CHESTER. 



ill 



struction also in the houses. On the level of the streets 

 " there are low shops or warehouses, and above them is a 

 "gallery on each side, which extends from street to street, 

 being open in front, and baiustraded. These galleries, 

 called by the inhabitants Rows, are very uncommon and 

 surprising to strangers, who, when walking in them, can 

 hardly divest themselves of the idea, that they are up 

 one pair of stairs. Along the rows are ranges of shops, 

 and above them the higher stories, which project to 

 the streets, forming a line with the shops situated be- 

 low. The whole appears as if the first stories of all 

 the houses were laid open, and made to communicate 

 with each other, pillars only being left for the support 

 of the superincumbent structure. The principal streets 

 are intersected by various lesser ones, which cross the 

 others at right-angles, so that the inclosed spaces are 

 divided into several smaller squares. The kitchens and 

 back courts of the houses are on a level with the galle- 

 ries, while carriagi s drive about eight feet below ; and it 

 is necessary for those who would go from their own houses 

 into any of the principal streets, to descend into them by 

 a flight of several step?. Owing to this singular sort of 

 construction, though such as walk on foot are screen- 

 ed from rain, the shops are at the same time rendered 

 dark and inconvenient ; and not only they, but the peo- 

 ple also who are walking in the rows, are so hid, that 

 one would imagine there were scarcely any inhabitants in 

 it, though really it is very populous. The buildings of 

 the city are in general ancient, but owing to the inter- 

 spersion among them of some new ones, the whole has 

 rather a motley appearance. Those of the churches that 

 are principally entitled to notice, are the Cathedral, St 

 Oswald's, and St John's ; besides which, there are in the 

 city seven other parish churches, which, as buildings 

 however, present nothing particularly deserving of at- 

 tention. The cathedral is a spacious irregular pile, that 

 is become ragged through the decay of the mouldering 

 stone with which it is built. The lower part of the wall 

 has a row of arches now filled up, and appears to be the 

 oldest part of the present edifice, though none of it in- 

 deed can boast of a remote date. All the labours of the 

 Saxons on this spot, and almost all those of therefounder 

 of the building, Hugh Lupus, are now lost. Simon 

 Kip'.ey, elected abbot in 1483, finished the middle aisle 

 of it and the tower, and the initials of his name are in- 

 terlaid in cyphers on the capitals of some of the pillars. 

 Tin- columns are thick, surrounded by pilasters, with 

 email rounded arches. Above is a gallery, with a neat 

 stone balustrade in the parts where it is entire, and a row 

 of large and broad-pointed windows. With the excep- 

 tion of these slight fragments, most of the present struc- 

 ture seems to have been built in the reign of the three 

 last Henries. The beautiful west end was begun in 1508, 

 when the first stone was laid with much ceremony. The 

 window over the door is filled with elegant tracery, and 

 the door-case enriched with figures and other sculpture. 

 The descent into the church is by several steps, whence 

 it is reasonably inferred, that the present was erected on 

 the foundation of the ancient church, which was origi- 

 nally on a level with the old streets. St Oswald's church 

 forms a part of the Cathedral. St John's stands with- 

 out the walls on the east side of the city, and is report- 

 ed to have been founded by King Ethelred in 689, when 

 he had been admonished in a vision to erect it on a spot 

 whcr iie should find a white hind. It was a collegiate 

 church, and, at the dissolution, wis possessed by a dean, 

 seven canons, seven vicars, two clerks, four choristers, 



and various servants. St Peter's church is in the centre 

 of the city, and had formerly a lofty spire steeple. St 

 Bridget's, on the west side of Bridge Street, is neat and 

 convenient, opposite to which is St Michael's, which, of 

 late, has been much enlarged and beautified. Trinity 

 Church, which has undergone similar improvement, stands 

 in Watergate Street : Its handsome spire lias been lately 

 taken down. St Mary's, which is situated in the south- 

 west part of the city, has several very handsome monu- 

 ments. St Olave's stands in the lower part of Bridge 

 Street, opposite to Castle Street ; and St Martin's at 

 a place called the Ash : There are also several meeting- 

 houses, public charity-schools, and alms houses. The 

 meeting houses of the Independents and Methodists are 

 modern, and particularly elegant. 



Chester Castle, which stands within the walls on the 

 south-west side of the city, seems to have been rebuilt 

 on the Norman model by the conqueror, and enlarged 

 considerably beyond the space it occupied when possess- 

 ed by the Saxons. It consisted of an upper and lower 

 ward, the entrance to each of which was defended by a 

 gate and round tower. Within the precincts of the up- 

 per ballium * are some square towers of Norman archi- 

 tecture, with square projections at the corners slightly 

 salient. The upper room of one of the towers, called 

 Julius Caesar's, has a vaulted roof, with elegant and slen- 

 der couples running down the wall, and resting on round 

 pillars, greatly distinguished by their style and beauty 

 of execution. The remaining part of this court is occu- 

 pied by the arsenal, batteries, and habitable buildings. 

 The noble apartment, called Hugh Lupus's hall, stood 

 on the east side of tYir lower ward. The roof was sup- 

 ported by wood-work, carved in a bold style, and resting 

 on strong brackets. The length of the room was almost 

 99 feet, its breadth 4-5, and its height proportionable. 

 Adjoining to this building was a smaller one, where the 

 chancery court of the county palatine wa held, and 

 where the petty sovereigns of the palatinate assembled in 

 council, with their 8 barons. Enough of these old 

 buildings still rcma'ns in competent repair in the higher 

 ward, to afford convenient apartments for the accommo- 

 dation of the judges on the circuit. All the rest of this 

 edifice hat, been lately taken down to make room for that 

 magnificent structure, the new county gaol, which is not 

 equalled by any similar building in the kingdom. The 

 gaol is built with white freestone, and contains five yards, 

 with a working room and two day-rooms in each, having 

 separate apartments for the women and debtors. The 

 number of solitary cells for condemned criminals is 14. 

 The principal charge incurred in building this splendid 

 fabric wa.s defrayed by the income arising from the river 

 Weaver navigation. The Propyljeum, or grand entrance 

 into the castle, is now building: it extei.ds about 100 

 feet in front, and consists of a centre, and two wings, 

 or pavilions, of the Athenian Doric order. The great 

 entrance is through the intercolumniations ; and the 

 whole is of exquisite design and workmanship. 



The walls round Chester are in circuit 1 mile 3 quar- 

 ters and 101 yards. They are the only entire speci- 

 mens of ancient fortification in Great Britain, but arc 

 now preserved only for the purposes of recreation. 

 The continued walk on the top affords a great variety 

 of prospects. The Welsh mountains, the Cheshire hills 

 of Broxton, and the insulated rock of Beeston crowned 

 with its castle, the rich flat interposed, and the per- 

 petually changing views of the river, are the most pro- 

 minent and striking objects in this favourite tour. The 



Chester 



Vol. VI. PART t. 



The space immediately within the outer walls of the castles-Grose's Antiijuitit*. 



I 



