Near the gate, and on the left hand of Upper Northgate-street, stands the Blue-coat Hospital, which was founded by subscription in 1700, at the suggestion of Bishop Stratford. The greater part of the present structure was built in 1717, partly at the expense of the Corporation and partly by benefactions. Thirty-two boys are boarded, clothed, and educated, from the age of twelve to fourteen. There are also sixty probationary day scholars, who succeed to the vacancies of the former. They are well educated in the various branches of useful knowledge, and at the age of fourteen are provided with respectable situations.
The chapel, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, called Little St. John’s, occupies the south wing of this building; it was formerly an hospital, or sanctuary, and endowed with great privileges. It is extra-parochial, and a perpetual curacy is in the gift of the Corporation. The Rev. William Clarke is the present curate. The hospital is of great antiquity, having been founded by Randal, Earl of Chester, for a master, three chaplains, and thirteen citizens of Chester, being either “poor or sillie, or poor or feeble persons.” The mastership was granted in the ninth year of Edward Second to the prior of Birkenhead.
The chapel and hospital being destroyed during the civil wars, were rebuilt by Colonel Roger Whitley, to whom King Charles Second granted the hospital estate for his life and twenty years after. When the city charter was renewed in 1686, the reversions were granted to the mayor and citizens for ever, as trustees for the hospital. The Corporation obtained possession in 1703, and have since exercised the right of presentation. In the time of King Henry VIII. it consisted of a chaplain and six poor brethren; and had lands and profits to the amount of £28 10s. 4d. In later days there were in the Chapel-yard six almshouses for widows, who were each allowed £1 6s. 8d. a year and some perquisites. In 1801, Alderman Crewe bequeathed £30 per annum to be divided amongst them in equal proportions. Under an amended scheme, by order of the Court of Chancery, in 1852, the almshouses were rebuilt, and provision is now made for thirteen “poor and impotent persons of both sexes,” to each of whom the sum of £26 a year, by weekly payments of 10s., is given. They have free occupation of the houses, and £30 per annum. Alderman Crewe’s legacy is expended for their benefit in coals and other articles of domestic comfort.
Proceeding on our circuit, we next reach a curious square building called Morgan’s Mount, a platform on the right, accessible by a flight of steps, underneath which is a sort of chamber, apparently one of the stations for a sentinel. From the summit we have a wide-spreading and enchanting prospect, exhibiting the windings of the Dee to its estuary; Flint Castle; the Jubilee Column, on Moel Fammau; the Lighthouse, at the point of Ayr; the beautiful range of the Clwyddian hills; and the church and castle of Hawarden. On the right, a very excellent view is presented of the
Training College,
which was erected from a design and under the superintendence of Messrs. J. C. and G. Buckler, of London, at an estimated cost of £10,000, raised by public subscription, assisted by a grant from Government, and was completed in September, 1842. The institution is under the presidency of the Lord Bishop of the diocese, and has the sanction of the Deans and Chapters of Chester and Manchester. The object it seeks to promote is, the supply of the parochial schools of the Diocese of Chester with masters well qualified by a sound religious and scientific training, for the discharge of their important duties. Hitherto, it has nobly sustained its purpose, and, by regularly sending forth men whose minds have been brought under thorough discipline, and well furnished with general knowledge and science, is doing very much towards the elevation of parochial education in the diocese. The college is under the able direction of the Rev. Arthur Rigg, M.A., of Christ’s College, Cambridge. A handsome chapel is attached to the college.
In the Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education for 1850, there are the following remarks, by the Rev. Henry Moseley, upon the Chester Training College:—
“I have to bear the same testimony as heretofore to the excellent discipline of the Institution; to the great order that pervades it; and to the judicious arrangements made in respect to the industrial training of the students, the industry, cheerfulness, and activity with which these labours are pursued, in the intervals of study, is most pleasing to contemplate. I know no other training school which, in respect to these things, appears to me superior to this; and I attach to them, in a moral point of view, the first importance. Nor do I know any other in which the buildings appear to me better adapted to the use of a training school, or in which those minor arrangements, on which the domestic comfort of the inmates and the good order of the household depend, are more carefully observed.”
A few paces further on is an ancient tower, formerly called the Goblin’s Tower, but now known by the name of Pemberton’s Parlour. Being in a ruinous condition, part of it was taken down in 1702, and the remainder renovated and repaired. On the front was some excellent carved work in stone, and the names of the then Mayor (the Earl of Derby) and the other corporate officers of the year in which the repairs were made; but in consequence of the stone being of a soft and friable nature, and from other causes, both the inscription and the carved work are now almost obliterated. The inscription, so far as it is legible, is as follows:—
“ * * * year of the glorious reign of Queen Anne divers wide breaches in these walls were rebuilt, and other decays therein were repaired; 2,000 yards of the pavement were new flagged or paved, and the whole repaired, regulated, and adorned, at the expense of £1,000 and upwards. Thomas Hand, Esq., Mayor, 1701. The Right Honourable William, Earl of Derby, Mayor, 1702, who died in his Mayoralty.”