The Old Bridge,
which is of considerable antiquity. A wooden bridge was erected on the same spot by the Mercian Princess Ethelfleda, early in the tenth century; but from the ‘Chronicle of Chester Abbey,’ we learn that in 1227 “pons Cestriæ totus cecidit;” and that in 1279 “mare erupit, pontem Cestriæ confregit et asportavit.” The wooden bridge being thus disposed of, we next find from the ‘Red Book of St. Werburgh,’ that “in 1280 the King (Edward I.) compelled the citizens of Chester to rebuild Dee Bridge at their own charge, contrary to the privileges which had been granted to them.” In 1500, the south end of the Bridge, having fallen into decay, was rebuilt, and a tower for its defence added at the entrance into Handbridge, which was taken down about sixty years ago. In 1826 the Bridge was widened to the extent of seven feet, by the addition of a flagged footpath, on the east side, bounded towards the river by a good iron railing, the projection supported by two courses of corbels.
It consists of seven irregular arches, and when viewed from the west, presents an appearance of venerable antiquity; but on the east it no longer holds out that recommendation to the eye of the observer, modern alterations having left nothing on that side to render it worthy of notice.
At the north end of the Bridge stand the
Dee Mills,
used for the grinding of corn. Although the date of the first erection of mills on this spot cannot now be ascertained, yet there is evidence of their having been there from remote antiquity. Sir Howell-y-Fwyall obtained a grant of them from Edward III. in reward for his services at the battle of Poictiers. In the fifth of Edward VI. they were granted by the Crown to Sir Richard Cotton, in exchange for the manors of Bourne and Moreton, in Lincolnshire; and by his son George they were granted in fee farm to Edmund Gamul, at a yearly rent of £100. Gamul expended a large sum in repairing the causeway originally erected by Hugh Lupus. In 1646 an order of Parliament was issued, that the mills and causeway should be destroyed, as an obstruction to trade; but this order, issued by the Puritans then in power, probably with no other view than to obtain a composition from the proprietor, was never complied with. On the alienation of the Gamul property, the greater part of the mills fell into the hands of Mr. Edward Wrench, in whose successor the property is now vested. The Dee Mills have been twice destroyed by fire within the last sixty years. The first conflagration broke out about twelve at night, of Saturday, September 26, 1789; the second, about the same hour of Saturday night, March 6, 1819; on which latter occasion the progress of the flames was so rapid, that the whole of the premises, with the exception of part of the outward wall, were destroyed in less than six hours. The loss sustained was upwards of £40,000. A third fire took place in January, 1847, which destroyed the whole of one of the mills.
We shall now proceed to notice
The Old Bridgegate,
which appears to have been of equal antiquity with the bridge itself, for it is shown by documents in the possession of the Earl of Shrewsbury, that Randle, Earl of Chester, confirmed a gift of his Countess to Poyns, her servant, of the custody of this gate. And another deed, of the thirteenth century, preserved among the same documents, records, “quod ego Ricardus Bagoth de Cestr: dedi et omnino quietam clamavi Philippo clerico civi Cestr: totum jus meum in porta pontis Cestr: cum omnibus pertinentijs suis.” From Philip the clerk the custody of this gate passed to the family of Raby, one of whom, Philip de Raby, in the fourteenth century, had also the keeping of the Earl’s garden at the Castle, for which service he received the fruit of a tree called “a restynge tre,” and whatever remained on the other trees after the first shaking, under the reddendo of furnishing the Earl’s household with colewort from Michaelmas to Lent, and with leeks during Lent. From the Rabys the custody of the Bridgegate passed to the Norrises of Speke, in Lancashire, and the Troutbecks. In 1624 the Corporation purchased the moiety belonging to the Norrises; and in 1660 they also purchased the other moiety from the Earl of Shrewsbury, representative of the Troutbecks, the Earl reserving to himself, during his visits to Chester, the use of a suite of apartments in a house near the gate.
The Old Gate consisted of an arched gateway, flanked with two strong round towers, on one of which was erected a lofty octagonal tower, containing a cistern for supplying the city with water, called Tyrer’s Water Works, concerning which Webb says, “The Bridgegate hath of late been greatly beautified by a seemly water-work of stone, built steeple-wise, by the ingenious industry and charge of a late worthy member of the city, John Tyrer, gent., and hath served ever since to great use, for the conveying of the river water from the cistern, in the top of that work, to the citizens’ houses in almost all the parts of the city, in pipes of lead and wood, to their no small contentment and commodity.” The whole fabric was taken down in 1781.