Building record 10484/1 - Chester Rows: 39 Watergate Street

No 39 Watergate Street is a stone undercroft, currently in use as a shop, of possible late medieval origin. However, the bulk of the structure appears to be 18th century in date. The street level facade is of ashlar with half glazed door flanked by bow windows and steps on the exterior down to undercroft level. The interior floor level is approximately 1.46m below street level. The undercroft itself is 5.2m wide and 23.4m in length. The interior of the undercroft consists of an 18th century brick barrel vault on stone walls surviving to a height of 1.4m. The walls are of roughly cut coursed sandstone rubble of possible medieval date. The traditional arrangement on the Rows consisted of a single storey stone undercroft at street level and a Row level building over it. Above the undercroft, the Row level building was more often timber built and consisted of a 'Row' level storey incorporating the Row walkway or stallboard extending over the frontage of the undercroft (this allowed extra head room for the undercroft and additional space for traders on the stallboards). The Row walkway was approximately 4-6m in width and incorporated the path and the stallboards themselves. The Row level storey formed the medieval shop opening onto the Row walkway. Due to differences in ground level between the front and back of the plots, the undercroft is at street level at the front and the Row level storey at ground level to the rear. The Row building also often included at least one further storey above it that extended forward again over the Row walkway. The upper floors were private, domestic quarters. The Rows are believed to be of medieval origin, dating at least to the 13th century followed by a gradual evolution of built form over a period of perhaps 100 years to create the present elements of undercroft, Row walkway and Row building. Survival of the built form of the Rows varies considerably and different elements of a single building can vary enormously in date from the 13th century through to the 20th century.