 |
 |
 Roman Garden |
A Virtual Stroll Around the Walls of Chester The
River
Dee |
|
ressing
on,
just
ahead
of
us
as the
walls
turn
to
the
west
by
Barnaby's Tower, we
get
our
first
view
of
the beautiful
River
Dee.
Deva
was
the
name
given
to
their
fortress
by
the
Romans,
which
translates
as
divine
or
Goddess-
and
was
taken
from
the
British
(Celtic)
name
for
the
then-mighty
river
beside
which
the
fortress
was
built.
All natural rivers, lakes or other bodies of water were held in reverence by the early inhabitants and considered to be the dwelling places of divine beings, and the majority of British rivers still retain their ancient names.
The River Dee, which is about 70 miles long, rises in the hills above Llanuwchllyn in the 'Dolgellau gold belt' of Merioneth (Gwynedd} and before it passes through Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) it is known as Afon Dyindwy or 'The Little Dee'. There is an old legend which says that the waters of the River Dee do not mingle with the waters of Bala Lake but pass straight through, emerging undiluted for their final journey down to the sea.
On leaving Llyn Tegid the river first passes under a modern road bridge at Bala where the channel was diverted (the remains of the old channel and its bridge can be seen a few yards away) in connection with the Bala Lake Scheme, by which the flow in the river is regulated for water supply and mitigation of flooding in the Dee Valley. The river passes through the regulating sluices a short way downstream.
The reach of the river for about 19 river miles downstream of Bala is fairly flat and meanders in wide curves amongst gravel shoals, with bridges at Llanderfel, Cynwyd, Corwen and Carrog. Below Carrog the river becomes steeper, and before it reaches the beauty spot of Llangollen in Denbighshire there are the well-known Horse Shoe Falls at Liantysilio.
At Llangollen there is another road bridge, and at Pontcysyllte, a few miles downstream of this, the river runs some 120 feet below Thomas Telford's magnificent aqueduct carrying the Shropshire Union Canal from one side of the valley to the other on its way to Chester. The river next passes below the multiple arches of the London-Holyhead railway bridge, and the next weirs are at Erbistock which is about one-third of a mile upstream of Overton Bridge. Below Overton the river is again less steep, and continues its way in wide meanders under the Bangor-on-Dee bridge and thence under the Holt/Farndon bridge. Above this point the river has been either in Wales, or has formed the border between England and Wales; below Farndon the river lies in England until it leaves Chester.
Below Chester, the river flows in an artificial channel which was excavated some two centuries ago when what are now Sealand and Shotton were reclaimed from the Estuary. This 'canalised reach' runs in a straight line for 5 miles and passes beneath two road bridges at Queensferry, the first a modern fixed bridge which effectively prohibits the passage of any tall ships, and the second known as the Queen Victoria Jubilee Bridge, which is of the rolling bascule type. A mile further on there is the Hawarden railway bridge, originally constructed as a swing bridge, but nowadays never opened, which carries the New Brighton/Chester/Wrexham line.The long canalised reach significantly modifies the tides as they pass upriver; whereas at the seaward end of the estuary a mean spring tide has a range of some 28 feet and six and a quarter hour periods of flood, and ebb the same tide at Chester has a range of oniy about 8 feet, a flood period of only one and a half hours and an ebb period of about 11 hours.
There are no locks on the River Dee but there are many on the Shropshire Union Canal and its feeder canal. In Roman times, the Dee was an important shipping river, and 1200 years later Chester was the second most important port in Britain. As silting of the estuary became more and more serious (being substantially accelerated by the reclamations which were carried out between 1732 and 1916), the main port activity moved downstream from Chester, first to Shotwick, and then to Parkgate (here is a fine panoraramic photo showingly dramatically how the River Dee had changed) - and then to Caldy. Although the importance in past centuries of the Dee for shipping has now been largely lost, the expanding North Wales port of Mostyn keeps its quays busy with sea-going vessels. Ships of up to 2,500 tons burden can enter at high water on spring tides but may 'take the ground' when the tide recedes as there are no wet docks in which a ship can lie afloat.
Leaning over the city wall, the
attractive
area
below
us
is
known
as
The
Groves,
Chester's
riverside
promenade
and
a
magnet
for
residents
and
visitors
alike.
It
was
laid
out
in
two
stages-
the
section
below
us
by
Charles
Croughton
in
1725,
and
the
western
end,
nearest
to
the
Old
Dee
Bridge,
by
Alderman
Charles
Brown
in
1880-1.
There
are
refreshment
kiosks,
pubs,
a
pretty
19th
century
bandstand
(right) and
landing
stages
from
where
pleasure
boats
depart
for
cruises
up
the
Dee
and
from
where
rowing-
and
motorboats
may
be
hired.
Concerts
and
regattas
are
held
in
the
summer
months
and
local
artists
display
their
work
along
the
base
of
the
wall.
Above we can see strollers on the Groves in one of Francis Frith's fine views in 1923- a scene which has remained largely unchanged to this day. On the right is a photograph by the author of the Bandstand on a foggy winter day in 2007. (It is one of his many images of Chester available for you to purchase as beautiful handmade prints!)
Just ahead is a long flight of steps arranged in sets of three and known as the Wishing Steps, which were built about 1785 and link the different levels of the south and east walls.
In his 1924 work, In Search of England, author H V Morton recalled, "Why? I asked a man who was standing on them, looking as though none of his wishes had ever come true. 'Well', he said, in the curiously blunt way they have here, 'You have to run up and down and up again without taking breath, and then they say you'll get your wish'.
I noticed a band of breathless Americans standing on the other side, utterly vanquished. I decided to try no conclusions with the Wall of Chester and passed on in a superior way, mentally deciding to have a wish- for I can never resist these challenges of Fate- some morning when I could come fresh and vigorous to the steps. That, however, I learn is not playing the game; you must walk the wall first and then 'run up and down and up again', a feat which I shall leave to the natives- and to the Legions!"
An earlier bit of local folklore had it that, if an unmarried girl successfully performed the same feat, the man of her choice would propose to her.
A litle further on are the Recorder's Steps. A stone plaque here records that the steps were built by City Recorder Roger Comberbach in 1700 to allow access to his house, but this may be inaccurate, for in 1720- the year after the Recorder's death- the Assembly ordered the city's mason to make a new flight of stairs "between the Bridge and Dee Lane". Very soon afterwards, on 21st May 1721, one Kenneth Edwards, a tanner, fell down the 'new stairs' and died.
In 1730, Roger Comberbach built himself a new home, Dee House, on the site of Chester's Roman amphitheatre- currently the subject of a great deal of local controversy...
Close
by
the
Recorder's
Steps
may
be
seen
the
ruined
base
of
a
vanished-
and
apparently
nameless-
watchtower,
similar
in
design
to
Morgan's
Mount-
which
we
shall
visit
towards
the
end
of
our
stroll-
with
stone
seats
and
windows.
Its
upper
section
was
removed
in
the
19th
century,
but
if
you
study
its
base
and
the
surrounding
stonework
from
the
Groves
below,
you
will
easily
see
the
damage
caused
by
Civil
War
cannonballs
and
grenadoes.This building is shown as a lofty tower in 16th and 17th century maps and 'bird's eye views' of Chester but it is not indicated in Wright's prospect of the south side of Chester (1690) and appears only as a widened space on the walls in Lavaux's map (c 1745). In the plan of the Civil War fortifications (1643) the place is called the 'raised platform on the walls'. Historian Randle Holme thus described it,
"This mount is set between the New Gate and Bridge Gate and is a large square solid mount raised a dozen or sixteen steps aboove the rest of the wall on each side of it. It is battlemented about three sides, the other side next the citty is beare and open. In the warre time 1643 it was made a battery for a great gun, but being so high it was a place unserviceable".
Hemingway, in his perambulations of the walls while preparing his Panorama of the City of Chester (1836), gives this account of the spot, "At the top of the Wishing Steps stood an ancient watch tower, which had an apartment with a stone seat on one side, and windows commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country. The tower was taken down in 1826 as affording a lounging receptacle for disorderly vagrants; and being reduced in height to a level with the parapet wall, was covered over the sloping flags; thus furnishing a temptation to adventurous children to play their gambols upon, and risque their lives, although this danger might be averted at a trifling expense, by the erection of an iron railing. A few years ago, a child in endeavouring to mount this spot, was precipitated into the orchard beneath, but was but little injured, though the depth outside the walls in this part is not less than twenty yards."
Enhancing
the
scene
before
us
is
the
graceful Queen's
Park
Suspension
Bridge,
the only footbridge to cross the river. Originally
built
in
1852
at the instigation of Enoch Gerrard, Esq., the 'projector and proprietor' of Queen's Park,
the
developing
affluent surburb
across the river.
According to Thomas Hughes, author of The Stranger's Handbook to Chester, "It was 'a pretty object in the landscape. Though of such spider-like construction, its capabilities and strength have been fully tested".When Chester Corporation accepted the responsibility for this bridge in the early nineteen twenties, they decided to demolish it, This took place in August 1922, and a new bridge built to the designs of Mr Charles Greenwood, City Engineer and Surveyor, took its place and remains with us today. The opening ceremony, conducted by the Mayor of Chester, Councillor S. R. Wall, took place on 18 April 1923. It was superbly restored in 1998.
The interesting old watercolour above shows the river viewed from the Wishing Steps including the newly-erected first bridge and the first of the Queen's Park mansions are seen standing in, to modern eyes, remarkably open ground. Many more were soon to follow and mature trees now line the riverside. The first suspension bridge is also shown in the above photograph, dating from around 1910 and a fine aerial view (from a balloon!) of it in 1855 may be seen here. Here it is around the 1920s in a splendid handcoloured restoration. You can see a photograph of its replacement on a sunny afternoon in the 1960s here- and also one in the winter fog by your guide on the first page of our river visit.
Grosvenor Park
Charles Greenwood, incidentally, was also responsible for fine row of black-and-white shops close to the end of the Old Dee Bridge in Handbridge and, later in his career, was to produce his radical Greenwood Development Plan of 1944, which proposed major changes to many parts of Chester, including the construction of an Inner Ring Road, a complete excavation of the amphitheatre and, close to our present location, alterations to the Groves and to Grosvenor Park. Here is his 'artist's impression' of the latter, showing all the property between the Queen's Park Bridge and Dee Lane having been removed to allow for an extension of Grosvenor Park and creation of a restaurant, dance hall and a large outdoor swimming pool. None of these proposals were ever carried out.
The 20 acres which form Chester's famous Grosvenor Park was given to the city by Richard the Second Marquess of Westminster. On October 9th 1867, he wrote to the General of the city council: "I am desirous of placing the park on the hands of the corporation as a gift on my part to the citizens of Chester, hoping it may afford health and recreation to themselves and their families for many years to come."
The Marquess also paid for the design and laying out of the new 'pleasure park' by the famous Edward Kemp, landscape designer and former pupil of Joseph Paxton, the architect of the Crystal Palace in London.
The area was originally made up of fields, with the largest such marked on the 1833 plan of the city as 'Billy Obbies Field', in the corner of which was a spring, known as Billy Hobbie's Well. This had a long tradition as a wishing well- but only, apparently, for girls, as the following anonymous old poem explains:
| I lov'd the tales that idle maids would tell Of wonders wrought at Billy Hobbie's Well; Where love-sich girls with leg immured would stand, The right leg t'was- the other on dry land, With face so simple, stocking in the hand, Wishing for husbands half a winter's day With ninety times the zeal they used to pray. |
The ancient well was subsequently enclosed within an ornate stone canopy which still may be seen on the park's boundary today. The well itself, however, has sadly long since dried up.
The official opening of Grosvenor Park was accompanied by the grandest ever procession witnessed in Chester, being over a mile in length. The Eastgate was adorned with Evergreens and the arms of the Grosvenor family were surmounted with a trophy of flags. Under the Westminster arms read: "Cestria today with grateful heart accepts her noble neighbour's more than princely gift. Her children, too, in ages yet unborn, shall bless the donor of the peoples park".
Grosvenor Park is now regarded by many as one of the finest and most complete examples of Victorian parks in the North West of England, if not nationally. Although many changes have taken place since its official opening, much of the original design and features set out by Kemp have been retained. Many features and buildings within the park were designed by the architect John Douglas. These include Grosvenor Park Lodge, the boundary wall and gateways in to the park and the canopy to Billy Hobby's well. The ornate Grosvenor Park Lodge was originally the head park keeper's residence but is today used as the city council's parks and gardens administrative office.
These works were the first recorded instances of architect Douglas' employment by the Grosvenor family, the start of a long and fruitful partnership- he practiced in Chester for more than 50 years and has given the city some of its best-loved buildings.
His humble tomb is in Overleigh Cemetery.
Our photograph shows the marble statue of the park's donor, Richard the Second Marquis,
in Garter robes. It was sculpted by Thomas Thorneycroft and erected on Thursday, 1st July 1869 at the junction of four avenues. The sculptor declared that he had created it from a single block of marble but it was later found that the Marquis' left shoulder had been formed from a second piece. It cost £3,500, the money being raised by a subscription to which over 1,500 people contributed.
There was one small problem. A newspaper report shortly aftertwards stated that "The new inscription was cut very neatly by Mr A Dodd of George Street, the bevel from the former surface was almost imperceptible. It will be remembered that the first inscription was objectionable and had to be re-cut." This objection was that, in place of "The Second Marquis" as now inscribed, it originally read "The 2nd Marquis". Local wits soon found it a source of amusement and began, much to the distress of its subject, to refer to the statue as that of "The Two-Penny Marquis"! People were easily amused- and easily offended- in those days it seems.
Whilst the park was being prepared in 1865/6, a cholera epidemic broke out in the city. For want of more appropriate accommodation, the sick were accomodated in a temporary structure which was built in the area soon to be the park, making it the first building on the site. The outcome of the epidemic led to the establishment of a new and separate wing on the old infirmary for contagious diseases in 1867/8.
Three ancient relics of old Chester were re-erected in Victorian times as 'follies' in Grosvenor Park- a doorway from old St. Michael's Church (in the foreground of our photograph below), the old Shipgate (seen in the background), and some arches from St. Mary's Nunnery which long stood close to the Roodee. You can learn more about the nuns of St. Mary's here.
Visitors to the park will quickly become aware of the large numbers of Grey Squirrels (Sciurus Carolinensis) that live here. It is believed locally that Grosvenor Park was the first place in Britain where they were introduced. Although not correct, the creatures, originally natives of the eastern USA, certainly first appeared close by- they were first recorded in nearby Denbighshire in the 1820s, but systematic introduction began when one Mr T. V. Brocklehurst liberated a pair at Henbury Park, Macclesfield (also just a few miles away) in 1876 and they seem to have been brought to Chester soon after. At the time, a lot of exotic plants were being introduced to decorate stately homes and gardens, and landowners seemed to think the squirrels would make a nice addition also. No-one anticipated how successful they would be, or the serious consequences of their spread on the red squirrel population.
If we now leave Grosvenor Park,
cross
the
suspension bridge
and
proceed
to
our
left,
we
will
soon
come
to The
Meadows,
a
huge
and
beautiful
area
of
grass
and
wetlands
bordering
the
river
where
cattle
graze-
a
surprising
and
refreshing
sight
so
close
to
a
busy
city
centre-
and
that
are
permanently
open
to
the
public.
They
are
much
loved
and
jealously
guarded
by
local
people,
but
have
occasionally
been
threatened by planners:
when
Manchester
submitted
its
absurd
bid
to
host
the 1996
Olympic
Games,
it
was
seriously
suggested
by
Chester
City
Council
that
a competition
rowing
lake,
complete
with
extensive car
parking,
grandstands,
cafes
and
who knows what else,
should
be
constructed
there.
To
quote
from
the
official
Olympic
bid
handbook: "The
city
of
Chester
on
the
River
Dee,
35
minutes
from
the
Olympic
village,
offers
an
excellent
stretch
of
land
for
the
construction
of
the
course.
The
local
government
authorities
in
Chester...
have
enthusiastically
supported
the
development
of
plans
for
the
course.
In
a
city
nearly
2000
years
old,
legacies
as
fine
as
this
are
truly
appreciated".
On
the
contrary,
the
proposals
were
treated
by
the
populace
with
the
contempt
they
deserved,
and
were
formerly
abandoned
when
Manchester's
bid
inevitably
failed
in
favour
of
Sydney,
Australia.
The
Meadows
had
been
donated
to
the
city
by
the Brown
Family (of Brown's
of
Chester)
in
1926
on
the
condition
that
they
remained
permanently
open
to
the
people
of
Chester "as
a
public
park,
recreation
ground,
or
lands
for
cricket,
football
or
other
games
and
recreations
in
perpetuity"-
our
'enthusiastic'
council
therefore
had
no
right
whatsoever
to
make
the
offer
they
did.
Twenty
years
earlier,
in
1967,
the Chester
Society
of
Architects,
doubtlessly
fishing
for
a
bit
of
work,
seriously
proposed
the
creation
of
an
'aqua
park'
on
the
Meadows-
incorporating
a
similar
collection
of
snack bars,
car
parking
and
other
'leisure
facilities'
as
the
later equally-abortive
Olympic
scheme.
Greenwood's outdoor swimming pool may have failed to materialise, but, sixty
years
earlier,
new
swimming
facilities
had been
provided
on
the
banks
of
the
Dee
when,
in
1883,
a
curious
structure
known
as
the
Floating
Bath
was
moored
near
the
Bridgegate.
You
can
see
it
in
this
rather
fuzzy
old
photograph. It
had
a
deep
end
and
a
shallow
end
and
incorporated
changing
rooms,
the
whole
covered
in
by
a
canvas
awning. River
water
was
admitted
through
a
series
of
holes-
which,
unfortunately,
also
admitted
quantities
of
mud
and
silt.
Five
years
later
these
were
enlarged
to
allow
a
greater
flow
of
river
water
which
seems
to
have
dealt
with
the
problem.
The
Floating
Bath
was
open
daily
during
the
Summer
months
from
6am
to
9pm
with
separate
sessions
for
ladies
and
a
season
ticket
cost
five
shillings.
In
1899,
an
exceptionally
strong
tide
caused
the
bath
to
break
loose
from
its
mooring
and
get
caught
upon
the
weir.
Although
greatly
damaged,
it
was
repaired
and
briefly
returned
to
service
until,
with
the
opening
of
John
Douglas'
indoor
baths
in
Union
Street
in
1901 (still, against the odds, thriving today),
it
was closed, broken up
and
sold
as
scrap.
Looking through the trees across the river, one may see a large building resembling somewhat an oversized Greek temple. This was built in 1938/9 as the headquarters of the Army's Western Command. Western Command stretched from Hadrian's Wall on the Scottish border to Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire and included Lancashire, Cheshire, wales and the West Midlands and, from 1907 to 1972, the garrison city of Chester was its HQ. Outgrowing its original home in Watergate House (built by the prolific Chester architect Thomas Harrison in 1820) in Watergate Street, it moved into temporary premises in Boughton in 1935 annd stayed until this large new neo-Georgian building was completed in 1938. In 1972 the Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) took over the buildings until the Ministry of Defence closed the site in 1997.
At the end of the depressed 1930s, the construction of the building gave work to hundreds of local men of all trades, most of them over call-up age. Men eager of the chance to labour with pick and shovels, baskets and horses and carts commenced to excavate a vast crater into the hillside. As war was declared in 1939, it was all speed to finish the huge, three-section building, the Army moving in as sections were completed. Offices, plumbing systems, air conditioning and the like were duplicated in the vast underground space in case the building above was destroyed by bombing. In 1941, it was camouflaged, a dark grey wash being applied over the new bricks and stonework to help prevent it being seen from the air.
In 1943 and 1944, secret meetings were held in the underground bunkers between Winston Churchill, General Eisenhower and general de Gaulle.
The Army finally vacated the buildings in 1997 and they were sold to North West Securities for use as their Chester Head Office. A radical enlargement and remodelling took place at this time when the building's height was increased and a new block added at right angles to it and the (to my mind, rather lame) Parthenon-like structure was added to the river frontage- truly a 'Temple of Mammon'. In time, N W Securities turned into Capital Bank, then the Bank of Scotland, which recently merged to become, for the moment at least, the Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS).
In the year 973, the River Dee witnessed an impressive Royal ceremony. According to to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle 'In this year Prince Edgar was consecrated king on Whit Sunday at Bath, in the thirteenth year after his accession when he was twenty nine years old. Soon after this, the king led all his fleet to Chester, and there six kings came to him, to make their submission, and pledged themselves to be his fellow workers, by sea and land'.
The Chronicle of Simeon of Durham, written in the twelfth century, embroiders this ceremony: 'On a certain day, he embarked on a boat with them; they took the oars, and Edgar, taking hold of the tiller, skilfully steered the boat, through the course of the River Dee, with a great crowd of earls and nobles accompanying him with a similar fleet. He sailed from his palace to the minster of Saint John the Baptist. Having completed his devotions, he returned with the same pomp, to his palace'.
The six king’s names are believed to have been: Kynath, King of Scots; James, King of Galloway; Maccon, King of Man, Malcolm and Inkil, Kings of Cumberland; Sifreth and Hywal, Kings of North Wales; and Dufnal, King of South Wales.
The monk Henry Bradshaw, a monk at the Abbey of Chester, expanded upon the tale in around 1500- and even added a couple of extra kings!...
| 'Kynge Edgare approched the Cite of Legions, Now called Chester specified afore; Where Vlll Kynges mette of divers nacions Redy to gyve Edgare reverence and honour Legiance and fidelite depely sworn full sore At the same Cite; after to be obedient Prompyt at his callying to come to his parliament. From the castell he went to the water of Dee By a privet posturne through walls of the towne The Kynge toke his barge with mych rialte |
The forsayd Vlll Kynges with him went alone Kynge Edgare kept the sterne as most principall Eche Prince had an ore to labour with all. When the Kynge had done his pylgrimage And to the Holy Roode made oblacion They entered agayne into the sayd barge Passynge to his palace with great remowne Then Edgare spake in praysing of the crowne All my successours may glad and joyfull be To have such homage, honour and dignitie'. |
From our present location, you may now choose to return back across the suspension bridge and walk along the Groves, or alternatively stroll along the other bank, from where a very pleasant, and rather timeless, view of the weir, walls and city may be obtained. In either case, we will soon approach the Bridgegate and the splendid Old Dee Bridge.
But
first,
go
here
to
continue
our
visit
to
the
Wizard
Dee...
Curiousities from Chester's History no. 16 |
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