Building record 10580/1 - Chester Rows : 23 Bridge Street

No 23 Bridge Street is a stone undercroft, currently in use as a commercial property, of a probable medieval origin with extensive modern alteration. The front facade and interior of the undercroft level is entirely modern with no visible evidence of earlier features recorded during the Chester Rows Project. The undercroft does, however, contain evidence of a medieval date recorded during the survey of the property by English Heritage. There are three steps down from the street into the undercroft with a cased beam under the stallboard, then 4 cross-beams each on end-posts and 2 inserted intermediate posts cased in wood. The flat oak joists have chamfers with stops visible at rear ends; one joist in the second bay has both ends stopped; 2 in the third bay have both ends of chamfers more simply stopped; a suspended ceiling covers the joists in the fourth bay. The sidewalls now covered, are stated to be sandstone, probably medieval. 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.