Monument record 11194 - Lecture hall and reading room, Saltney

A lecture hall and reading room are recorded on Ordnance Survey maps from the late 19th century. The original building was a long narrow range on the corner of Cable Street and St Marks Road on the site of an earlier poorhouse marked on the 1836 tithe map for the township of St Mary on the Hill.

The poorhouse comprised a long narrow range on a parcel of land to the south of Hough Green close to the Welsh/English border. The poor house appears to have been built prior to the substantial expansion of Saltney township and does not respect the later street layout. (3)

By the late 19th century the poorhouse had been replaced by the lecture hall, probably using the same building. On the First Edition map the building comprised two linked narrow ranges. By the start of the 20th century the plot had been joined by a reading room fronting onto St Marks Road. Both structures were demolished in the later 20th century, however. (1, 2)

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1872-1875, Metric Ten Foot Scale Town Plan of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH6780.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

<3> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, St Mary on the Hill township (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.