Monument record 12000/2 - Chester City Walls - Spur Wall

The Spur Wall between the Water Tower and Bonewaldesthorne's Tower was built at the same time as the former, between 1322 and 1326 by John Helpstone. This section of the city walls is c 37m long and 3.3m wide, with a battlemented parapet on each side. The parapets to the spur wall have probably the only surviving example of medieval crenellation on the walls; on the half landing crenels were converted to embrasures, probably for cannon during the Civil War. A panel on the north parapet is inscribed INVENIT AUT EXCIT. It descends through three stages from the main part of the city wall to the level of the lower chamber in the Water Tower. The upper level is a small landing adjacent to Bonewaldesthorne's Tower. From here, a stairway descends to middle level, a platform c 6m long. A further stair descends to the lowest level, providing the main link to the Water Tower. Parapets still survive on middle level platform to height of 2m, pierced by two embrasures each side, originally 0.7m wide and c 1.1m deep and were built as part of a normal medieval battlement, but have since been converted into smaller openings for gun ports, probably during the Civil War (1). The chamber in the wall thickness lies beneath the middle level platform, has a flat barrel vault and is entered by a doorway in the lower level. A wide shallow arch (CHER 12000/2/1) in the north wall was possibly designed to take a raised portcullis, but there are no signs of a slot (2).

<1> Ward, S. W., 1986, Recent work on the medieval wall of Chester, Ward S 1985 68/81-84 (Article in Journal). SCH5945.

<2> Renn, DF, 1958, The Water Tower at Chester, Renn D F 1958 45/56-60 (Article in Journal). SCH5753.

<3> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Ormerod G 1882 1/355-6 (Book). SCH1389.

<4> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 470119 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

<5> Donald Insall Associates, Chester City Walls Conservation Management Plan, R3251 (Client Report). SCH6603.

<6> Grosvenor Museum Excavations Newsletter, 1985, Summary of Excavations in Chester (Newsletter). SCH6270.

<7> multiple authors, 1983, Excavation Reports and Sites Observed (Article in Journal). SCH5810.

<8> 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, p222 (Book). SCH6522.