Chester Abbey of St Werburgh (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Chester.
In the historic county of Cheshire.
Modern Authority of Cheshire.
1974 county of Cheshire.
Medieval County of Cheshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ40476656
Latitude 53.19213° Longitude -2.89199°

Chester Abbey of St Werburgh has been described as a probable Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Abbot and Convent granted licence to crenellate in 1377, confirmed 8 months later, after Edward's death. There are remains of the Abbey gateways. Chester Cathedral and close buildings are originally the Abbey church and buildings.

Abbey Gateway–Gatehouse. c1300, altered c1800. Red coursed sandstone with grey slate roof having gables to front and rear; the Gateway formed the main access to the precinct of St Werburgh's Abbey, now Abbey Square. EXTERIOR: the face to Northgate Street has a full-width deep segmental relieving arch, containing a central 2-centre vehicular archway and a pedestrian archway, south, both with double hollow chamfers; an empty broad niche to each side of the vehicular arch; a plain rebuilt buttress at the south-west corner; a moulded stringcourse at upper storey floor level; upper storey rebuilt c1800; the central Gothick sash has intersecting tracery in an arched moulded opening; a coved stringcourse at the base of the plainly coped shallow gable. The face to Abbey Square has a broader vehicular archway with eroded triple hollow chamfers. A diminishing square turret at the south-east corner has a boarded pair of doors in an arched doorway with a small stair-window above; an eroded flat buttress at the north-east corner; a central Gothick sash above the archway in an eroded moulded 2-centre arched medieval opening; a recessed 12-pane window with sash-boxes exposed, to each side; a Gothick fixed-light window to the attic in the recessed gable. INTERIOR: the 3-bay vault to the archway has hollow-chamfered diagonal and ridge ribs. The stone stair against the south wall is probably c1800. The front room above the arch, evidently formerly a robing room, has ranges of cupboards with fielded panels to doors, built against 2 walls; the panel to the upper cupboard above the doorway has an armorial painting inscribed EDMUND CHESTER; the armorial panel immediately north of the doorway is inscribed SAMUEL PEPLOE LLB, Chancellor. The painter was probably of the Randle Holmes family. There are no visible features of special interest in the rear upper rooms or the attic. (Listed Building report–ref. Pevsner)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1377 March 28 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was confirmed in 1377 Nov 7.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1376366 , 1376368 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 69130; 69235.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Chester Cathedral
  Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Chester A virtual stroll around the walls
Books
- Lewis, C.P. and Thacker, A.T. (eds), 2005, VCH Cheshire Vol. 5 Part 2 p. 185-204 online transcription
  Pevsner, Nikolaus and Edward Hubbard, 1971, Buildings of England: Cheshire (Harmondsworth)
  Knowles, David and Hadcock, R. Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longmans) p. 62, 423, 470
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 218, 417 online copy
  Ormerod, G., 1819, History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol. 1 p. 161-64, 212-19 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 26 p. 69-100 see online copy
  1937, The Archaeological Journal Vol. 94 p. 308-10 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1374-77) Vol. 16 p. 442 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1895, Calendar of Patent Rolls Richard II (1377-81) Vol. 1 p. 56 online copy
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

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
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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.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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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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