Building record 12000/20 - Chester City Walls - Eastgate

This monument refers to the current Eastgate, built in 1768. The original Eastgate dates from at least the thirteenth century (see CHER 12000/20/3), held under sergeancy from the Earl of Chester, but the sergeancy was then given to Henricus de Bradford and his son Robert in 1275, with the Brewers Hall as compensation for their Manor of Bradford which they had ceded to Vale Royal Abbey (1, 2). Later the sergeancy passed to Earls of Oxford and the Crewe Family, who employed gate-keepers and exacted tolls on all goods passing through the gate (3). In its final form, reached perhaps in the reign of Edward III, the medieval gate, which incorporated much of the Roman structure, was the ‘strongest and loftiest’ in the city. It suffered early from neglect, and by 1631 was ruinous, stones falling from it onto adjacent houses (14). Repaired in 1640, it was much battered in the siege, when perhaps it lost its two smaller towers. Though it was repaired again in the 1670s, it seems to have fallen into decay once more. In 1707 as part of the general renovations the ancient pedestrian passage on the wall walk over the Eastgate was re-opened. By the 1750s the gate itself was thought too narrow and inconvenient, and in 1768 it was demolished and replaced by a wider elliptical arch flanked by low pedestrian arches (14). In 1898 – 1899 the iron work and the clock, designed by John Douglas, were placed on the tower to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee of 1897 (CHER 12000/20/2) (14). In 1972, during sewer repairs just outside Eastgate, a short length of the medieval city wall was revealed and adjoining a small part of the north tower of the Eastgate. Pottery from inside the wall and in town ditch at this location dated to between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The foundations of a building which leaned up against the medieval structures were also recorded (4). Using drawings and the evidence from the excavation, it is possible to reconstruct the old medieval gate. It probably consisted of an archway between two octagonal towers with lancet windows. Two wing walls joined these towers to two smaller towers; all standing well forward of city wall. Masonry found in a sewer trench in 2009 (ECH4567) is probably the base of a north-south wall joining the north set of towers, with the angle of the north main tower showing at the side of the trench. This places the medieval road just south of the present Foregate St. It appears that the city walls to the north and to the south of the gate are not on the same line, but staggered by 6m, with the northern stretch lying further to the east. The gate survived until the Civil War, but after that experienced rapid decay. The two outer towers were destroyed or were absorbed into the houses on either side of the gate and the gate itself was cleared in 1768 because of limited access (5). Please see the linked listed building description for structural detail on the current Eastgate (13).

<1> Simpson, F., 1910, The Walls of Chester, /12-13 (Book). SCH3255.

<2> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Ormerod G 1882 1/355-6 (Book). SCH1389.

<3> Harris, B.E., 1979, Bartholomew City Guides - Chester, /54 (Book). SCH394.

<4> Alebon P.H. Davey P.J. & Robinson J., 1976, The Eastgate, Chester, 1972, 1/15 Davey P J 1973 (Article in Journal). SCH5912.

<5> LeQuesne C, 1999, Excavations at Chester: The Roman and Later Defences Part I, p.99-105 (Monograph). SCH6156.

<6> Morris, Rupert H (Rev.), 1894, Chester in the Plantagenet & Tudor Reigns, /222-225 (Book). SCH946.

<7> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ46NW26.8 1975 (Index). SCH2487.

<8> Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Revised List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, City of Chester Intra Mural 1998/ 205 (Unpublished Report). SCH4570.

<10> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2009, Essential Repairs to a Section of Collapsed Sewer, Eastgate Street, Chester., R2933 (Client Report). SCH5214.

<11> Webster L & Cherry J, 1973, Medieval Britain in 1972 (Article in Journal). SCH5613.

<12> Thompson Watkin W. T., 1886, Roman Cheshire: A Description of Roman Remains in the County of Chester (Book). SCH2878.

<13> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 470243 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

<14> 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, p218-219 (Book). SCH6522.

<15> Cheshire West and Chester Historic Environment Service, 2011, Chester City Walls: North of East Gate 2010, R3017 (Client Report). SCH6884.

<16> Higham N J, 1984-9, Professor Nick Higham's Aerial Photographs, 1986/6/50 (Aerial Photograph). SCH7659.