Building record 10567/2 - Chester Rows : 46 Bridge Street Row

No 46 Bridge Street is a three storey town house, currently in use as a commercial property, largely of a late 19th century date replacing an earlier 18th century property. It was formerly part of the Owen Owen store on Bridge Street with the adjacent properties (No 44-50 Bridge Street). It is of Ruabon brick. The Row level town house consists of a two bay shop front, both bays have three part sash windows with a door adjacent to the window in the north bay. The upper floors consist of six evenly spaced sash windows on each floor with stone heads and sills. The interior is entirely modern. The Row walkway is 2.60m wide with no evidence of a stallboard. The upper floors are supported on square stone piers that are a continuation of the undercroft level piers. There is an ornate iron railing bordering the Row front. The bressumer above the piers is inscribed ‘Slater Menswear’ above each bay. 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.