Monument record 11033/7 - Collegiate Church of St John the Baptist - Shrine of the Holy Rood

From the thirteenth century St John’s reputation was enhanced by the possession of an important relic, the so-called Rood of Chester. It existed by 1256 or 1257, when Fulk of Orby provided a mark of silver annually for lights to be placed before it (2), and appears to be enshrined in a golden cross-shaped reliquary adorned with an image.

It was so greatly venerated both locally and from further afield that in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century St John’s was known as the church of the Holy Cross. It was perhaps single greatest source of wealth at this time. The Rood was still venerated in the fifteenth century, and the cult had by then spread to Bordeaux. Several prominent locals made gifts to the shrine and its carers in their wills (1, 2).

<1> Jones, D., 1957, The Church in Chester 1300-1540, /50-1 (Book). SCH3106.

<2> 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.