Chester City Wall (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

Follow Roman line on two sides,extending to the river elsewhere. Largely complete, though much altered; the gates and most of the towers have vanished. Murage granted 1249 and others suggest a concentration of effort in late C13 and early C14.

The present circuit of the City Walls is nearly two miles long and consists of four gates and several towers, all linked by a red sandstone wall. The north and east walls follow the original Roman foundations, which still remain in some cases, but the south and west walls were extended in the medieval period to include the castle to the south. The extension to the medieval walls must have taken place before 1121, as the Ship Gate is mentioned in the confirmation charter of St. Werburgh's Abbey. The present walls follow roughly the area of the medieval walled town, although most of the material above walk level is C18 or C19. The wall was probably originally defended by battlements to the outside, while the interior was protected by timber rails mounted on stone projections, which can still be seen at the Kaleyard gate. The north and east sides of the city wall were also protected by a ditch, which ran from Pemberton's parlour to just beyond the Newgate. Beyond this stretch, the slope of the ground was relied upon for protection. The repair and upkeep of the walls was a costly business, and was paid for by 'murage', a toll upon certain goods entering the city. The damage caused by the Civil War swept away much of the medieval work, and the walls were repaired during the reign of Queen Anne. In the C17 and C18 the ditches were filled in and the walls repaired, the medieval gates being replaced. The walls continued to be rebuilt and repaired so that the wall-walk could be maintained as a promenade. Most of the walls visible above ground level today are C18 or C19. (Cheshire HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006785, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ch7
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1376129 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 69073.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3007/2/0 and others.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Chester A virtual stroll around the walls
  CastleUK.net
  Historic England Viewfinder
  Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog and Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog and Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Keith D Lilley, 2017, 'The Norman Conquest and its influences on urban landscapes' in Dawn M Hadley and Christopher Dyer, The Archaeology of the 11th Century Continuities and Transformations (Routledge) p. 30-56
  Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 48-51
  Ward, S., 2009, Chester: a history (Chichester: Phillimore)
  Lewis, C.P. and Thacker, A.T. (eds), 2005, VCH Cheshire Vol. 5 Part 2 p. 213-25 online transcription
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) passim
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 15-16
  LeQuesne, C. and Strickland, T.J., 1999, Excavations at Chester: the Roman and later defences, part 1. Investigations 1978-1990 (Chester: Chester City Council/Gifford and Partners)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 14-16
  Carrington, P., 1994, English Heritage Book of Chester (London: English Heritage/Batsford)
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Cullen, P.W. and Hordern, R., 1986, Castles of Cheshire (Crossbow Books) p. 5,16,17
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 70
  Harris B, 1979, Bartholomew City Guides: Chester (Edinburgh) p. 94-95
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 plan p. 62 download/view online
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 202-3
  Pevsner, Nikolaus and Edward Hubbard, 1971, Buildings of England: Cheshire (Harmondsworth)
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co) p. 238-9
  Simpson, Frank, 1910, The Walls of Chester
  Morris, R.H., 1894, Chester in the Plantagenet and Tudor Reigns p. 222- online copy
  Ormerod, G., 1882 (2edn), History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol. 1 p. 355-6
  Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol. 3 (London) p. 123-6 online copy
  Broster, John., 1821, A Walk round the Walls and City of Chester (Chester)
  Ormerod, G., 1819, History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol. 1 p. 156-58, 279-82, 85 online copy
  Grose, Francis, 1783 (new edn orig 1756), Antiquities of England and Wales (London) Vol. 1 p. 37-8 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Ward, S., 1985, 'Recent work on the medieval city wall of Chester' Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society Vol. 68 p. 79-84
  Ward, S., 1983, 'Chester: the city walls II' Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin Vol. 9 p. 49
  Alldridge, N.J., 1981, 'Aspects of the topography of early medieval Chester' Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society Vol. 64 p. 5-31
  Stickland, T.J., 1981, 'City Wall, engineering yard near the Northgate, Chester' Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin Vol. 7 p. 42
  Alebon, P.H., Davey, P.J. and Robinson, D.J., 1976, 'The Eastgate, Chester, 1972' Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society Vol. 59 p. 37-49
  Mason, 1976, Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society Vol. 59 p. 14-23
  (Davey), 1973, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 17 p. 166 download copy
  Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 116 p. 71-132
  Lawson, P.H. and Smith, J.T., 1958, Journal of the Chester and North Wales Architectural Archaeological and Historic Society Vol. 45 p. 24
  Renn, D., 1958, 'The Water Tower at Chester' Journal of the Chester and North Wales Architectural Archaeological and Historic Society Vol. 45 p. 54-60
  1937, The Archaeological Journal Vol. 94 p. 303-4 online copy
  Simpson, 1910, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 65 p. 330-1
  Shrubsole, G.W., 1887, 'On the Age of the City Walls of Chester' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 44 p. 15-25 online copy
  Numerous other articles published are concerned with Roman origins of the lower courses of the wall.
Guidebooks
- Whimperley, A. & Murphy, D., 1977, The Walls of Chester: a Guided Tour (Dalesman)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1086, Domesday Book online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1908, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1247-58) Vol. 4 p. 49 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1893, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward I (1281-91) Vol. 2 p. 344 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1895, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward I (1292-1301) Vol. 3 p. 310, 482 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1327-30) Vol. 1 p. 455 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1902, Calendar of Patent Rolls Richard II (1389-92) Vol. 4 p. 502 online copy
  Morris, R.H., 1894, Chester in the Plantagenet and Tudor Reigns p. 222- online copy
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain online copy
  Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Celia Fiennes, 1888, Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press) Vision of Britain online transcription
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 North West (London: English Heritage) p. 22 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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