Monument record 10640/19 - Abbey of St Werburgh - Outer Precinct

This monument refers to a number of features found within the outer precinct of the Abbey of St Werburgh (CHER 10640) that do not relate to any of the monastic buildings, but to the defences or boundaries of the precinct. During the thirteenth century, its northern and eastern sides were enclosed by the city walls, through which in 1274 – 1275 Edward I allowed the monks to make a postern gate to give access to the monastic garden, the Kaleyards (CHER 10032) situated just beyond (4). The Kaleyards themselves were fortified by a ditch probably in the 1260s, and later by a wall with a ‘great gate’ which was replaced or supplemented by a smaller postern in 1322 or 1323 (4). On the west side of the precinct, the great gate-house with its large segmental arches, with sunk chamfers on the arches and vaulting ribs suggest that it was contemporary with the early fourteenth century phases of the choir (4). At the same time, the precinct wall running northwards along Northgate St. was built. Substantial portions survive behind the houses fronting Abbey Square. The precinct north of the church, which contained all the claustral buildings, was therefore enclosed from the early fourteenth century. Whether this wall extended southward, or enclosed the area south of the abbey, is unclear. But by the sixteenth century a stone wall ran from the city walls along the line of the later St Werburgh St. and turned north to join up with the great gatehouse. That wall may have existed by the later thirteenth century, when a postern through it gave access to the precinct from a house by the abbey churchyard. Almost certainly it was standing after the grant of licence in 1377 to enclose and crenellate the abbey and the church (4). A stone wall is also reported to have surrounded the graveyard. There is no record of a processional entrance from Northgate St. to the main door of the abbey church. Next to the south-west tower of the Abbot’s lodgings (CHER 10640/6), however, there was a gate or ‘stile’, from which a path presumably led to the great door and the gateway in the south range of the lodging, and which perhaps marked the formal entrance to church and graveyard. There appear to have been few alterations to the boundary until after the Dissolution, c 1550, when the dean and chapter were accused of pulling down certain buildings. Afterwards, the precinct was probably neglected by an absentee chapter, which in the 1570s rented out the prebendal houses (4).

<1> Burne, R. V. H., 1962, The Monks of Chester. The History of St Werburgh's Abbey (Book). SCH3213.

<2> Harris, B.E., 1979, Bartholomew City Guides - Chester, /68-77 (Book). SCH394.

<3> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Ormerod G 1882 1/249-265 (Book). SCH1389.

<4> Lewis C.P & Thacker A.T. (eds), 2005, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume Vii, The City of Chester - The City of Chester, Culture, Buildings, Institutions (Book). SCH6522.