The Water Tower,
an ancient fortress, erected for the purpose of repelling the approach of maritime foes, for it appears that formerly the river flowed under this part of the walls, so that vessels could sail close by the Tower. At high tide, the whole of the land on which are now situated Crane-street and the neighbourhood, was covered with water. At the south angle of the walls is an old square tower, anciently called Bonwaldesthorne’s Tower, from which is an embattled passage to the Water Tower, which was built in 1322, by contract for £100, by John Helpstone, a mason. The dimensions were 24 yards in height, and 10½ yards in diameter. It had openings for cannon and rings in the walls, to which ships were formerly moored. This noble bulwark is suggestive of reflections of deep historic interest; for at the siege of Chester by the Republican army, this place was bombarded from the farm-house called Brewer’s Hall, on the opposite side of the river, but without success. Many a gallant sentinel has here kept loyal watch against the approach of the enemy. Happily, our age needs not these ancient fortifications for the warlike purpose to which they were originally devoted, and as an exhibition of the genius of the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries in happy contrast, this tower, built for war, is now occupied as a