St Peter



The church stands by the High Cross on the site of part of the Roman Praetorium and some of its fabric probably dates from that time. A church is said to have been built on this site by Æthelflæd in 907 when the Roman city was refortified by the Mercians. The event is recorded in the Chronicle (although versions vary) and a cryptic note from 907 that "Chester was restored" suggests more fighting in that year :


 * A.D. 907. This year died Alfred, who was governor of Bath. The same year was concluded the peace at Hitchingford, as King Edward decreed, both with the Danes of East-Anglia, and those of Northumberland; and Chester was rebuilt.

The history of St Peter is closely intertwined with the city politics of Chester. In 1300, Edward I's charter granted the citizens of Chester the right to try pleas of the Crown before the mayor and sheriffs of the City - the first time any city in England obtained this privilege. Hemingway writes:


 * "There is a document amongst the corporation records which purports to be a return to a quo warranto under the statute of the 6th Edw I, in which the constitution of the city is thus stated:- The Maior and citizens of the citty of Chester clayme to have liberties under written, that is to say that the citty of Chester be a free citty and that the citizens may chuse to them a maior of themselves, from year to year, the Friday next after the feast of St Denyce which shall make his oath to keep the laws of our sovereign lord the prince and the liberties and laws of the citty aforesaid. And also that they may chuse to them two sheriffs of themselves the day aforesaid which in manner aforesaid the execution and commandments of the said Earl of Chester and of the maior and citizens of Chester truly shall do by their oaths and to have Gildam Mercalem in the citty aforesaid and to have free court of port mote in the city aforesaid of all quarrels growing within the citty aforesaid to be tried that is to say to have pleas of lands and tenements and of repleven growing by plaint in the port mote or writ and pleas of dower in a writ of right which in the aforesaid port mote by writ originally ought to be served. And all other pleas to be holden in the pentice of the citty aforesaid afore the sheriff."

This can be taken as evidence that the Pentice was in existence in 1300. The court, named from the structure in which it was held, a lean-to built against St Peter's church, actually appears to have been well established by 1288. Its earliest surviving records date from 1297. On petition, a case could be transferred to the Portmote (held at the Commonhall). The Pentice was particularly concerned with the regulation of the markets, and also heard all pleas during the fairs, when the Portmote was suspended.

Following the English Reformation "enthusiastic" protestantism developed only slowly in Chester. The City at first contained no notable protestant laymen, and overseas trade was not with ports where protestantism was entrenched. However, grow it did. Cheshire at the time still retained many of the institutions, social structures and traditions of the Palatinate and was largely used to a high degree of local independence. This contributed to an intellectual and spiritual space in which extremism could develop.

The "Fraternity of St George" originated at the beginning of the 15th century and the "guild church" of the Fraternity was St Peter. First mentioned in 1462, when it was governed by four masters or wardens, it was open to both men and women, with two chaplains apparently required to pray for the souls of benefactors at St. George's altar. Its property within the city, which included shops in Watergate Street near the church, was sufficient to require two rent collectors. In 1489 Nicholas Southworth, son of a former mayor and clerk to the kitchen of Edward IV, gave it the large sum of £40 for ornaments. In the 1530s the guild's chaplain occupied a chamber "over the door" of St. Peter's, and in 1548 it had property bringing in annually some £12. The guild, like the church which housed it, had close links with the city government, and in the early 16th century its stewards were listed in the Mayor's Books after the civic dignitaries. It was still receiving bequests from aldermen in 1535, but was surpressed as part of the Reformation in 1547. St George became hugely popular in Cheshire in the 1490's and is mentioned by Humphrey Newton (1466-1536) of Newton (Prestbury) as a spirit leading the souls of the departed through purgatory. There is a curious connection of George with Chester: according to Orderic Vitalis, writing around 1200, Hugh of Avranches, 1st earl of Chester, had a clerk (chaplain) named Gerold d’Avranches who would recite edifying tales about George and other martial saints to the men and boys of the household during the 1070s. Gerold's aim appears to have been to encourage the household members to become monks, and it is reputed (with a notable lack of evidence) that Hugh became a monk at St Werburgh in Chester, four days before he died (1101). To the Prince, the "Fraternity of St George" would have meant the company of archers now known as the Honourable Artillery Company. To the audience of the pageant it would have had a much more nuanced meaning.

During the 1560s and 1570s there were attempts to promote "good behaviour" in church and some agitation against the Chester Mystery Plays, but the turning point came only in the 1580s, when Bishop William Chadderton (1579-95) established monthly exercises, dominated by puritans, and encouraged clergy to attend. Among the participants was the Revd. Christopher Goodman, who had returned to Chester in 1571 and soon gathered influential support among the laity. Goodman was to be the driving force behind the banning of the Chester Mystery Plays in 1575. Active at the Cathedral at the same time were Prebendary John Nutter as a preacher (who's religious views swung from one extreme to the other depending on the best way to make money and whose family would later provide one of the Pendle "witches", Alice Nutter) and Thomas Hitchens as a lecturer.

In 1583 the corporation established a weekly Friday lecture at St Peter's, which became a centre of puritan preaching. After Goodman associated himself with St Bridget's it too displayed puritan leanings, and in other parishes, Holy Trinity for example, there were complaints about incumbents who failed to preach regularly. The growing attachment to puritan teachings was both reflected in, and encouraged by, the Corporation's eventual concern with personal behaviour. It repeatedly attempted to curb excessive drinking and vice, attacking "church ales", "Welsh weddings", unlawful games, bowling, football, and bull and bear baiting. The authorities banned Sunday trading and exhorted Cestrians to attend church whenever sermons were preached and twice on Sundays and holy days; the Corporation set an example by attending services with due formality - mostly at St Peter's. Clerical support for puritanism in Chester is not easy to measure. William Barlow, dean at the Cathedral in 1603-5, was a prominent and strongly anti-puritan member of the Hampton Court conference in 1604, but Bishop Richard Vaughan (1597-1604) sympathized with many puritan opinions. The next bishop, George Lloyd (1604-15), a former divinity lecturer at the Cathedral, was an active preacher and apparently a moderate who tolerated puritan clergy in Chester. Lloyd's portrain hangs in the "Puritan Room" at the Grosvenor Museum and his supposed residence, Bishop Lloyd's House, still exists in Watergate Street, but has been much altered over the years. His successor, Thomas Morton (1616-19), however, was of firmly Anglican views and pressed the puritans to conform. His task was made more difficult by the ministrations of Nicholas Byfield, a Calvinist polemicist and a powerful preacher, who was rector of St. Peter's 1608-15, where his congregation included puritan John Bruen of Bruen Stapleford.

Main Features
The church building as seen today has its origins during the Decorated period of architectural style (1280-1380): the second phase of Gothic architecture in England, which came at a time of growing prosperity in England. To this core a later, and Perpendicular, northern aisle was added. By 1280 Chester was a prosperous trading center. This period of history is marked by successive favors being granted on Chester by successive monarchs, who had now taken the Earldom as a royal possession (see Earls of Chester). War with wales continued bringing wealth to the city which acted both a staging point for supplies and a winter retreat for workers building the castles of North Wales (one of whom, Richard the Engineer, was to become major). Undoubtedly the presence of many masons in Chester during the winter months had consequences for local building work and it may have been at this time that The Rows became an established feature of the city layout.



Church Clock
The church clock was at one time provided with "Jacks", animated wooden figures who rang the bell. These were paid for by Robert Amerye, who is otherwish noted for putting on the play "Chester's Prince" in 1610. The present clock may be that of 1813, and is not particularly reliable (although it is right twice a day). St Peter has a ring of 6 bells, but they are in such a state of disrepair, they are considered unringable. Five of these bells which are dated 1709 are by Rudhall of Gloucester and the other, dated 1921, is by John Taylor and Company. St Peter's bells have not been rung full circle since before the second world war at least. All 6 bells are still in the tower, and all swing freely. Some clappers are missing, and the wheels that remain are apparently rotting away.

External Appearance
The present church dates from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, with modifications in the following three centuries. The church is built of red sandstone and is approximately square in plan. Its floor is at the level of the adjacent Watergate Row and the church is entered by a flight of seven stone steps on the south face.Formerly the tower had a spire which was removed and rebuilt in the 16th century, taken down in the 17th century, then rebuilt and finally removed "having been much injured by lightning" about 1780.

In 1849–50 the church was repaired by James Harrison, and 1886 it was restored by John Douglas, which included the addition of the present, rather short, pyramidal spire. The presence or absence of the spire is useful in dating some of the Art of Louise Rayner who often features the church in her works.

Internally
Inside the church is a continuous nave and chancel with four aisles. The west end is attached to and extends behind the backs of the adjacent buildings. Over the outer aisles and at the west end are galleries. On the south wall under the gallery are three corbels with medieval carvings of an angel, a woman and an old man.



Medieval Wall-painting
On the northeast pier supporting the tower, just within the church is a niche (which formerly contained a "Virgin and Child" statue), and surrounding it is the best preserved medieval wall painting in Cheshire (N.B. this should not be photographed using "flash", so as to prevent damage). There are other surviving medieval wall paintings at Chester Castle and St Johns.

Font
The underside of the cover of the fomt bears an inscription in Greek. This is remarkable in that it is a palindrome - one of the very few known Greek ones - having the same letters backwards as forwards. It reads: "Νίψον ανομήματα μη μόναν όψιν" (Nipson anomēmata mē monan opsin - cleanse (our) sins not only (our) face). The inscription is said to have been first used in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and is attributed to Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. Technically, the Romanization is not a palindrome because the Greek letter ψ (psi) is transcribed by the digraph "ps": the modern diacritics, which are not symmetrical, are usually omitted from inscriptions of the sentence.

Early History
Hemingway writes:


 * There is a tradition that this church was dedicated to St Peter and St Paul and that it was erected when the patrons of the monastery which occupied the site of the cathedral were changed from the saints before mentioned to the Holy Trinity. This tradition has been given by Webb in his description of Chester in the following terms: "It appeareth that the christian faith and baptism came into Chester in Lucius's time a king of the Britons which is within less than one hundred and forty years of the sufferings of our saviour Christ and that then a church was here built and at that time called by the name of St Peter and Paul and this church saith Bradshaw in the life of St Werburgh (book 2 chap 3) was the mother church and burial place to all Chester and seven miles about Chester and so continued for the space of 300 years and more But then after as appeareth in the same author. Elfleda that noble lady, daughter to king Alfred, sister to king Edward senior, wife to Ethelred king of the Mercians altered the name of this church from Peter and Paul to Trinity and St Oswald and this alteration was by the general consent of the duke and spiritualty yet so as no loss should be either to the memory of those patrons so they called the saints of whom churches in their foundations were appointed to receive their names or to the upholding of devotion for another church was soon built in the midst of the city called by the same name of Peter and Paul."

The parish, always entirely intramural, had complex boundaries, possibly reflecting the holdings of an early burgess.

Norman Conquest


Soon after the Norman Conquest the church was given to Robert of Rhuddlan, who in 1086 unsuccessfully claimed that it stood on thegnland dependent on an extramural manor and was exempt from borough dues. Hemingway records:


 * At the period of the conquest it bore its present name as appears from the following curious entry in Domesday of which a translation is also subjoined: "Terra in qua est templum sancti Petri quam Robertus de Rodeland clamabat at Teinland (sicut diracion comitatus) nunquam pertinuit ad manerium extra civitatem, sed ad burgum pertinet, et semper fuit in consuetu dine regis et comitis sicut aliorum burgensium" (the ground on which is the church of St Peter which Robert de Rodeland claims as Thaneland (as the court of the earl proves) never belonged to the manor without the city but it belongs to the borough and also was always subject to the payment of customary rent to the king and earl as (the land) of other burgesses).



Hemingway misses-out on the curious fact that this is one of the very few times that Domesday refers to a church as "Templum", implying that this should enjoy some higher status. By 1081 Robert of Rhuddlan had granted the church to the Norman abbey of Saint-Evroul (Orne), a gift confirmed in the 1120s by Earl Ranulph I and King Henry I. Later in the 12th century the abbey transferred it to St. Werburgh's, whose position was consolidated when Simon fitz Osbern of Pulford and South Ormsby (Lincs.) and the rector, Alexander, also surrendered their interests.

Richard II
Boy king Richard II assumed full control of the government on 3 May 1389. Previously, in 1388, as a result of the political and military actions of the magnates known as the Lords Appellant, some of Richard's closest friends and advisors were executed or sent into exile. By installing Robert de Vere as Justice of Chester (see: Courts), he began the work of creating a loyal military power base in Cheshire. De Vere's relationship with King Richard was very close and rumored by chronicler Thomas Walsingham to be homosexual, although Walsingham was clearly biased against Richard. The Lord's Appellant had their revenge on the king's favourites in the "Merciless Parliament" (1388). The nominal governor of Ireland, de Vere, and Richard's Lord Chancellor, Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, who had fled abroad, were sentenced to death in their absence. Alexander Neville, Archbishop of York, had all his worldly goods confiscated. The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Robert Tresilian, was executed, as were Sir Nicholas Brembre, Lord Mayor of London, John Beauchamp of Holt (who by 1384 he had been made Receiver of the Chamber and Keeper of the King's Jewels), Sir James Berners, and Sir John Salisbury. Sir Simon Burley was found guilty of exercising undue influence over the king and was sentenced to death. Derby and Nottingham, together with the Duke of York, tried to win a reprieve for him, but he was executed on 5 May. The purge continued deep into the administration, dozens of retainers, clerks, chaplains, and secretaries to Richard were summarily condemned and executed. De Vere's fall was celebrated locally by his enemy Richard FitzAlan, 4th Earl of Arundel, who from his base at Holt Castle caused a copy of the appeal against the royal favourite to be nailed to the door of St Peter's church, something which Richard may of heard of and which he was unlikely to forget. Later he would sieze Holt and make it into the home of his Royal Treasure.

In 1397, Richard II created the title "Prince of Cheshire", which he awarded to himself. On 13 July 1397, he ordered the sheriff of the county of Chester to collect 2,000 archers for royal service. These troops were used to overawe the parliament which met in September - sometimes known as the "Revenge Partiament". Shortly thereafter Richard would depart for Ireland in a campaign which would end with his ursurpation by the later Henry IV. Events in Chester at the time included a riot at the Corpus Christi procession (possibly after Richard had taken his men to Ireland) - a record of 1399 describes a terrible brawl which broke out between the members of the guilds of the Weavers, Shearmen, Challoners (blanket-makers) and the Walkers (fullers) against their apprentices, outside of the guild church of St Peter:


 * " ..and many other master weavers came with force and arms, with pole-axes, staves, daggers, and other diverse armaments, by a premeditated plan on Thursday, the feast of Corpus Christi, in the twenty-second year of the reign of King Richard the second, opposite the church of Blessed Peter of Chester. Also, those gathered together insulted William de Wybunbure, junior, Thomas del Dame, and very many others, their servants, called journeymen, in a great affray of the whole population of the city, against the peace of the lord king"

Rebuilding

 * 1489: This year St Peter's steeple was pointed when a goose was eaten by the parson and others upon the top thereof and part cast into the four streets.

A building known as the rectory house stood over the south door of the church by 1555. It was rebuilt in 1584, and demolished with the Pentice in 1803, though it had ceased to be occupied by the incumbent before the 1690s, when it was used to house the city records.

In the later 16th century repairs were made by the city authorities, and in 1579–80 over 50 ft. of the spire was rebuilt. (fn. 472) Between 1637 and 1640 further major rebuilding took place. The east end and the south side were reconstructed, the aisles were flagged, and work was done on the roof and battlements. It was then too that galleries, the first in Chester, were introduced; by 1651 there was a gallery under the clock loft, a 'long gallery', and two others

St. Peter's retained its importance among the city churches in the later 17th century: it was the location of a monthly lecture for the reformation of manners established by Bishop Stratford and Dean Fogge in 1689, and the corporation retained seats there, rebuilt in 1701. By the 1720s the newly refurbished church contained seating for all the city officers and prayers were said daily. In 1669 the spire was again rebuilt, at the parishioners' expense. With the aid of a brief, further repairs were made to the south side and east end between 1713 and 1717, when new fittings were also installed. The spire was taken down in 1780 after being struck by lightning, and in 1803 the south side of the church was rebuilt after the removal of the Pentice. A north gallery inserted in 1769 was enlarged during restoration in 1848–9, when a south gallery was added at private expense. (fn. 478) Plans by the vestry to demolish the church were rejected by the corporation in 1879, and in 1886 a thoroughgoing restoration was effected, during which new tracery was inserted in the windows of the south aisle, the west gallery was removed, and new fittings were provided. Further restoration work was carried out in 1909 and 1957.

In written works
John Fletcher writes:




 * St Peter The situation of this church is in the center of the city and had till lately a lofty spire steeple the want of which at present exhibits so naked and dilapidated an appearance that the church;- pardon the allusion, gives us the idea of a lady on a windy day having lost her high crowned hat. Several briefs have been read, subscriptions proposed and some liberal offerings from individuals made to restore this ornamental object, bur alas if the inhabitants at large do not throw in their mite we fear, to use the words of a certain author, Poor St Peter must go to bed many winters without his night cap.

Seacome writes:


 * This church stands exactly in the centre of the city where the four principal streets meet and close to the ancient site of the High Cross. It consists of a nave and side aisles with a square tower on the south west side. In this tower are eight bells cast in 1709 whereof six are a peal: on the treble is engraved "When you ring I'll sing". The interior of the church is handsomely and commodiously pewed and there is some very rich carved work in oak over the communion table and a finely toned organ in the west gallery. St Peter's is capable of containing 1000 sitters. Tradition says that St Peter was built by Etheltleda...


 * ... In 1081 it was given by Robert de Rodeland to the Monks of St Ehrulf in Nor mandy by whom it was shortly afterwards resigned to the Abbot of St Werburgh. In 1479 the steeple was rebuilt on which occasion the parson and other inhabitants ate a goose on the top of it and flung the bones into the four principal streets beneath. At the dissolution the patronage of St Peter's was vested in the Dean and Chapter of Chester it afterwards revcrted to the Crown but is now solely in the gift of the Bishop. The spire of this church having been injured by lightning was taken down in 1780 and in 1787 the south side of the church was recased with stone. The steeple was rebuilt and a new clock was placed in it in 18l3.

The Chester Courant recorded (on 25th June 1902) that:


 * "The shopkeepers and residents in Bridge- street have this week been quite in a fog as to the time, the reason being that St. Peter's clock has been undergoing repair. The clocks of St. Peter's Church are of historic interest. We gather from the "Parish Magazine" that "The repairs of St. Peter's, as the principal city church, were in the Tudor period undertaken by the civic authorities. Reference is made more than once to the maintenance of the chimes, and in 27 Elizabeth a certain clockmaker, William Sampson, obtained his freedom in return for providing a suitable clock and chimes. In 1598, however, the leavelookers, Christopher Conway and John Ratcliffe, were presented for not maintaining "le chimes S. Petre" in sufficient repair and permitting them to be very ruinous ("valde ruinos ad nocumentum tot inhabitant") to the nuisance of all the inhabitants." In 1612, through, the generosity of a parisioner (Mr. Robert Amery) St. Peter's clock was made to stnke every quarter of an hour. The present clock has the following inscriptions upon it: Bowers, Fecit, 1813. Rector, Rev. John Baldwin. Churchwardens, Charles Colton, Joseph Johnson. "This clock was illuminated 1835. Rev. J. Halton. Churchwardens, J. E. Podmore, J. Oakes. T. Moreland, contractor."This clock was altered and repaired A.D. 1865 Rector, Frederick Forde, M.A. Churchwardens, John Higgms, Thomas Miller Wilcock."



Related Pages

 * Clockmaker: - St Peter's clock played an important part in the history of Chester;
 * High Cross;
 * Bruen: - the puritans in Chester;
 * The Rows;
 * Watergate Street;
 * Eastgate Street;
 * Northgate Street;
 * Bridge Street;
 * Chamber's Book of days: - mentions a notable play put on at St Peter;

Sources and links





 * St Peters own Parish website;
 * Marriages 1754 - 1837;
 * British History Online;
 * St Peters at English Heritage;
 * St Peters on Wikipedia;
 * C o E site;
 * ChesterTourist has some pictures and further information;
 * St Peters on the National Pipe Organ Register
 * Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers
 * Hemingway's detailed description;
 * Ewen, I. England., (1885). Gleanings from an old city church, being a short history of the parish of St Peter's, Chester, its charities, official documents, & church monuments. Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society 3. Vol 3, pp. 365-390.