Groves

A Walk Along The Groves
Hanshall (1823) writes of The Groves as stretching from the Recorder's Steps to Barrell Well. He says:


 * “The land beneath the walls is called the GROVES, from a regular line of fine trees which formerly ornamented the river side from the bridge to Barrell Well, but most of them are now cut down, and the road itself is stopped up. The steps which lead from the walls to the Groves are called the Recorder’s steps, and were erected at the expense of the corporation about 1700, for the convenience of Recorder Comberbach, who resided in Duke Street.” - History of Cheshire, 1817, p. 285

Nowadays it is only possible to walk along the northern bank of the River Dee from the foot of Dee Lane, where the tour starts by the steps leading down to the River. There is some free parking here with a four hour time limit and it should be possible to do the walk in that time - although the parking may be full. Looking across the River the extensive area of low lying land is the Earls Eye which occasionally floods, but is generally used as a semi-wild nature reserve. Up-river the Dee has cut a large meander into the higher ground to the east. The spire of St Paul's Boughton is just visible above the trees and roighly marks the location of Barrel Well Hill to which the path along this bank of the river apparently once led. Barrel Well His was once the place of Execution at Chester. A myth sometimes heard in Chester is that witches were rolled down the hill in barrels into the River Dee to determine whether they were guilty or not. If they sank they were guilty and if not they were innocent. There is actually no historical basis for this form of "trial by ordeal" and a far more rational explanation is that this was the site of a well which once excavated was lined with barrels to support their sides. It was however the place were supposed witches were hung (not burned) following the Witch Trials.

The bridge of boats
Towards the end of the Civil War seige of Chester, in late 1645, the Parliamentarians had largely encircled the city, linked their positions on either side of the river with a bridge of boats from Dee Lane to the Earls Eye, protected by gun emplacements at the south end. The royalists countered with a sortie across the Old Dee Bridge (with hand-grenades) and by trying to float fire boats loaded with powder against the bridge of boats, but neither venture succeeded. Randle Holme wrote how two boats were loaded with combustibles (gorse, tallow, pitch and powder) in the hope that they would be carried upstream by an expected high tide. Brereton wrote that the boats were also fitted with carbines and pistols set in a frame of wood which would shoot automatically. One of the boats made it within six yards of the bridge of boats. On December 28th ice floes temporarily broke the bridge of boats and a large detachment of the besiegers was drawn off to counter a royalist force at Whitchurch (Salop.), the defenders were unable to take advantage, apart from bringing in a small quantity of wheat and oatmeal. During the later part of December and early January 1646 the blockade in the Dee was again tightened and the city moved quickly to a stage where surrender was being discussed.

One odd thing to look for are the mooring rings to the sides at the foot of the steps. The shanks of these have been made by using the head of a discarded blacksmith's ball-peen hammer, threading the ring through the hole where the hammer handle would go and setting the flat end into concrete.

From the steps walk along the riverside road with Grosvenor Park on the right.

===Billy Hobbies well===

Billy Hobby's Well was situated in Billy Hobby's Field before the park was created. The well had a magical reputation in Chester. Chester maidens would stand with their right leg immersed in the water, wishing for husbands. Hanshall, writing in 1823, describes it as follows:


 * "In a field at the bottom of Dee Lane is a beautifully clear spring called Billy Hobby's well,- how this name was applied remains to be traced."

..and when Canniff Haight (1904) visited as recorded in his "United Empire", the spring was still flowing and he noted:


 * After straying around the park for a whil, we approach "Billy Hobby’s Well," a spring of excellent water, where we have a drink.

The place-name of "Billy Obbies Field", is used on Tithe Maps from 1745, with an accompanying spring marked at 1791 on Poole's Map and on Murray and Smart's map of c.1800. This suggests that the spring gained its name from the field and not vice versa, with the name possibly representing a local person. In 1867, John Douglas designed a little medieval-style canopy for the well. In his 2008 book, "Haunted Chester", author David Brandon suggests that Billy Hobby was a real character who invented the legend while employed at the park and charged women to access the well on New Year's Eve. He stopped his lucrative side-line when at least one woman caught a chill and died. However the reference to Billy Hobbies Field from 1745 and the fact that Grosvenor Park was not first opened until 1867 would seem to argue against that.

'''From the well continue along the road between a brick wall on the left and Grosvenor Park on the right. You will eventually reach a turn to the left where the road heads down a ahort slope to the river. Take this turn rather than heading straight on.'''



Rowing Clubs
On reaching the river the far bank can now be examined in more detail. It displays vertical rock faces in places and these may well have been quarried for stone. It is also clear that the river here is running in something of a gorge. This gorge appears to be natural despite local myths that the path of the river hereabouts was "much altered" by the first Norman Earl. However it may be the case that some of the "quarrying" could have been done by the Earl, or his successors, for construction work - with the river being used for transport down to the weir. The rock faces illustrate how deeply the river Dee has cut into the native sandstone as it passes through Chester.

The earliest record of organised boat-racing at Chester, something that could actually be called a "regatta" is sometimes described as a print of the "Chester Regatta" from 1733. The competitors were people who worked on the river, the fishermen and ferrymen rather than "amateurs". The boats used would not have been special racing boats but the everyday working boats rowed by their owners and their apprentices. Coracles also took part and there most likely would have been wagers placed on the outcome of the races.

It appears that a Regatta was organised in 1814 to celebrate the "Peace of Paris" and this became an annual event (much the same is claimed at Durham). Prize money was offered in races for men (four guineas), women (two guineas), and boys (two pounds), watched by crowds reckoned to be up to 10,000 strong. Firm evidence exists for a regatta in 1819, especially in the form of a hand-bill showing racing "cox-less fours" passing the Hermitage below St Johns and heading up-river. The illustration is accurate as regards the background and so might be assumed accurate as regards the details of the vessels. The boats shown are not the long and narrow racing boats which developed later for improved performance, but appear to be similar to large clinker-built rowing boats with quite a high free-board. These are typically 20-30 feet long, about six feet wide and have over a foot of free-board as well as a heavy external keel and fixed twarts (seats). The oars were pivoted on the hull rather than making use of outriggers.

The use of a smooth-sided "shell" rather than overlapping planks appears to have been pioneered at Chester. This new technique was used by Matthew Taylor of Gateshead in the construction of a smooth-skinned, internally-keeled, four-man boat (the "Victoria", which still survives) used by the Royals in the Henley Regatta of 1855 - the first time that they had competed there. Royal Chester won both the Stewards' and the Wyfold challenge cups at Henley in that year.

From here walk along the river bank towards the Suspension Bridge which is now visible further on.

Parkside
The minutes of the Chester Assembly for Friday, 22nd September 1626 record:




 * "William Earl of Derby petitioned to have in fee farm a piece of land by Deeside underneath St. John's on which he had built a chamber and enclosed the land. It was ordered that he should be granted his request on payment of 20s. a year rent at Michaelmas"

The riverside below St. John's church was corporation property and used as a public walk by 1717. In 1726 it was leased by the city council to Charles Croughton, an apothecary (under yearly rent of one pepper corn), who secured the river bank and planted an avenue of trees for the public benefit. In the Inland Revenue records, when he was apprenticed to Ralph Sudlow in 1712, he was stated to be the son of Charles Croughton, gentleman, but when he gained the freedom of Chester on 3rd March, 1722, he was recorded as "Charles Croughton of Chester, apothecary, son of Charles Croughton of Chester, silkweaver".

By 1726 Croughton had lately purchased the "Earl of Derby's house and garden near Dee" and wanted a grant of the ground between his garden wall and the river Dee in return. The petition is ZAF/51/109 in the archives:


 * "Petition from Charles Croughton, apothecary, stating that he had lately purchased the late Earl of Derby's house and garden near Deeside within the liberties of the city and praying a grant of the ground between his garden wall and the river Dee leaving a convenient footway through the same or, otherwise, liberty to bring his said garden wall in a direct line from the Bowling Green wall to the corner of the wall of the house of Easemont at the east end of his garden wall."

The wording of the lease was:


 * "Herbage and pasture of piece of ground near St. John's Church, beside the River Dee, from the corner of the Bowling Green house to the garden wall, now in possession of Andrew Kendrick, 187 yards long, with licence for Croughton to carry his garden wall on the north side of the said ground in a direct line from his summer house wall to the house of easement at the east end of the said ground. Croughton to make a fit public walk from north to south 7 yards by 2 yards and plant it with trees and not to enclose it at each end except with a turnpike"

The "bowling green house" was next to the bowling green which Stanley had set out.



The Suspension Bridge
The Queen's Park Suspension Bridge connects The Groves with the affluent Queen's Park area of Chester. Queen's Park was planned on a greenfield site immediately south of the River Dee and next to the Earls Eye in 1851 by Enoch Gerrard and others. It was developed in the 1850s and 1860s as a middle class residential suburb. The Duke of Westminster originally intended to have the area laid out as a model industrial suburb but Victoria Pathway remains the only part of this vision that was realised. The residential development of Queen’s Park was slow and only four villas and two semi-detached pairs had been built by 1873. By 1910 the total had still reached only 17, although a further 10 houses had been built on St. George's Crescent to the south. The experience there, and at Curzon Park, suggests that the demand for exclusive property in Chester was smaller than the amount of sites available. On the southern edge of Queen's Park some smaller semi-detached houses had appeared in the mid 19th century around Victoria Pathway. There has since been extensive inter-war and post-war infill and eastward extension to the suburb.

The suspension bridge is the only footbridge to cross the River Dee in Chester apart from the footbridge attached to the railway bridge. It was originally built in 1852 at the instigation of Enoch Gerrard, Esq., the "projector and proprietor" of Queen's Park, the developing suburb across the river. According to Thomas Hughes, author of "The Stranger's Handbook to Chester":


 * "It was 'a pretty object in the landscape. Though of such spider-like construction, its capabilities and strength have been fully tested".

Chester Corporation took on the responsibility for this bridge in the early 1920s and decided to demolish it almost at once - presumably because there was some serious structural problem and Chester was already noted for one bridge collapse disaster when the Dee Railway Bridge gave way under a passing train in 1847. The demolition of the suspension bridge took place in August 1922. It was replaced by a new bridge "designed" by Charles Greenwood, City Engineer and Surveyor ("designed" because it is almost a copy of another bridge). The opening ceremony, conducted by the Mayor of Chester, Councillor S.R. Wall, took place on 18 April 1923.

Hermitage
One of the most unusual buildings in Chester is the Anchorite's Cell or 'Hermitage', a small sandstone building by the River Dee at The Groves. The present building is believed to date from the mid 14th century and was one of two 'cells' built as religious retreats for reclusive monks or hermits. Until the reformation it belonged to the collegiate Church of St Johns which stands on the sandstone ridge "Redcliffe" above the river. It is possibly the oldest occupied dwelling in Chester.

The cell itself stands on a sandstone outcrop in a former quarry, which is now set out as a bowling green (which does not appear to be used). It was re-modelled in the 19th century, when gothic traceried windows were added. The porch on the north side originally came from St Martin's Church which was demolished in 1897. During its long history, the cell has also been a grain warehouse, the meeting place of the Company of Shoemakers and, more recently in the 1970s, an architect's office. The Anchorite's Cell was refurbished as a cottage sometime in the 1970s and is presently a private dwelling.

The historical record shows that a "hermit" named "John Spicer" was pardoned in 1358 for 'acquiring' land by the River Dee and building an enclosed hermitage. A later hermit John Benet, described as "hermit of St. James, Chester", was accused of receiving robbers, sheltering common malefactors, and keeping a brothel. In 1456, the Mayor and sheriffs of Chester were ordered to "investigate the conduct" of another successor, Jeven ap Bleth' ap Carwet, (recently appointed to the hermitage by the king - a nice guy called Richard III).

Bandstand
In the mid 19th century the rise of tourist excursions to Chester turned the Groves into a popular resort. Pleasure boats could be hired on the river by the 1850s, and in the later 19th century band concerts throughout the summer became a major attraction. The concerts were at first arranged by a private committee, which built a bandstand in, according to some sources, 1913, but were taken over by the city council in 1927.

Built out of yellow sandstone, with cast-iron columns and a slate roof, other sources will state that the cost of the Bandstand was provided by Charles Brown, sometime mayor of Chester. In fact, Brown died in April 1900 and the bandstand was in fact built in c1880. Brown was Mayor in 1880-81, 1883-85 and from 1891-3. He expected a knighthood but, perhaps, this was forfeited folling his involvement in the affairs of a rigged 1880 election which led to the dis-enfranchisement of Chester for five years:

The plinth beneath rhe bandstand contains a store-room with covered door but no windows. Brown was a member of the family which founded and, for a number of years, ran the department store 'Browns of Chester', which was so renowned that it was once called the "Harrods of the North". This was not the only bandstand near-by: following thr end of the 1893 Royal Agricultural Show in Hoole Chester Town Council bought the bandstand for £24, and for a time had it installed in in a rather exposed location in Grosvenor Park, above the hill where Billy Hobbies well stands, utill the bands’ sheet music was continually blown away by winds coming up the River Dee.



Recorders Steps
In 1745 the Dee Side walks extended from Souters Lane to a point east of St. John's. By 1783 the promenade was called the Groves. The Recorders Steps

In 1881 the river bank from Souters Lane to the Dee Bridge was faced with rubble from the fallen tower of St. John's church, and the avenue was extended to the west, an improvement carried out at the expense of Charles Brown to commemorate his mayoralty.

Grosvenor Bridge
The Grosvenor Bridge, was designed by Thomas Harrison and officially opened in 1832 although it was not finished for traffic to cross it until 1 January 1834. At its opening, the Grosvenor Bridge was the longest existing single-span stone arch road bridge – at 200 feet across and 60 feet high – in the world (the Trezzo sull'Adda Bridge completed in 1377 had been longer, but was destroyed during a seige 1416). The Grosvenor Bridge held the world record for thirty years when it was surpassed by the "Cabin John Bridge" in the USA, 220 feet across and 57 feet 3 inches high. The Grosvenor Bridge is still the longest masonry arch in the UK, and number 19 in the world. One reason for building the Grosvenor Bridge was that the Old Dee Bridge was frequently congested. It has also been suggested that the construction of the bridge was prompted by the appointment of Thomas Telford in 1815 to oversee the building of what is now the A5 from Shrewsbury up to Holyhead. If this was the case the Cestrians were very slow to act. Following a public meeting at the Chester Town Hall (in those days the "Exchange") on 28th Deptember 1818 a resolution was passed that:


 * "... the existing mediaeval bridge [at Handbridge] and the avenues thereto, which are the principal communication between the great manufacturing counties of Lancaster and York and the whole of the North of England, with the West of England, and with Wales and Ireland, are not only highly inconvenient but absolutely dangerous to passengers in carriages, on horseback and on foot."

It took until 1825 to get the Royal Assent to the Act. By the time the bridge was opened almost twenty years had passed since the first concerns had been expressed about the diversion of trade via Telfords new route into Wales.

Prior to the construction of the bridge there was considerable doubt as to its structural integrity. One way that the Committee were convinced was by the constructiom of a scale model of the bridge which can srill be seen today next to the City Walls by Chester Castle. In engineering terms this borders on trickery, as the well-known Square-Cube Law demonstrates that as a model is scaled up the weight grows faster than its ability to support itself - the reason why elephants have thick legs, while ants can make do with very thin ones. In fact a scale model bridge carved from a single chunk of stone says very little about the strength of the full size equivalent bridge made from an assembly of thousands of elements of masonry.

Related Pages

 * River Dee
 * Bridges
 * Regatta
 * Earls Eye
 * Dee Lane
 * St Johns
 * Suspension Bridge
 * Grosvenor Park
 * Hermitage
 * Souters Lane
 * City Walls
 * Old Dee Bridge
 * Chester Castle
 * Grosvenor Bridge
 * Portpool