Building record 10476/1 - Chester Rows: 13 Watergate Street

No 13 Watergate Street is a stone undercroft, currently in use as a shop, of an 18th century date at least, although it is currently listed as a medieval undercroft largely rebuilt in the late 18th century. Documentary references note that this part of the street saw some encroachment in 1771 and presumably then this is the date of the facade and much of the Row level building, however, the undercroft is likely earlier. The undercroft is 5.15m wide. The front facade is largely 19th century in style with large glazed entrance to the undercroft to the right and stone steps enclosed within the width of the stallboard to the left. An office occupied the front portion of the undercroft at the time of the survey with an interior floor level approximately three steps below that of the exterior street level. To the rear of the office space the undercroft has a brick vault for its remaining length that appears to be a later insertion. A flight of stone steps were recorded against the west wall some 9m back from the street frontage during recent renovation, however, they were floored over and no further inspection was possible making dating impossible. The Chester Rows Research Project was carried out between 1985 and 1990 and included detailed documentary research as well as architectural surveys of the surviving buildings. The project was initiated by the City of Chester and the former County Council with funding by the Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments, English Heritage, the British Academy, the British Archaeological Research Trust, the St. John's House Trust, Chester, Samuel South Old Brewery, Colin Stannanought Partnership and Chester Civic Trust. A paper archive of documents, medieval deeds and a photographic record was produced on a building by building basis along the four main streets of Chester, both historic and modern buildings were examined although the present extent of the Rows is much reduced. The earliest reference to the unique arrangement of structures dates to the early 13th century. The traditional arrangement on the Rows consisted of a single storey structure at street level and a separate Row level building over it. The undercroft was a stone built structure, often of early origin, constructed at street level. Above it, the Row level building was more often timber built and consisted of a 'Row' level storey incorporating the Row walkway and the building frontage some 4-6m back. The Row building often included at least one further storey above it that extended back over the Row walkway. Due to differences in ground level between the front and back of the plots, both the undercroft and the Row level storey are built on the present ground level. The Row walkway extended over the front 4-6m of the undercroft and included the pathway adjacent to the Row frontage and an area known as the stallboards over the undercroft frontage (this allowed extra head room for the undercroft and additional space for traders for the Row).