Monument record 10004 - Water Tower Street

This road originally ran parallel to the north wall from the Northgate to the Water Tower and the north west corner of the medieval city. It has had several names including ‘Bagge Lane’ on a list of street names produced in 1567 by Richard Dutton, mayor of Chester (3), ‘Tower Street’ on Lavaux’s map of 1745 (6) and more recently Walls Lane. The modern Water Tower Street ends at Pemberton Road before St Martin’s Gate.

Although no medieval documentary reference to this road has been found it doubtless existed at least for some time in the medieval period and archaeological investigations at the former Northgate Brewery identified a short section of cobbled road surface on a similar alignment to the present road. The surface was traced for a length of 25m and to a maximum width of 5m and appeared to consist of a single layer of sandstone cobbles and pebbles. Pottery recovered from beneath the surface of the road was consistently dated to the 14th century. (5)

It is suggested that the line of the road was located further south than the present road to allow for a series of lean to houses built against the city walls. (5)

<1> Dodgson J McN, 1970-2, 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire, vol.V(i) (Book). SCH3228.

<2> Mapping Medieval Chester Project, 2011, Digital Archive of Mapping Medieval Chester website (Digital Archive). SCH6761.

<3> Haswell, George. W, 1907, Notes on Chester Street-names past and present (Northern Section) (Article in Journal). SCH5548.

<4> Brown, W, 1907, Notes on Chester Street-names past and present (Article in Journal). SCH5549.

<5> Davey, P. J., 1973, Chester Northgate Brewery Phase One (Monograph). SCH950.

<6> de Lavaux, A, 1745, Plan of the City and Castle of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH5255.

<7> Grosvenor Museum Excavations Newsletter, 1973, Summary of Excavations in Chester (Newsletter). SCH6226.