Building record 10497 - Chester Rows: 14-16 Northgate Street

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.

<1> Chester Archaeology, 1985-1990, Chester Rows Research Project Archive, CHER 10497 (Paper Archive). SCH6789.

No 14-16 Northgate Street consists of two town houses built in 1892 with significant alteration in the 1950s. The property is 10.88m in width including the covered passage to the north.

The facade of the street level undercroft consists of a largely modern shop front with late 19th century carving over the facia board at No 16. The interior of the undercroft is covered with modern shop fittings. During the rebuilding of this house, a Roman hypocaust (CHER 8379/3) was recorded to the rear of No 16 and is currently preserved in situ.

The facade of the Row level town houses appear similar in style with a plain door to the south and three windows to the north with studwork below. The upper floors are of real and applied timber framing in the Vernacular Revival style. The interior is modern.

The Row walkway has a Row walk approximately 1.48m to the south narrowing to 1.43m in the north and a wooden stallboard 1.52m to the south widening to 1.63m to the north. Both are covered in a bituminous substance. There is also a narrow passage running parallel to the No 16. The upper floors are supported by a five wooden posts covered in the same bituminous substance.

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

<3> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1376341 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

List Description: Fragments of hypocaust in former Roman praetorium, then probably site of 2 medieval undercrofts and town houses. Rebuilt c1913 and now a double shop at street level and a public house at Row level and above. The expression is similar to Nos 12 & 14 Street (qv), probably by RW Boden. Timber frame with plaster panels; slate roof, ridge parallel with street. EXTERIOR: the modern shopfronts, of no interest, have a rear passage to north with C18 brick face towards the rear. The Row front has a recent brick south pier, 5 timber-clad stanchions and a post through street and Row storeys at the north-west corner; false framing on north side; a central post rises from the Row stallboard, set back from the frontage; timber handrail on ornate mild steel balusters. Mock timber-framed pub front of no interest. The upper storeys of possibly false timber framing are in a simpler version of the expression of Nos 12 & 14 Row (qv). Attenuated jetties at Row bressumer and beneath eaves; 4 leaded cross-windows to each storey. The northernmost property on the now shortened Row. INTERIOR: the shop floor is approx 1m below pavement level, with no cellar apparent. 10 sandstone hypocaust pillars stand in situ at the north-east corner of the shop. Other surfaces in shop and public house are covered, with no features of special interest visible. Grade II Listed.

<4> Lawson, P H and J T Smith, 1958, The Rows of Chester: Two Interpretations, No 16 (Quaintways) (Article in Journal). SCH5750.

A survey of the Rows carried out by Lawson and Smith in the 1950s had noted evidence of medieval masonry to the rear of the cellar/undercroft at No 16. The remains of the cellar consisted of two chamfered segmental stone arches and a number of corbels surviving mostly on the south side (CHER 10703). The western part of the cellar had previously been destroyed during an earlier phase of renovation.

<5> L-P Archaeology, 2021-2022, Historic Building Recording at 16 Northgate Street, Chester, R4563 (Client Report). SCH9157.

Archaeological recording was carried out at Numbers 14 and 16 Northgate Street in 2022 in advance of internal and external alterations to the lower ground floor levels. It identified that Medieval oak timbers and floorboards of the underside of the Row walkway remain in situ, encased within later materials. Timber beams associated with the stallboard appear to represent a secondary Medieval phase of construction; this correlates with the historic documentation which indicates that the stallboards were added later to the Rows.

The Medieval fabric of the Row walkway is isolated to the south side undercroft of Number 16 and comprises north/north-west to south/south-east aligned beams, which presumably extended between the north and south walls of the south side undercroft. The Medieval timbers have been truncated at the south end, where the twentieth century entrance is located. Between the Medieval oak beams, in places, there is early plaster infill which has a pinkish puff colour. The plaster could be contemporary or a later addition. Where the plaster is not present wide oak boards for the underside of the earlier Medieval walkway above are visible. The beams have peg holes and notches cut into them, which may indicate that they were re-used, or more probably, that they represent alterations to the under area of the walkway over time, in the form of timber partitions, signs or fixtures. Early twentieth century tongue and groove boards attached to softwood joists still partially cover some of the Medieval timbers on the north side of the south side undercroft. The medieval beams and overlying walkway boards are potentially of fourteenth century date.

Two small exposed areas in the vicinity of the stallboard revealed that the area to the north side of the load bearing beam had been rebuilt with twentieth century material. However, the area exposed on the south side of the load bearing beam demonstrated that original stallboard timbers remained in situ. The east to west aligned timber beams extended from the west side of the Row walkway. The beams indicate that the underside of the stallboard was parallel with street level. Historic documentation indicates that the stallboards were added between the walkways and the street fronts in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The oak beams of the stallboard of Number 16 are potentially of fifteenth century date, but may be earlier.