Building record 10657/1 - 10, Abbey Square, Chester

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1376028 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Town house, Grade II*. 1754-60. For Thomas Prescott on a 40-year lease from the Dean and Chapter of Chester Cathedral. Flemish bond orange brick with grey slate roof. 3 storeys and cellar. Painted stone plinth; the entrance, west, has a pair of boot-scrapers by 4 apron steps of stone to door of 8 fielded panels with overlight of 3 arched panes in eared architraves of painted stone with pediment on pulvinated frieze. 2 flush 12-pane sashes to the first storey, 3 similar sashes to the second storey and 3 of 6 panes in square openings to the third storey; the windows have moulded sills of painted stone and wedge lintels with ornate false keystones. Cornice of painted stone beneath brick parapet with plain stone coping. Vertical brick joint with No.11 (qv). The rear fenestration is altered, but with some probably original flush sashes. INTERIOR: could not be inspected. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the brick wall to rear of garden has a probably pre-C18 sandstone plinth and a plain stone coping.

<2> Mel Morris Conservation, 2012, Heritage Impact Assessment: 10 & 11 Abbey Square, Chester, R4347 (Client Report). SCH8755.

An impact assessment, including two site visits, was undertaken in 2012 in advance of the proposed conversion of 10 and 11 Abbey Street, both Grade II* listed buildings, into the University Cathedral Free School for primary aged children. The assessment considered Nos 10 and 11 as separate buildings although at the time of survey they were joined together.

It describes No 10 Abbey Square as a virtually complete building of 1754. It's grade II* status reflects the level of completeness. It retains its original floor plan and most internal walls, half of its original windows, all of the window openings and panelled shttered linings, most of the original fireplaces and all of the original doors. This level of completeness is unusual and, as such, is of outstanding interest. Minor changes made include the insertion of a platform lift and the removal of two sections of wall partition. The range of buildings to the rear of the house have been heavily altered.

<3> Nexus Heritage, 2012, 10 and 11 Abbey Square, Chester: Archaeological Assessment, R4348 (Client Report). SCH8756.

An archaeological desk-based assessment was produced in 2012 for land at Abbey Square, Chester, in advance of proposed re-development of the Grade II* listed buildings, Numbers 10 & 11 Abbey Square, (see sources 2 and 4).

The site was considered to have good potential to contain multi period archaeological remains, including those of Roman and later date, although the construction of the current buildings are likely to have impacted the survival of remains. Additionally, the ground level in the garden of No. 10 Abbey Square appears to have been reduced, which also may have impacted earlier deposits.

<4> Mel Morris Conservation, 2012?, 10 and 11 Abbey Square, Chester: Historic Development & Phase Plans, R4349 (Client Report). SCH8757.

Report detailing the historic development, including phase plans, of Numbers 10 & 11 Abbey Square in advance of proposed redevelopment (see also sources 2 and 3), and produced considering map evidence, other documentary sources and also physical evidence.

One of the documents consulted includes a documentary history of the buildings written by Sister Kate, in 1975, one of the sisters of the Community of the Holy Name who were then incumbents of 'The Retreat House' (Numbers 10 & 11 Abbey Street). This discusses the earlier history of the area/buildings, and also the twentieth century history, including alterations made to the buildings during this period.

The map evidence for the buildings dates back to the early seventeenth century, Abbey Square was the Great Court of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Werburgh and is illustrated on the Randall Holme's plan of the Abbey of 1626. The Court contained the domestic buildings of the Abbey and on the north side of the Great Court were located a row of buildings identified on the Holme's plan as the brewery and bakehouse. The dissolution of St. Werburgh's Abbey in 1541 and the conversion of the monastic church into the cathedral made little initial difference to the form of Abbey Court. According to Sister Kate, the members of the Chapter of Chester Cathedral for many centuries, were reluctant to live in the Precinct and most sub-let their houses. Also, according to Sister Kate and ecclesiastical documentary sources, the monastic bakehouse may have become a Prebendary's house from 1623. Based on this evidence, it seems that there was a house on the north side of Abbey Square from 1623, but its precise footprint and location is not known. According to Sister Kate, after 1694 the house in Abbey Court was divided into two separate dwellings.

In March 1754, the old brewery buildings on the North side of the Square were leased to Thomas Prescott, Rober Taylor, and his son, Mascie Taylor. The monastic buildings were pulled down and the new dwelling houses built in their place, the present No's 7, 8, 9 and 10 Abbey Square. Similarly, the lease of the pair of brick houses was given to Roger Barnston; in February 1755, the Dean and Chapter granted Barnston a new lease on the understanding that he would build 'one good handsome brick house on the premises… in the place and stead of the said two messuages…which are grown old and in Decay'. This Barnston did and the house that he built in Abbey Square (the current No. 11) was occupied after his death in 1782 by his widow and other family members until 1835. However, although Barnston undertook to demolish both of the earlier seventeenth century houses, he seems to have retained a small part of the rear house and incorporated it into the service wing of the new house. There is some physical evidence for the seventeenth century building in the rear service block of No.11, this includes a king post truss and a single moulded transverse beam. The truss is roughly equidistant from two internal masonry walls, suggesting that at least one bay of the seventeenth house survives.

In 1849 the Dean and Chapter acquired the lease on No.11 Abbey Square for the purpose of creating a Residence House for the canons; the name 'Canon's Residence' appears of the 1875 Town Plan of Chester. The most famous Canon to reside at the House was Charles Kingsley who was incumbent from 1869-1872. He is commemorated by a blue plaque on the front of the building. By 1919, the Canon's Residence was redundant and the building became the temporary home of Bishop Henry Luke Paget and, thereafter, by Dr Josep Bridge, the Cathedral organist, until 1925. The final chapter of the history for No.11 came in 1926 when it opened as a Retreat House.

The Retreat House had twenty beds for those visiting at times of ordination, for meetings and conferences within the Cathedral. Main alterations at this time was the provision of first floor bathrooms, the additions of partitions at first and second floor level, to create bedrooms., the removal of walls of the sitting room and a store room to create a large refectory and the conversion of the dining room into a chapel, with the adjoining pantry becoming the sacristy. In 1931, the ground floor of No.10 was leased and connected to No.11 to enlarge the Retreat, providing an extra sitting room, dining room, and a bed-sitting room and bathroom for Retreat Conductors.

During the Second World War the Retreat House was used to house evacuee children, then a guest house and student accommodation for students evacuated from a London C of E training college. Following the war, the buildings reverted to use as a Retreat House.