Building record 10536/2 - Chester Rows: 30 Eastgate Street Row

No 30 Eastgate Street Row is a three storey town house, currently in use as a shop. A recent survey of the interior of the Row level shop indicated surviving features of an 18th and 19th century date with traces of a possible 17th century date. The Row level shop has a modern shop frontage and brackets supporting the first floor jettied front. The upper floors appear to largely retain their 19th century character with two oriel windows on the first floor and false timber framing. The second floor above Row level is also the roof level with false timber framing, herringbone studwork and mullion windows in the gable end with plain bargeboards and a finial. The roof is of Welsh slate on a north south axis. The interior of the Row level shop is modern although the upper floors retain their 19th century internal partitions and mouldings and purlin roof. The Row walkway consists of a 1.9m wide Row path and a stallboard space approximately 2.8m wide. Like the adjacent property, there is a small cabin currently occupying the space of the stallboard. 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.