Monument record 10875 - Castle - Seventeenth Century

During repairs undertaken on the shire court buildings in 1660 a garden was created in the inner bailey for the judges to walk in at the Assize, a garden that appears on Lavaux’s plan of c 1745. During the last two decades of the seventeenth century additions were made to the area of the inner bailey between the guards tower and the half moon tower, which included a new armoury, stores, a storekeeper’s house and a carpenters workshop. This area was subject to detailed survey and excavation between 1979 and 1982, which demonstrated a complex sequence of events between 1686 and 1769. The armoury was built in 1686 and was to be serviced by a Furbisher, later corrupted to Frobisher. In 1691 repairs were undertaken on the armoury, which included re-roofing of the Flag Tower and the Half Moon Tower. Between 1696 – and 1698 the castle housed one of the Royal mints used for the recoinage of William III. An inventory of the equipment issued for fitting out the mint exists, and the location for this was to be in the inner bailey, utilising the Frobisher’s shop. This building is still standing although the upper storey was much altered during the nineteenth century. An account made after the mint had ceased production in 1698 records the taking down of the mint ovens and chimneys. This account also refers to restoration work done in the Frobisher’s shop, which had served as the marking room for the mint (5).

<1> Cox, E W, 1895, Chester Castle, Cox E W 1895 5/239-276 (Article in Journal). SCH5599.

<2> Simpson F, 1925, Chester Castle, A.D. 907-1925, 26/71-132 (Article in Journal). SCH5695.

<3> Colvin H.M. (ed), 1963-1982, The History of the King's Works, 1/607-612 (Book). SCH3161.

<4> Morris, Rupert H (Rev.), 1894, Chester in the Plantagenet & Tudor Reigns, /98 (Book). SCH946.

<5> English Heritage, 2001, Chester Castle Conservation Plan (Unpublished Report). SCH6281.

<6> de Lavaux, A, 1745, Plan of the City and Castle of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH5255.

<7> Ellis P, 1996, Excavations at Chester: Chester Castle the 17th century armoury and mint (Monograph). SCH6159.