Building record 10489 - Chester Rows: 69 Watergate Street The Old Customs House Inn

No 69 Watergate Street is a mid 17th century three storey town house currently in use as a public house was accommodation above, it is now a single property with the adjacent building. The facade is 6.38m wide with a street level frontage in stone with timber framing above and a Welsh slate roof and of a 17th century date. At first floor level a carved frieze with the initial T.A.W. supports three tiers of panelling and a canted bay window. The second floor, also the gable end, has a carved frieze inscribed with the date 1637 and a single tier of panelling. It was suggested by the surveyor that the 17th century facade may have been a re-fronting of an earlier building. The interior of the street level undercroft consists of brick and stone walls with a flat ceiling and modern reinforced steel joists. Like many of the properties along Watergate Street the interior floor level is substantially below that of the street level. The first floor, former Row level, is accessed via enclosed steps from the street with an interior that has been significantly altered with few original features. Three chamfered crossbeams survive forming four bays in length of uncertain date. In addition, a partial post is visible within the fireplace may suggest the presence of an earlier outer wall although dating is again uncertain. 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.