Building record 10613 - Chester Rows: 86 Lower Bridge Street Edgar House

No 86 Lower Bridge Street, known as Edgar House, was not surveyed in detail during the Chester Rows Research Project. No 86 is a former late 16th century inn, currently in use as two houses, with significant alteration and restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries. The main materials used consist of a timber frame that has been partially replaced with brick, plaster panels and a Welsh slate roof. It is two storeys high and two large bays wide. The ground floor is largely painted brick with brackets at eight end supporting a jetty at first floor level. There are replaced mullioned and transomed casement windows facing the street. The first floor has light close-studding to Lower Bridge Street and to Shipgate street, north, with no intermediate rail. The front to Shipgate Street has a bracket to the jetty. The interior was not inspected. 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.