Building record 10472 - Chester Rows: 68 Watergate Street

No 68 Watergate Street is a town house built in the early 18th century and now in use as offices and a shop, it is four storeys including an undercroft. Although it contains a datestone on the rainhead marked 1729 and it was known to be inhabited by the Alderman Henry Bennett at that time, it is possible that it was built a few years earlier. The building was substantially renovated in the mid 20th century. The street level floor (recorded as the former Row level) is constructed of ashlar with modern shopfront, the upper two floors are of brick.

The undercroft is set back from the street frontage some 3m and is only accessible from the Row level building above. It is set somewhat deeper than other undercrofts on this row being 1.85m below street level, however there is no evidence of it cutting the bedrock which must drop significantly at this point. The undercroft is a double one with the eastern one measuring 22.25m in length and 3.38m in width at the front while the western one measures 22.15m in length and 3.35m in width at the front. Both undercrofts splay outwards towards the rear by approximately 0.63-0.88m. The walls are of rough sandstone with 18th century brick barrel vaults. The Row level floor contains no evidence of a Row walkway but is accessed by a staircase from the street. The townhouse is largely 18th century in date. (1)

In 2007, an architectural assessment of the cellar was carried out in advance of planned redevelopment. It was recorded that the cellars had been plastered over some-time in the 20th century for use as basement storage however during renovations a section of the cellar wall was exposed and recorded.

The cellar comprises two parallel stone walls with no clear evidence of tool marks measuring 1.45m high with a barrel vaulted roof rising to 2.9m high made entirely of hand-made brick, the floor is an uneven silty sandstone. At the northern end of the cellar a brick partition wall was inserted in the 19th or 20th century. (4)

<1> Chester Archaeology, 1985-1990, Chester Rows Research Project Archive, CHER 10472 (Paper Archive). SCH6789.

<2> Brown. A. (ed), 1999, The Rows of Chester: The Chester Rows Research Project (Book). SCH6790.

<3> Brown, A N, J C Grenville and R C Turner, 1990, Watergate Street The Rows Research Project (Unpublished Report). SCH6636.

<4> Castlering Archaeology, 2007, Cellars Associated with No. 68 Watergate Street, Chester: Building Assessment (Client Report). SCH6206.

<5> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Digital Archive). SCH4666.