Monument record 10393 - Post-Dissolution Use of Former Carmelite Friary Buildings

Similar to the other friaries, there is more information available on the Carmelite friars precinct and buildings from after the Dissolution than before. After the Dissolution, the property was given to the Dutton family and then in 1583 to the Gamuls. In 1592 or 1593 it was sold to Thomas Egerton, then the attorney-general, who proceeded to tear down the church and spire, and possibly other buildings in order to clear the property for the construction of his mansion (1). It was just before this that two maps were drawn, one by Braun (1572 - 1618) and one by Smith (1580), which show the remains of the friary; together with what can be gleaned from the Dissolution inventory, these form our only source of information on its layout. No certain remains of the friary are shown on the seventeenth century maps of the city; this accords with our other information about its demolition (1, 2).

Immediately after the Dissolution, the Duttons and then the Gamuls probably occupied the domestic quarters and the buildings in the outer court of the former Friary (2). The establishment was considered a substantial mansion in Chester. It is interesting to note that the major house which now occupies the site, ‘The Friars’, and which seems to be a direct descendant of the Egerton mansion, lies over the western third of the friary, on the probable site of the outer court (2) (CHER 10334/6).

Pennant noted that the mansion originally surrounded a square (possibly the old cloister garth), and part of the first floor of the mansion was let to a puppet-showman. In 1772, gunpowder stored in a warehouse beneath the mansion, exploded during a show, killing 26 people and wounding 83 others (3). However, other contemporary sources, supported by place name evidence for Puppet Show Entry suggest this event occurred further north to the rear of Watergate Street Row (CHER 11330).

<1> n/a, 1935, The White Friars of Chester, Bennett J H E 1935 31/5-54 (Article in Journal). SCH5678.

<2> Thompson Watkin W. T., 1886, Roman Cheshire: A Description of Roman Remains in the County of Chester, /147-148 (Book). SCH2878.

<3> Pennant, 1883, Tours in Wales (Oral Communication). SCH3282.

<4> Ward, S. W., 1990, Excavations at Chester: The Lesser Medieval Religious Houses - Sites Investigated, 1964-83 (Grosvenor Museum Archaeological Excavation & Survey Reports), /207-209 (Monograph). SCH1193.