Princess Street

Princess Street extends west from Northgate Street opposite the Abbey Gates towards Linenhall Street. It is first mentioned in around 1208 as "venella contra portam abbatie" later called "Personeslone" by 1249. Later it became "Parsons Lane".



In 1914 most working-class Cestrians lived in 19thcentury terraced housing with tiny back sculleries, outside lavatories, small back yards, and front doors opening on to the street. In the city centre, conditions in the courts of Princess Street, Goss Street, and Crook Street remained below that standard into the 1930s. In Princess Street (which the Town Hall stood on the corner of) there were 224 houses, of which 140 were damp and 120 verminous; 103 shared lavatories, 118 had no suitable washing accommodation, and 108 lacked a sink or internal water supply. The clearance was undertaken in several major phases, in 1939 immediately to the rear of the Town Hall and again in the 1960s over the remaining area as far west as St Martin’s Way.



These various clearances allowed for excavation of the largely undisturbed Roman remains beneath. As a consequence it was possible to determine that there were two distinct phases of construction at Chester with something of a hiatus between. In 122AD construction of Hadrian's Wall started and the XXth Legion (or at least large parts of it) moved north. During the following years not only did building work at Chester almost cease, but significant areas within the Roman fortress were abandonned to the point of dereliction, stones were stripped from pavements for re-use and some area's even used as rubbish-tips. Barracks which had not yet been rebuilt in stone were either demolished, or allowed to collapse. One was abandonned half-built, another used for cremation burials. From the barracks which had not fallen into disuse during this period it is possible to estimate that only a small part of the XXth Legion remained in Chester. At this time the fortress at Chester was probably used as a storage and supply station. Following the cessation of civil warfare around 210, it seems that the 20th Legion returned to Chester and began rebuilding the (by now quite decrepit) fortress. The entire street and sewer system was repaired, with the new, much enlarged Roman sewers surviving until relatively recent times and giving rise to many of the legends about underground tunnels beneath the City. The barracks were repaired as stone or part stone structures and the Centurion's quarters gained underfloor heating. Tile manufacture at nearby Holt had ceased but gradually Welsh slate came to be used for roofing. The Principia was rebuilt from the foundations up, indicating that this important ceremonial building had fallen into serious disrepair in the previous century.

Archaeological finds have confirmed a Hiberno-Norse presence in Chester. In particular, a brooch with Borre-Jellinge ornament found at Princess Street is identical with a brooch found in Dublin, and must have derived from the same mould.

1868 saw the opening of the Bishop Graham Memorial Ragged School on a donated site in Princess Street. It was closed in 1915 and later (in 1959) became the Chester City Mission which relocated from Crook Street, The building was demolished in August 2007.