Watergate Street





Watergate Street, along with Northgate Street, Bridge Street and Eastgate Street, is one of the four original streets built inside Roman Chester. All four streets meet at the High Cross, and each contains part of The Rows.

Seacome, Batenham and Hemingway unashamedly copy each other in their descriptions of Watergate Street, so we leave it to Hughes to open this description:


 * "Westward Ho! a few steps and we find ourselves moving along Watergate Street: once, and when Chester was a thriving port, the chief street of the city As with men so "There is a tide in the affairs of streets, Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune" but the tide for Watergate Street has ebbed away and now flows in other and more favoured channels. Still, as we shall presently see this Street is not behind any of its neighbours in absorbing interest. You will perceive that like Eastgate Street it has the Cestrian characteristic on either side its high level Row. The one upon the right hand adjoining St Peter's Church is perhaps as good a specimen as we have now left to us of the Rows of the last century. Had we the time to spare a ramble along this Row and a hole and corner visit to the numerous alleys that intersect it would convince the most sceptical that there is more in Chester than meets the eye. But we must away for see here is an odd looking tenement on the other side of the street inviting our attention..."

The building to which he refers is discussed below.

=Buildings (listed or otherwise)=

The upper part of Watergate street is surprisingly narrow, but this does help disguise the few modern buildings that have crept in along The Rows over the years, particularly in the 1960's.

Numbers 5-7
Numbers 5-7: are a pair of undercroft shops and a double row shop dated 1803. The undercroft at #5 has late Medieval rubble sandstone walling into which has been inserted a (probably 18thC) brick-barrel vault.

Number 9 ("God's Providence" House)
Number 9 is famous for the inscription on the Row fascia reading "God's Providence is mine Inheritance", said to be in thanks for deliverance from the plague of 1647-8. While the Civil War siege of Chester had been lifted with the surrender of the City on the 3rd Feb 1646, the effects of famine and other privations were such that in 1647 the plague broke out. From June 22nd until April 20th 1648 over two-thousand died of disease and at times all business was suspended. This was a serious visitation of the pestilence and led to the following being recorded in the Journal of the House of Commons:




 * "WHEREAS the City of Chester, and the Town of Warrington in the County of Lancaster, are grievously visited with the Plague of Pestilence; and that there are many very poor Persons in the said Places; which, if they be not relieved in an extraordinary Way, are like to perish for Want: It is therefore Ordered, by the Commons, assembled in Parliament, That, upon Wednesday the Thirtieth of this Instant June, being a Day of Humiliation, a publick Collection be made in all Churches, Places, and Chapels, within the Cities of London and Westminster, the Lines of Communication, and weekly Bills of Mortality: And that the one Moiety of the said Money that shall be collected be paid, by the Collectors thereof, unto Mr. Henry Ashurst and Mr. James Wainwright, Citizens of London, or their Agents, at the Sign of the Talbot in Cateaton Street, near Guildhall, London: Who are hereby required forthwith to send Two Parts of all such Monies as they shall receive unto the Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs, of the City of Chester; and the other Third Part unto the Constable of the said Town of Warrington,.. "

It is worth noting that the house bearing the inscription was built in 1652, by which time the plague was over, and so the inscription, if it does have anything to do with the plague, actually relates to the earlier house on the same site. As for the origin of the quote: the motto "God's Providence is mine Inheritance" belongs, according to Burke's Peerage, to Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, who rose from a poor background to become one of the richest men in England by the 1630's. This family is closely identified with Frome, Somerset, where a very similar inscription appears on a public fountain. Boyle managed to achieve what seems now the extraordinary feat of gaining strong favour at various times with the leaders on either side of the English Civil War. Several people are known to have copied the motto, and it is recorded in several places, including upon at least one doorway lintel (dated 1625) at Ballygally Castle in County Antrim. As the inscription is frequently associated with the "settlement" of Ireland ("plantation" or "occupation" depending on which side you sit) it may be a political statement and nothing to do with the pestilence at all.



Hughes (1858) writes of the building:


 * "Two hundred years ago that house was in the pride of youth and the residence of a family of some rank and standing as is evidenced by the armorial bearings carved on one of the beams, but as somebody or other (Longfellow we believe) has justly enough observed "it is not always May" in proof of which this house has of late years been occupied as a sausage shop and now shelters the defenceless head of a barber. Small and low are the rooms of this house absurdly so to the critic of the present generation and so contracted is the ceiling of the Row at this point that no man of ordinary stature can pass along without stooping. Is it not a quaint old spot! Look up at yon inscription on the cross beam. Tradition avers that this house was the only one in the city that escaped the plague which ravaged the city during the seventeenth century. In gratitude or that deliverance the owner of the house is said to have carved upon the front the words we are now reading - 1652 God's providence is mine inheritance 1652"

The property is believed to date from various period between the late 13thC and 1652, but was largely rebuilt by James Harrison in 1862. This was in the face of the owners wishes to demolish the house, something which was opposed by the Chester and North Wales Architectural, Archaeological and Historical Society. The battle to save God's Providence House is the first recorded conservation case in Chester. The future of this 17th century building was raised by none other than Thomas Hughes at a meeting of the Chester Archaeological Society in November 1861.



Hughes urged that its existing character and the old carved timbers of the front facade be preserved. His plea bore fruit, for by the Society's next meeting, the architect James Harrison had been appointed as architect and his plans for the property displayed. However, despite Harrison's claims that the front was to be kept and as much of the ancient character as possible retained, the house was completely rebuilt. Drawings of the earlier building show a somewhat lower building, slighly sagging and carried on plain timber posts. Harrison's 1862 rebuild is based on that of the 1652 building, but is somewhat higher, still extending to four storeys, but now much closer in height to the buildings on either side.

John Hewitt commented on the changes in 1887 Journal of the Chester Archaeological and Historic Society:


 * "Watergate Street contains the most examples of older work, a richness due to the street not being sufficiently central, or convenient to be worthy of rebuilding, as was the case of other streets. The first building to notice is " God's Providence House," not so much for its well-known legend, nor its dated and inscribed beam, as for the unsatisfactory manner in which it has been restored. Reading of the admirable manner in which the owner had caused the building to be rebuilt upon the identical lines of the old work, a stranger would naturally expect to see the building an exact copy of the original, but in reality there is not one of the older features retained, saving of course the beam. Despite what has been said in favour of the new God's Providence House, the old one, with its simple but artistic and modest timbers, was much more interesting than the new, with its cast-irony-looking panels and ill-proportioned timbers."

The building features in the novel "God's Providence House: A Story of 1791" (1865) by Isabella Varley (later Mrs George Linnaeus Banks). This book was reviewed by "The Spectator" at the time of its publication who described it as follows:


 * "one of those bewildering tales in which the muddling together of bits of "history" with an immense amount of nonsense, as utterly improbable as a Chinese romance, spoils both the facts and the fiction."

The American travel writer John L. Stoddard wrote of the building:


 * One of the houses surmounting these sidewalks has a more juvenile appearance than its neighbors, since it was reconstructed thirty years ago. Upon the sill, however, just above the corridor, I read the ancient inscription: "God's Providence is my inheritance." Is it possible that these words betray the owner's disappointment on coming into possession of this residence? Apparently he had more faith in Providence than in the value of the premises. I fancy that his sentiments must have been, "God only knows what I am going to realize from this property." A friend of mine, who had invested heavily in Western farm mortgages here turned his face to the wall and wiped away a tear. It is claimed, however, that this inscription denotes the owner's gratitude to Providence for having spared his dwelling during the ravages of the plague in Chester two hundred years ago.

Gallery

 * God's Providence House on Wikipedia;
 * God's Providence House on Pastscape;

Number 11
Number 11 has what is undoubtedly the best publicly accessible stone undercroft in Chester, with four bays of quadripartite vaulting divided by an arcade of three octagonal piers. It is well worth a visit and is presently a bar - "The Watergates Bar". At the front, the undercroft show encroachment onto the street of some 2.5m. While the central row of three octagonal pillars are said to show 15thC. mouldings, the projecting "bell" indicates a date of 1250-1290, indicating that tne vault was rebuilt at some time in the 15thC, but using original materials.

The symmetrical three-bay brick building which stands above the undercroft is dated 1744 in deeds, and at row level an inglenook with an oak bressumer indicates that the rear wing may have been built as a separate dwelling in the 17thC.

Number 13
Number 13 is a house dated 1771, rebuilt on the site of an earlier structure. The undercroft uses the probably medieval walls of numbers 11 and 15 and has an inserted, segmented, barrel brick vault. During alterations in 1986 a blocked stone stair was found against the western wall leading up to row level.

Number 15
Number 15 is Medieval, but was rebuilt from Row level upward, probably in 17thC, and refronted and rebuilt at rear mid 20thC. The undercroft walls are of coursed sandstone rubble, stepping in towards rear of east wall, with 4 corbels at one metre centres. The ceiling is spanned by oak joists on three massive 17thC chamfered beams. An oak post can be see in the later rear wall of brick. The undercroft gives access to those of Nos 17, 21 and 25.

Number 17 (The Leche House)


Number 17


 * Leche House on wikpedia;
 * Leche House on Cheshire Now;

Number 21
Number 21 is an early 18thC building concealing an earlier building. The late C13 undercroft has coursed sandstone rubble walls and a quadripartite vault of 3 bays (each 4.2m square) with chamfered ribs on moulded corbels. The ribs have a very similar profile to those at number #11. Half of the front bay of the undercroft has been cut away to accommodate a deep stone-cut cellar and a self-contained shop. The main undercroft chamber has a brick floor and a later rear extension has walls of rougher sandstone rubble and a probably 17/18thC brick barrel-vault with a rear wall now lined with breeze-blocks.

Number 25
Number 25 is an early/mid 19thC rebuild from rows upwards, with a 4.4m wide, 27.1m deep undercroft of probably late medieval masonry of relatively poor quality and an inserted brick barrel vault at the rear.

Number 27-33 (Refuge House)
This over-scaled mid-20thC concrete and brick block required the total demolition of three Rows buildings and their undercrofts, two of which were substantial twin-gabled, timber framed houses of the late 16thC.

Number 35


Number 35 is possibly a refaced late medieval structure but was largely rebuilt internally from Row level up 1890 for Charles Brown, probably by TM Lockwood, leaving no trace of any earlier structure. The bressumer over Row front has with shaped brackets and a slightly jettied fascia inscribed "IN THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH". The close-studded third storey has a projecting mullioned and transomed 7-light casement, and the jetty beam above has cartouche inscribed "1890". The base and lower shaft of a Roman column stand in a sunken area behind the undercroft which can be visited down the alleyway.

Number 37 (St Ursula's)
Number 37 has an undercroft of five and a half bays. The first half bay is an encroachment on the street, the next 3 bays have oak beams, the rear 2 bays have a quadripartite vault. This latter vault is late 13thC or possibly earlier, with chamfered ribs. Towards the rear the vaulting sits somewhat clumsily in an irregular space. The rear doorway with a round, continuously chamfered arch suggests that it and the undercroft walls are late 12thC: if they are then they are the earliest features yet dated in the structure of Chester Row undercrofts. The the early masonry continues under the Row, but not under the stallboard. From Row level up the building is a rebuild of the 19thC structure with some 20thC alterations.

A notable feature of the building is the sandstone shopfront with the words "St Ursula's" over the central doorway. A 1948 conveyance (CR 38/175 29 Nov 1948) records a transfer of ownership from:


 * "Louisa Phyllis Brown of 18 Curzon Park South, Chester, widow, Sylvia Nessie Brown of Chelsey Cottage, Jordans Beaconsfield, co. Bucks., spinster, Stephen Humphrey Brown of 18 Curzon Park, solicitor, and Francis Humphrey Brown of Whitegates, Curzon Park, to the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of Chester of a shop No. 37 Watergate Street South called St. Ursula's Cafe in the tenure of John Jones."





So it seems that the "St Ursula's" was a reference to a cafe which once occupied the crypt, and no connection can be established with Chester's "Hospital of St Ursula", a short-lived charitable institution founded in the early 16thC.


 * St Ursula's on Wikipedia;
 * Conveyance to the Council (CR 38/175 29 Nov 1948);
 * Hospital of St Ursula on British History Online;

Number 39
Number 39 retains most of its its 18thC fittings. The window-heads are almost identical to those at 11 Watergate Street.

Number 41 (Bishop Lloyd's House)
Number 41 is generally known as Bishop Lloyd's House. It bears a passing resemblance to 55 Bridge Street but whereas 55 Bridge Street is "Mock" (if not "Mockery") Tudor, some of the frontage of this building is original, although not without changes.

George Lloyd was born in 1560/1 in Denbighshire. He was educated at the King’s School, Chester and at Jesus College and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he became a doctor of divinity. In 1594 Lloyd was elected to the divinity lectureship in Chester cathedral, and three years later became rector of Heswall, Cheshire. He became bishop of "Sodor and Man" in 1599, and then bishop of Chester in 1604. Attentive to his administrative duties and moderate with both Puritans and Roman Catholics, he was a skilful preacher, admired by Henry, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. Lloyd died in 1615 and was buried in Chester cathedral. George Lloyd's daughter Anne's first husband was Thomas Yale, whose son David was father of Elihu Yale, after whom Yale University in the USA was named. After Thomas Yale's death Anne married Theophilus Eaton.

Seacome writes of it as follows:




 * "..an old house having the whole front divided into square compartments filled with carved work of various descriptions principally heraldry and scripture history. In the lowest line of compartments immediately over the Row are represented the following subjects: Adam and Eve standing on each side of the tree of knowledge the serpent twined round the trunk of the tree and over head a winged bust representing the Omnipotent issuing from the clouds, Cain killing Abel, Abraham offering up Isaac, Susannah and the Elders, A naked figure seated on a bed holding a sword in the right hand the point towards his side apparently in the act of committing suicide. There are three other compartments in the same line with those above described two of them consist of armorial bearings including amongst others the quarterings of the Principality of Wales and the Earldoms of Chester and Derby crested with a Bishop's Mitre the third bears an inscription illegible from the street and the date 1615. This house was built by Dr George Lloyd."



Hemingway describes the building thus:


 * "Lower down on the same side is another very singularly decorated mansion the lower part of the front is divided into several compartments each having a sunk panel representing in rudely carved work some of the most noted events recorded in the scriptures such as the Serpent beguiling Eve the murder of Abel Susannah and the Elders &c &c In the two centre panels are the arms and initials supposed of Dr George Lloyd Bishop of Chester who died in 1615 which date is on the panel. The upper part of the house is also richly figured in the same paneled style nor is even the bottom neglected in the profusion of laborious handiwork for even the pillars and brackets which support the rows are carved in a ludicrous manner"

Hughes a little more detail, and gets quite carried away in religious fervor:


 * '''"..exactly opposite to Crook Street stand three fine gable fronted houses the centre one of which deserves our attention and admiration. This house is without exception the most curious and remarkable of its kind in Chester and one which perhaps has no parallel in Great Britain. Prout has immortalised it in one of his inimitable sketches of which the accompanying woodcut is a reduced yet faithful copy. The origin of the house seems to be lost in fable but in the present day it is usually styled Bishop Lloyd's House from the fact of that Cestrian prelate dying about the date 1615 carved on one of the panels and from certain coats of arms arms which decorate the front bearing some analogy to the bearings of his family. Grotesquely carved from the apex of the gable to the very level of the Bow this house exhibits a profusion of ornament and an eccentricity of design unattempted in any structure of the kind within our knowledge. It is indeed a unique and magnificent work of art. To say nothing of the designs in the higher compartments it must suffice here to state that the subjects of the lower panels lay the plan of human redemption prominently before the eye. In the first panel we have Adam and Eve in Paradise in a state of sinless nudity then comes the first great consequence of the Fall Cain murdering Abel his brother. To this follows Abraham offering up his Son Isaac: typical of "the one great Sacrifice for us all". The seventh compartment has a curious representation of the Immaculate Conception whereby "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners". Ridiculous have been some of the attempts of "Local Guide-makers" to arrive at the real meaning of this design some have gravely set it down as the "Flight into Egypt" while another and later unfortunate has sapiently pronounced it to be "Susannah and the Elders". The eighth panel symbolises the completion of the great sacrifice the Crucifixion of Christ in Simeon's prophecy to the Virgin "Yea a sword shall pierce through thine own heart also". The three centre compartments contain the arms of the reigning monarch James I England's Solomon as he was called the supposed arms and quarterings of Bishop Lloyd and a Latin inscription with the date 1615. If it be true that "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever" then will this house as a masterpiece of art be an object of interest and delight to strangers till time itself shall be no more. We should step up into the Row at this point and scrutinise the indescribable forms of men and beasts which ornament and support the oaken pillars in front"'''

If the 1615 date on the panel is correct and represents the date that whatever building works had been done were completed, then Bishop Lloyd, who died that same year may have not lived here for long, if at all. In fact, there is no evidence that Bishop Lloyd or any of his family actually moved in and by 1616 Sir John and Lady Bowyer were known to have been living there.

Gallery

 * Bishop Lloyd’s Palace at Chester Civic Trust;
 * Bishop Lloyd’s Palace at Cheshirenow;
 * Bishop Lloyd’s Palace at Wikipedia;
 * Bishop Lloyd’s Palace by ChesterTourist;

Number 51
Number 51 has fragments of the undercroft of a medieval town house. Rebuilt from Row level upward 1970s, the upper storeys approximately reflect the form of the house as rebuilt in the 17thC. Surviving parts of medieval squared sandstone rubble walls show that the undercroft was 5.3m wide - the west wall has 2 double corbels 1.15m apart with burn mark between.

It is possible that the "burn mark" is a remnant of a dreadful occurrence that the various writers of guidebooks describe in a similar manner. Hemingway writes of it as follows:


 * "Further on is a passage called Puppet Show Entry from a melancholy circumstance which happened there on the 5th of November 1772. The upper part of the house was let to a showman who was exhibiting his puppets to a crowded audience when about 800lbs of gunpowder lying in a shopkeeper's store room underneath accidentally exploded and upwards of thirty persons were killed and the remainder about seventy were dreadfully burnt and bruised The whole city felt the shock as from an earthquake"

While Hughes writes:


 * "A few steps lower down the Row is a passage or alley communicating with Commonhall Street called Puppet Show Entry. This passage is chiefly memorable as the scene of a most terrific explosion which shook the city like an earthquake on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot November 5th 1772. A large room in this passage was fitted up as a sort of Marionette Theatre: a large audience had assembled the puppets were going through their strange evolutions when by some appalling misfortune eight hundred weight of gunpowder lodged in a warehouse below suddenly blew up with a tremendous report killing the showman and twenty two others - eighty three besides being more or less seriously injured. In remembrance of that fearful calamity this alley has been ever since known as the Puppet Show Entry."

The most detailed description was given by John Bowden in his "The Explosion: Or, An Alarming Providential Check To Immorality. A Poem", of which an excellent account is to be found on "Chesterculture".

Number 53
Number 53 was rebuilt early to mid 18thC. Inside, access to the upper floors is by a very tight stair with a Chinese Chippendale balustrade.



Number 55-61
This block of four 1960's concrete shop units with flats above, actually was the winner of an architectural competition held by the then City Council (and judged by George Grenfell-Baines). It was designed by Bradshaw, Rowse and Harker of Liverpool. In the 1950's-60's this was a vacant lot which formed a notorious gap in The Rows - the Council had purchased the buildings on this site for restoration, but by the 1950's they had fallen into such a state of dilapidation that they were demolished as dangerous structures. The concrete "New Build" on this site may have been in keeping with its time, but rapidly became one of the issues that sparked a new debate about the best way to fit new buildings into Chester's historic streets.

Number 63-67
Number 61-63 has one section of medieval stone undercroft walling surviving, although a large chimney at rear west corner of No.63 is of 16/17thC origin. The facade is early 18thC restored early 1970s when all other parts were rebuilt. This is thought to have been the home of Henry Gee (once Mayor of Chester)

Number 69-71 (The Old Custom House)
Numbers 69-71 now a public house, comprises two undercrofts and town houses, now combined. The eastern house is dated 1637 on a much restored timber-framed gable amd also bears the initials "T & AW". The row was enclosed in 1711. The former cottage on Weaver Street behind east-most house is of late Georgian Vernacular character and now forms a part of the public house. The plan of the licensed rooms is altered, but some oak beams survive and there is a carved stone fireplace with Classical surround of painted wood in the north east room.

Number 73
Number 73 has a brick front from c.1840, with no evidence of earlier fabric. The rear wing has no features of architectural interest, but is a rare survival a pair of courtyard dwellings which have survived slum clearance.

Number 75
This is a poor quality half-timbered building from the early 20thC, with no surviving original material.

High Cross to St Martins Way (North)

 * Booth Mansion north of Watergate Street also accommodated assembly rooms, which as 'Mr. Eaton's Great Room' gave space in the 1750s for such diversions as "rope dancing, fire eating, and a learned dog". It closed in 1758.

Stanley Palace


Stanley Palace was built in 1591 for lawyer Sir Peter Warburton of Grafton, Vice Chancellor of the Cheshire Exchequer and then the city's MP (and also - a relation to the bread bakers). When Warburton died in 1621, the property was inherited by his (sixth) daughter; Elizabeth, who was married to Sir Thomas Stanley, a kinsman of the earls of Derby (hence it is also known as Derby House). On the death of her husband Elizabeth married Sir Richard Grosvenor of Eaton Hall, she died in 1627 at her Black Friars home (probably Stanley Palace) & was buried with the Grosvenors' at Eccleston.



The Stanleys were one of Chester's most influential families. Through their connection with the earls of Derby, they held custody of the nearby Watergate. Stanley Palace stands on the site previously between the Friary's of the Blackfriars and the Greyfriars. Thomas Stanley the first earl of Derby, managed to remain in favour with successive kings throughout the Wars of the Roses until his death in 1504. His estates included what is now Tatton Park in Cheshire, Lathom House in Lancashire, and Derby House in the City of London, now the site of the College of Arms. At Bosworth Field (1485) Thomas, Lord Stanley (he was the stepfather of Henry Tudor) and Sir William Stanley brought a force to the battlefield, but held back while they decided which side it would be more advantageous to support. A night shortly before the battle, asleep in the Blue Boar Tavern, King Richard was supposed to have had a terrible dream in which he was forewarned that all was lost. It is an unlikely story – one of many told about the King. More probable is the story that the Duke of Norfolk was warned cryptically of the Stanley brothers’ coming treachery by a notice pinned on the door of his tent while he slept. This read:


 * "Jacky of Norfolk, be not too bold, For Dickon thy master is bought and sold."

When Richard III saw the treachery unfolding he was urged to flee, but flatly refused: “This day I will die as a King, or win” he is reported to have stated. Spying Henry Tudor with only a few men around him, Richard III gambled everything on personally leading a charge across the battlefield to kill Henry Tudor and end the fight - Richard almost succeeded. However, seeing the king's knights separated from his army - perhaps not more than 100 in all - and open to attack, the Stanleys intervened; Sir William led his men to Henry's aid, surrounding and killing Richard. Richard III's last words were apparently "Treason! Treason! Treason!". After the battle, Richard's circlet was found and brought to Henry Tudor, who was crowned king at the top of Crown Hill, near the village of Stoke Golding.

A later William Stanley is sometimes said to have written (between 1589 and 1613) the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. His brother Ferdinando, also known as Lord Strange and who was to become the fifth Earl of Derby, formed his own group of players known as Lord Strange's Men. Lord Strange's Men was one of the leading companies of the time, by 1592, probably including a little-known actor named "William Shakspur" from Stratford-on-Avon. Eventually, Lord Strange's Men became The Chamberlain's Men and finally The King's Men.


 * Stanley Palace - official site (many pictures);
 * Stanley Palace on Wikipedia;


 * Stanley Palace at English Heritage;