Bridge Street.—Ancient Crypt.—The Blue Posts and the Knave of Clubs.—Roman Bath.—Grosvenor Street.—New Savings Bank.—The Cemetery.—Curzon Park and Hough Green.—The Port of Saltney.—St. Michael’s Church.—St. Olave’s Church.—The Gamull House.—St. Mary’s Church.
Heigho! After our bootless lamentation over the deceased Port of Chester, it is refreshing to return once more to an atmosphere of life and activity.
Turning our faces towards the south, we have before us Bridge Street, another of the four great Roman roads of the city. Here again we see the Rows,—those strange old Rows!—threading their tubelike course along both sides of the Street. The one upon the right hand is called the Scotch Row, from the merchants north of the Tweed ‘clanning’ together there, during the two great Fairs, held annually at Chester from time immemorial. It should be remembered that, except at these privileged times, none but freemen were permitted to trade within the city; whence is to be attributed the large concourse of foreign tradesmen to these once important Fairs. Since the downfall of this monopoly, the Scotch Row has become a desert wilderness, so far as business is concerned; but it will still serve as an admirable index to the stranger of what the Rows of Chester were a hundred years ago. The street fronts of the houses in this Row are more than ordinarily diversified,—the square red brick, the everlasting gable of every shape and size, the stately bow-window, and the ponderous, overhanging Dutch fronts, all flaunting their pretensions within this circumscribed space. Previous to 1839, no special archæological interest attached to this locality; but in that year while excavating for a warehouse behind the shop of Messrs. Powell and Edwards, cutlers, a discovery was made which at once set all the antiquaries of Chester “by the ears.” The late Rev. J. Eaton, Precentor of the Cathedral, an architectural authority in his day, made the following Report upon this Ancient Crypt, as it is called, for the use of the proprietors. To these gentlemen, and particularly to Mr. Edwards, the representative of the firm, the public are deeply indebted for their intelligence and courtesy, in not only preserving intact this relic of the past, but also for so readily affording admission to the structure:—
“The lower parts of several of the houses in the four principal streets of Chester exhibit indubitable signs that they have been built on the remains of the religious buildings with which, prior to the Reformation, this city abounded.
“The ancient Crypt discovered by Messrs. Powell and Edwards is of an oblong form, running from east to west. The following are its dimensions, viz. length, forty-two feet; breadth, fifteen feet three inches; height, from the surface of the floor to the intersection of the groinings of the roof, fourteen feet. This Crypt was partially lighted through the upper part of the west end, in which there are three small windows, divided by stone mullions, and protected by iron bars. The upper part of the groining on the centre window appears to have been cut away to admit of more light. On examining the intersection of the groins, marks were discovered from the lead on the stone-work, that a couple of lamps had been used for lighting. The entrance to the east end is by a flight of steps cut out of the rock to the height of three feet. On the south side is an Anglo-Norman-Gothic doorway, which is attained by three or four semicircular steps, and forms an outlet within its inner and outer wall by another flight of steps to the surface above the building. In a niche on the south side of the window is a font in excellent preservation.
“The architecture is Anglo-Norman-Gothic, and the groins are of the third class of groining, which came into common use about the year 1180, and was succeeded in the next class of groins in the year 1280, so that if we date this roof as being erected about the year 1230, we shall not be far from the era of its real construction.”
Messrs. Powell and Edwards make no charge for admission: we must not omit, therefore, ere we pass out from the Crypt, to drop a stray piece of silver into the hat of the Blue Coat Boy who stands modestly at the door. Charity is seldom ill-bestowed; but here we have the special privilege of contributing, in however slight a degree, to the gratuitous education of the orphan and the friendless.
The Row upon the left hand is the one most frequented, forming a junction at right angles with Eastgate Row, before described. In the sixteenth century this Row was distinguished by the name of the Mercers’ Row, from the predominance here, probably, of that most enticing class of tradesmen. The love of dress and finery was evidently, even in those days, woman’s chief besetting sin!
A little way down this Row was an ancient tavern, called the Blue Posts, supposed to be the identical house now occupied by Mr. Brittain, woollendraper. In this house a curious incident is stated to have occurred in 1558, which tradition has handed down to us in the following terms. It appears that—
“Dr. Henry Cole, Dean of St. Paul’s, was charged by Queen Mary with a commission to the council of Ireland, which had for its object the persecution of the Irish protestants. The doctor stopped one night here on his way to Dublin, and put up at the Blue Posts, then kept by a Mrs. Mottershead. In this house he was visited by the mayor, to whom, in the course of conversation, he related his errand; in confirmation of which he took from his cloak bag a leather box, exclaiming in a tone of exultation, ‘Here is what will lash the heretics of Ireland!’ This announcement was caught by the landlady, who had a brother in Dublin: and while the commissioner was escorting his worship down-stairs, the good woman, prompted by an affectionate regard for the safety of her brother, opened the box, took out the commission, and placed in lieu thereof a pack of cards, with the knave of clubs uppermost! This the doctor carefully packed up, without suspecting the transformation; nor was the deception discovered till his arrival in the presence of the lord deputy and privy council at the castle of Dublin. The surprise of the whole assembly, on opening the supposed commission, may be more easily imagined than described. The doctor, in short, was immediately sent back for a more satisfactory authority; but, before he could return to Ireland, Queen Mary had breathed her last. It should be added that the ingenuity and affectionate zeal of the landlady were rewarded by Elizabeth with a pension of £40 a-year.”
The first street we meet with on the right hand is Commonhall Street, so called from the Common Hall of the city having been at one time situate there. This hall of justice stood upon the south side of the street, and close to those venerable-looking almshouses still situate there. It had previously been the Chapel of St. Ursula, which was founded there, with an Hospital for decayed persons, by Sir Thomas Smith, in 1532. The Hospital of St. Ursula still weathers the storm, in those odd-looking, tottering almshouses on the south side of this street. Lower down Bridge Street, on the same side, is another break in the row, formed by Pierpoint Lane, not now a thoroughfare, but through which went a passage in olden time to the Common Hall, just referred to.
Scarcely so far down as this last-named lane, and on the opposite side of Bridge Street, is a new and handsome range of buildings, erected in 1853 by Mr. Alderman Royle. On the higher side of these premises, and adjoining the Feathers Hotel, exist a Roman Hypocaust and Sweating Bath, of surpassing interest, and in a state almost as perfect as when first erected. The following account of this “ancient of days” is the result of a recent personal visit to the bath.