chester, even the fire station had to be a half-timbered building! It was designed to house three horse-drawn fire engines, but, unable to accomodate more modern motorised appliances, it closed in 1970 and served for a while as retail premises, but has now been transformed into a smart French restaurant.
When the firemen moved to their new station close by, on St. Anne Street, they left behind Jack, the resident ghost. Jack used to be seen sitting on the engines, an old fireman with whiskers, dressed in an old-fashioned uniform and brass helmet...
An earlier fire station of sorts, known as the Engine House existed further up the road in the late 18th century. The 1792 directory refers to it as "a neat building, with fluted columns and a rich cornice, of the Corinthian order. The fire engines are kept here at the expense of the Corporation, and the keys at the Exchange Coffee House, also by persons in different parts of the city." Fourty-odd years later, Joseph Hemingway noted: "After King Street on the left, an open space, used as a potato market, is discovered. At the extremity of this area, a good brick building has been erected, and the upper part converted into a reservoir, which is constantly filled with water to supply the city with that necessary article, and to be in readiness in case of fire. The apartments beneath are occupied as depositories for the fire engines".

In 2005, the local press reported that the days of the St. Anne Street fire station were apparently numbered as plans were afoot for the building to be demolished- together, scandalously, with the award-winning Northgate Arena next door, a replacement for which was to be built at the ghastly Greyhound Retail Park on the edge of the city. On its site it was proposed to erect a Hilton Hotel, of all things, even more 'luxury' apartment blocks plus an inevitable 'sweetener' in the form of Extra Care housing for the elderly.
Expecting the worst, Chester's people were pleasantly surprised when our councillors, being advised that the plans were worrying on many counts, wisely rejected the planning application. The plot reared its head once more, however, in November 2007 when aspiring developer, Steeltower Ltd submitted an 'amended' version of their proposals...
Headed by one Patrick Davies, Steeltower- not, to our minds, the most confidence-inspiring name when considering the architecture of such a unique city as Chester- remains a rather mysterious organisation with no track record that we know of and- most unusually for a developer with such multi-million pound aspirations as this- apparently no internet presence whatsoever. By contrast, for example, here is the very slick site of the redevelopers of the old Police Headquarters site- HQ.
An unconvinced, and unnamed, local developer was quoted in the Chester Chronicle as saying, "I am a bit confused. I don't understand where the land value would be created. How are you going to generate the millions to pay for all these goodies?"
Concerned local individuals, such as City Councillor Ruth Davidson and Geoff Alderton, have taken steps to ensure that the Northgate Arena is protected from predatory attacks such as this by being made a listed building. English Heritage, predictably, think differently, saying that the building "lacks the high level of architectural quality necessary", that its styling is "typical rather than exceptional" and that "its interior has been compromised by later alterations". We would disagree strongly- and also remind you that these are the chumps that, just across town, have for years fought tooth and nail to defend a rotting Victorian ex-convent that happens to stand on top of the largest Roman military amphitheatre in Britain...
Steeltower's Chairman is listed as Sir Mark William Ogilvie Birdwood, 3rd Baron Birdwood "an honorary Research Associate of the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences at the London School of Economics. He is also a patron of Mansfield College, Oxford. He is the trustee of two charities and was in the Select Committee for Science and Technology for thirty seven years until he relinquished the position, following The House of Lords reform. Mark has been actively involved in property development, and has co-founded three property companies. He is currently the chairman of one of these, Steeltower Ltd". (source: RocSearch)
The Great One's presence is doubtlessly effective in cowing small town planners and councillors but they still sound like a right bunch of chancers to us. Contact details for Steeltower: Patrick Davies, Managing Director, Steeltower Ltd, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR Tel 07966 304682.

The Northgate Arena is managed by the Chester and District Sports and Recreation Trust (CADSART), a non-profit making charitable trust. In January 2008, it beat over 450 other entrants to be named the best leisure centre in the UK by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE). Will this stunning achievement finally put paid to SteelTower's (and their local crony's) plotting? Watch this space...

• A stunning panoramic movie of Northgate Street may be seen at Chester 360º

Now go on to part II of our exploration of Northgate Street...

Curiousities from Chester's History no. 1
(To help put the events listed here and on the following pages into context, we have also included the reigns of the Kings and Queens of England and a selection of major world events- these latter are shown in blue).