Building record 11033/1/1 - Collegiate Church of St John the Baptist - North-West Tower

It might be assumed that the tower was part of the original design of the church, as some Norman masonry is still evident, but between 1518 and 1523 documentary evidence demonstrates that the tower was rebuilt (10). In 1572 and 1574 parts (said to be two-quarters of the steeple) of the north-west tower fell on the west end of church (1).

The eastern and southern sides of the tower still retain Norman work, while the northern and western sides were rebuilt in 1581. It was a buttressed tower 42m high and was of four storeys. The top storey had an embattled parapet and four crocketted pinnacles. Each face had two louvred belfry windows with panel tracery, above a row of blind arcading and quatrefoils. There were statues in niches located on the buttresses and each face. The window (still visible) on the west face of the ground floor, had panel tracery with ogee head and crocketted moulding, while the north face had similar window flanked by statues in pinnacled niches at the second storey (4). Again, in 1881 almost all the north-west tower fell in ruins, crushing the Early English north porch, which was rebuilt 1882 (8).

During archaeological excavations below the floor of the tower in 2000 (11), several phases of flooring were recorded: the earliest was a mortar deposit, thought to have been the bedding material for a former tiled floor, dating to before the tower's sixteenth century destruction in 1573. A later mortar bedding surface was thought to date to the late sixteenth century, and the latest was a cobble surface thought to date to the eighteenth century. Medieval and post medieval finds were recovered at the time, but were not described (11).

<1> Parker, John Henry, 1864, The Collegiate Church of St John the Baptist, Chester, Parker J H 1864 lst s/2/329-46 (Article in Journal). SCH5521.

<2> Morris, Rupert H (Rev.), 1894, Chester in the Plantagenet & Tudor Reigns, /164 (Book). SCH946.

<3> Royal Archaeological Institute, 1845-Present, Archaeological Journal, 94/307-8 1937 (Journal/Periodical). SCH338.

<4> Pevsner N & Hubbard E, 1971, The Buildings of England: Cheshire, /148-150 (Book). SCH3078.

<5> Raikes, H (Reverand), 1852, The Church of St John the Baptist (Article in Journal). SCH5501.

<5> Harris, B.E., 1979, Bartholomew City Guides - Chester, /155-7 (Book). SCH394.

<6> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, 1/306-317 (N) (Book). SCH1389.

<7> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, Richard R 1973 /103-110 (Book). SCH2309.

<9> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /1/215 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

<10> 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.

<11> University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 2000, St Johns Church, Chester: an Archaeological Excavation of the Tower Vestibule, R3153 (Client Report). SCH6244.

<12> Chester Archaeology, 2001, Chester Church of St John the Baptist, Tower Development 2000, Excavation and Survey, R2391 (Client Report). SCH4221.