The Stranger's Handbook to Chester and Its Environs / Containing a short sketch of its history and antiquities, a descriptive walk round the walls, and a visit to the cathedral, castle, and Eaton Hall.

by Thomas Hughes

“Here, in 1651, the Puritans ‘sought the Lord’ by trying and condemning to death the gallant and patriotic Earl of Derby, Sir Timothy Featherstonehaugh, and Captain Benbow. According to Whitlocke, the Earl ‘attempted to escape, and was let down by a rope from the leads of his chamber; but some hearing a noise, made after him, and he was re-taken upon Dee bank.’ He was afterwards beheaded at Bolton, while Featherstonehaugh was shot in the market-place of Chester.”

And now for the Castle of the present day. The old structure was removed towards the close of the eighteenth century, and the new one erected from the plans of the late Thomas Harrison, Esq., the architect of the Grosvenor Bridge.

The Grand Entrance occupies the centre of a semicircular fosse, and is of the Grecian Doric order. The whole of the majestic fluted columns of this Gateway and of the Shire Hall, are constructed each, from capital to base, of a single stone. As we pass into the Castle Yard, we have at one view a fine prospect of this noble square.

“The two wings of the Castle, and the whole of the buildings to the right, are appropriated to the military; the centre to the Assize Court and County Gaol. The right wing is the officer’s barracks. There are at present in this Castle, a regiment of militia, and a battalion of artillery. The pensioners’ offices are at the back of the left wing, at one side of which is the Nisi Prius Court, Grand Jury Room, &c.

“The first floor of the new barracks on the higher wards is appropriated to the Armoury, which contains 30,000 stand of arms, and is decorated with various devices, formed solely of weapons of warfare.

“Near these buildings is an old Square Tower, called Julius Cæsar’s, otherwise Julius Agricola’s Tower, in which was situated the Chantry of St. Mary infra Castrum. It was in this Chapel that James II. received Mass during his stay in Chester. This Tower was built soon after the Norman Conquest. There was an ancient fresco painting on the interior walls, the subject of which was Moses receiving the Table of Commandments from the Mount, whilst the Devil in a nondescript form is trying to seize them; in the back-ground are his old friends the Pope, and a group of ecclesiastical personages. This Tower was newly cased with red stone in 1818. The Powder Magazine is at present kept in it.” Close by stood, prior to its demolition, the ancient Shire Hall and Exchequer Court: the latter was the parliament house of the palatinate earls, and had neat carved seats for the earl and his eight barons, spiritual and temporal.

“As before stated, the centre buildings contain the Assize Court and City Gaol. In front of the Hall of Justice is a portico, supported by twelve pillars in double rows. The entrances are at the sides of the portico. The interior of the Court is of a semicircular form, forty-four feet high, eighty feet diameter, and forty-four feet wide. Round the semicircle is a colonnade of twelve Ionic pillars, supporting a semi-dome, divided into four square compartments, richly embellished. The tout ensemble is grand and imposing, and admirably adapted to give a majestic appearance to a judicial court.

“Behind this building is the Constable’s residence, a terrace in front of which commands a view of the Chapel, and Felons’ Yards below, five in number. The Debtors’ Yards form quadrangles on the right and left of the Constable’s house, on a level with the Castle Yard.”

The Churches of St. Mary, and St. Bridget, are both within a stone’s throw; but we must leave them for the present, and continue our interesting “Walk round the Walls.” In a few minutes we arrive at the angle of the Walls, where the massive ramparts of the Castle frown majestically above us, while below, the classic waters of the Dee flow languidly on, regardless of yon noble and magnificent stone Bridge, which, with its unequalled single arch of 200 feet span, crosses the river a short distance away from us. This is the Grosvenor Bridge, finished in 1832, at a cost of 30,000l. and formally opened in October of that year, by Her present Most Gracious Majesty, then Princess Victoria. It has the reputation of being the largest stone arch in the world. Immediately to the left of the Bridge is the Cemetery, of which more hereafter.