St Johns

It's not really that hidden, being right next to the Amphitheatre and plainly visible from the banks of the River Dee, you can't really miss it. The church has ruins at both ends, of which more below, and while the outside has been "restored" the inside retains many original Norman and early Gothic features. Just down the Hill, between the church and the river is the mysterious Hermitage, supposedly the hiding place of Harold II after the Battle of Senlac Hill, and rumoured (although there is again no proof) to be connected to the church by a secret passage - recent geophysical studies showed no traces of such a passage (although the data for the relevant location was described as "anomalous"!).

The interior of the building is a classic (and perhaps definitive) example of the transition from "Romanesque" architecture, a style known by its massive quality, thick walls, round arches, sturdy piers, groin vaults, large towers and decorative arcading, to early English Gothic (with crusader influence). The overall appearance is one of simplicity when compared with the full-on "Gothic" buildings that were to follow.

St John's history (see below) is notable for a chronic shortage of building and repair funds and for parts of the structure falling down (it carries this tradition on today). It is also steeped in ecclesiastical history and known for a notable relic as well as being one of the most often painted churches in England.

=Foundation=

The site of St Johns is possibly that of a Roman Christian Church or Shrine, although there is no hard evidence for this. One theory that has been proposed is that early Christians built shrines near to places like the Amphitheatre where many of their predecessors may have been put to death. It's also worth noting that some of symbolism associated with the church, that of the White Hart, has pagan connections (although the White Hart later became a Christian symbol).

King Æthelred and the White Hart


Tradition ascribes the foundation of St. John's to Æthelred, king of Mercia (674–704), in 689. The direct authority for this statement quoted by John Leland is the Itinerary of Giraldus Cambrensisc. However no such information is found in the surviving texts of the Itinerary (it was written in 1191). Two authorities of a subsequent date quote the early date in such a mannner as to imply their acceptance of it, and the source as being Giraldus: the MS Chronicle of St Werburgh and by Henry Bradshaw a native of Chester and monk of St Werburgh's Abbey. In his "Life of St Werburgh" (1513), Bradshaw writes:


 * "The year of grace six hundred fourescore and nyen As sheweth myne auctour a Bryton Giraldus Kynge Ethelred myndynge moost the blysse of Heven Edyfyed a Collage Churche notable and famous In the suburbs of Chester pleasaunt and beauteous In the honor of God and the Baptyst Saynt Johan With helpe of bysshop Wulfrice and good exortacion"

This rhyming legend has been copied and is still extant on a tablet which is suspended at the south west angle of the nave near the font. Although the copyist misread the word "exortacion" and spelled it "Excillion". In "The Medieval Architecture of Chester", John Henry Parker, writes that this was "a mistake into which others have subsequently fallen under the idea that the abbreviated word was the name of a person".

Equally without support is the legend that Æthelred selected the site after a dream in which he was told to build a church where he saw a white hart. A stained glass window in the porch of the church shows the king with a white hart (there is a similar legend about David I of Scotland and "Holyrood Abbey"). It seems that Æthelred was a devout king, "more famed for his pious disposition than his skill in war". In 704, Æthelred abdicated to become a monk and abbot at Bardney, leaving the kingship to his nephew Cenred. There is much more on this period in the article Dark Ages.

The original structure would not have been a stone structure as seen today. Writing some years later, William of Malmesbury describes contemporary churches (at Rochester for example) as being "of wattle work covered with a casing of boards". As for the monks, they would scarcely at that early date have been under any regular rule except such as they had framed for themselves. There is also no evidence that the original Church was on the same site as the present building.

Who was Wulfrice?


The "Wulfrice" (Wilfid) mentioned by Bradshaw appears to be an exiled Bishop from Northumbria. Æthelred had also made Wilfrid bishop of the Middle Angles, and supported him at the council of Austerfield in about 702, when Wilfrid argued his case for restoration to the see of York before an assembly of bishops led by Archbishop Berhtwald of Canterbury. Æthelred's support for Wilfrid embroiled him in dispute with both Canterbury and Northumbria, and it is not clear what his motive was, though it may be relevant that some of Wilfrid's monasteries were in Mercian territory. Wilfrid was not known for his diplomacy and commentators have said that Wilfrid "came into conflict with almost every prominent secular and ecclesiastical figure of the age". Hindley, an historian of the Anglo-Saxons, states that "Wilfrid would not win his sainthood through the Christian virtue of humility". Wilfrid was known as an advocate of Benedictine monasticism, regarding it as a tool in his efforts to "root out the poisonous weeds planted by the Scots". By 'Scots' he probably meant the Irish Celts, so his involvement in the establishment of St John's may well have been part of an attempt to wipe out the last of the influence of the "Celtic" church. In St John's, the head pieces from several early "Celtic" stone crosses can be seen, they are described in more detail on the Megalithic Portal. The Grosvenor Museum has another decorated cross head on display, which originally came from a "Celtic" monastic site on Hilbre Island. Exactly how the early Celtic Church and Wifrid might have come into conflict at Chester is unknown, however it is worth noting that there are two possible contenders for "holy wells" quite near St John's: Billy Hobby's Well and Jacob's Well.

Earl Æthelred and the Redcliffe cross factory
In 906 the Abbey of St John the Baptist was founded by a later Æthelred, Earl of Mercia (he was married to Æthelflæd). Mercian independence was not to last as in 907 Edward the Elder "regained Chester" (ref) after a battle. Some scraps of physical evidence remain: a hoard of some 40 coins from the reign of Edward the Elder (899–924), found just west of the present church, and perhaps buried in troubled times.

Fragments of several crosses, probably memorials dating from the 10th century, were recovered from St. John's churchyard and among the rubble of the collapsed tower in the late 19th century. The crosses, and others from Wirral and north Wales, were probably made at a workshop based on St. John's, using stone from the nearby quarry (now the bowling green down the hill). Such evidence suggests that St. John's was an important church in later Anglo-Saxon Chester.

A legend reports that in AD 946, the statue of the Virgin on the rood loft of the Church of St Deiniol, Hawarden, fell on the head of Lady Trawst, wife of the Governor of Hawarden Castle, and killed her. The statue was tried by jury and condemned to be thrown into the River Dee, eventually being washed up at the Roodee in Chester. In some versions of this tale the "statue" was merely a wooden cross (which would float better) which was then taken to St John's.

Edgar - St John's has a coronation?


Edgar the Pacific, (c. Aug 7, 943 – July 8, 975) was the great-grandson of Alfred and was famously crowned both at Bath and at Chester (in 973) as the first king of all England. The religious rites used in his coronation (use of anointing etc.) were devised by Dunstan and have been in use ever since. King Edgar is said to have prayed in the minster (monasterium) of St. John after being rowed along the River Dee. The rather fanciful illustrated tiles at the Bull and Stirrup in Chester show this event set against the backdrop of much later-built city walls.

More evidence for early wooden construction of the Church can be found in a charter from this time when King Edgar on the exhortation of Dunstan "was excited by the insinuation of heavenly love" (as the words of his charter run) "to rebuild all the holy monasteries throughout his kingdom" he complains that "they were outwardly ruinous with mouldering shingles and worm eaten boards even to the rafters".

Leofric, Lady Godiva and Edward the Confessor


In 1057 nine years before the Conquest, Leofric earl of Mercia at the insistence of his wife Godiva repaired and enriched the monasteries of St Werburgh and St John in Chester. Abbot John Brompton writes:


 * Assensu et consilio Godivae uxoris suae Monasteria Leonense juxta Herefordiam Wenelocense et in Cestria Sanctae Werburghae sanctique Joannis Wigorniae et Evesham reparavit similiter et ditavit.

And Leland:


 * Leofricus rep coll S Joannis Cestriae

Little is known of the extent of Leofric's liberality or of the style and magnitude of his church restoration but Ormerod on the authority of the Werburgh MS and William of Malmesbury asserts that the church of St John's then collegiate church was repaired and its endowments and privileges considerably increased. Of the Saxon earl's reparations no trace now remains the language of the historian seems to imply that they were composed of the same perishable materials as before. Simon of Durham says that:


 * After the devastation of the north country in AD 867 by the Danes who reduced the churches and monasteries to ashes Christianity was almost extinct very few churches and those only built with hurdles and straw were rebuilt But no monasteries were re founded until about 200 years after.

=Rebuilt in Stone=

The Norman Period
Peter de Leia, bishop of Lichfield (consecrated in 1067) removed his episcopal see to Chester in 1075 during the Earldom of Hugh of Avranches. One theory as to why this was done is that the bishop saw some scope for extending his bishopric into North Wales, which was then being conquered by Hugh. The old St John's just would not do as the home of an important bishop, and so had to be rebuilt. The basic plan of the new church followed the standard Norman design, with a choir to the east, a central crossing with a tower above, transepts, a nave to the west and a pair of towers at the western end. However not all of this was to be completed. De Leia died and was buried in Chester in 1085. His successor Robert de Limesey translated his see from Chester to Coventry in 1102. Robert was one of the bishops, along with Gerard, Archbishop of York and Herbert de Losinga bishop of Norwich, who returned from Rome (in 1102) and informed Henry I that Pope Paschal II had confirmed Henry could personally invest bishops, provided they were good men. This was during the Investiture Crisis, and the pope later denied what had been said and excommunicated all three bishops.

It is probable therefore that the early Norman part of this church belongs to the period between 1075 and 1102. The massive piers and semicircular arches of the nave belong to this period but the triforium and clerestory built upon them are of transitional character and belong to the end of the twelfth century and the 1200's. It appears that when the second Norman bishop in 1102 removed the see to Coventry and abandoned the plan of making this church the cathedral of the three united dioceses of Chester, Lichfield and Coventry that the fabric of the church was left very incomplete. The bishop also removed the funds on which its completion depended leaving the monks of the Priory of St John were left forlorn state with a large church commenced and little more than commenced. While the external fabric of the church is largely Early English in style due to later restorations, much of the interior still consists of Norman stonework. This is believed to be present in the nave, the crossing, the first bay of the chancel, the arch to the Lady Chapel and in the remains of the choir chapels. Work had been carried on for about twenty years but that was comparatively a short period according to the custom of that age when a large church was commonly a century in the course of erection and the rebuilding in a new style was often commenced before the original plan was completed as was probably the case in the rival church of St Werburgh. Before the bishop deserted St John's the whole of the foundations had probably been laid but no part finished unless possibly the choir which was afterwards rebuilt.

The Norman work includes the arches and piers of the 4-bay nave. The piers are plain circular extremely massive columns on cruciform bases; varied scalloped capitals and twice rebated voussoirs. The arches are merely recessed with square edges without any mouldings. The four great arches which carried the central tower with shafts attached to the piers are of the same character as those of the nave and one bay of the choir with its aisles. On the north side this bay of the aisle is turned into a modern vestry but over it is one of the arches of the triforium arcade (c1190) which is of the same plain early character as the nave - 4 arches on bay piers with 5 attached colonnettes and intermediate piers with 3 colonnettes. On the south side the first bay of the aisle is tolerably perfect and is richer work of rather later date than the rest. There is an ornamental arcade at the foot of the wall and a window over it these are of very good pure Norman work but not quite so early a character as the nave arches. The arcade columns lean outward and westward; the angle of lean which increases from crossing to third columns, then begins to decrease, is carried up through triforium and clerestory; the present height above floor level of successive pairs of columns suggests that orginally the nave floor sloped upward towards the crossing. The diagonal lean of the arcade columns is evidently deliberate. The plinths on which they stand have vertical sides and, beneath the recessed padstones, level tops; the padstones are tapered from inner east corners to the outer west corners, to give appropriately sloping beds for the columns.

The arches opening from the choir to the aisles are also enriched with bold round mouldings while those of the nave have none. In the aisle the springing of the Norman vault may be seen but it does not appear to have been completed. The outer wall of this aisle is continued along a second bay with a continuation of the small arcade and a second window of the same pattern as the one in the first bay. On the exterior this window is richly ornamented with zigzags and shafts and is turned into a doorway the exterior of the first window is hid by a modern chimney but is probably the same.

Exactly what was built when has been the subject of much debate:


 * Parker (1855-62) believed the building was begun in the late 11thc., attributing the choir arcades, the transepts and the main arcades at the east and west end of the nave to a period of late 11th and early 12thc. He considered that the central section of the nave arcade had been completed last, and that the choir aisles were either delayed in their completion or rebuilt later. He dated the upper storeys of the nave to c.1190.


 * Pevsner & Hubbard suggest a starting date before 1095, and date the nave triforium to c.1190 or later and the clerestorey to the 13thc.


 * Clapham (1934), suggested that the church was not begun much before 1130-40. He was to modify this in 1937, dating the inception of work 'not before the first half of the 12thc.', and the nave arcade to the third quarter of that century.


 * Gem (2000) has the entire original eastern arm built 1100-17), the crossing arches and the nave arcade built 1125-50) and the nave triforium and clerestorey late 12thc. and early 13thc. There appears to have been a break in the building between the triforium and the clerestory. The triforium includes waterleaf, stiff-leaf and moulded capitals, suggesting a date in the 1190s; while the clerestorey capitals are predominantly stiff-leaf with some moulded forms, pointing to a date in the 1200's.

=The Rood of Chester=

St Johns unknown artist 19C - the West Tower has yet to fall down St Johns unknown artist 19C - the West Tower has yet to fall down

From the 13th century St. John's reputation was enhanced by the possession of an important relic, the so-called "Rood of Chester" ('Rood' means cross, but is from the Anglo-Saxon word for 'rod/pole'). This relic existed by 1256 or 1257, when Fulk de Orby, Justicar of Chester, provided a mark of silver annually for lights before it, and appears to have been enshrined in a golden cross-shaped reliquary adorned with an image. It was so greatly venerated both in the locality and much further afield that in the late 13th and early 14th century St. John's was known as the "Church of the Holy Cross".

According to one version, the cross itself appears to have been a silver-gilt crucifix supposedly containing wood from the "True Cross". Its origins are uncertain. Some have suggested it was brought from the East by Ranulf of Blundeville, who was on Crusade in 1219-20. It should be noted in passing that if Ranulph had assembled all the bits of the so-called "True Cross" available in the middle-east during the crusades, he could have built himself a fair sized ship to sail home in. It has also been suggested that this relic may have been associated with the cult of King Harold, boosted in 1332 by the discovery within the church of his alleged remains (see Hermitage). Harold's links with the "Cult of the Holy Rood" and in particular with the allegedly miracle-working crucifix of Waltham (Essex), perhaps suggested the introduction of an analogous "relic" in Chester. Another "Rood" features in the early Anglo-Saxon poem "Dream of the Rood" (translation) believed to date from around 660.

The relic is also mentioned in the story "Wallingford Castle" (which also mentions the "finger of St Martin") where the suggestion is made that the relic was carried by Harold at the battle of Senlac Hill:


 * "By the spear of St Michael my lady empress said the Earl of Chester looking fearfully round as the old man suddenly disappeared that piece of the true cross is a relic of marvellous power St Mary twas well ye had it around your neck when ye rode that black steed and journeyed thither for see ye not that the sight of that holy reliquary alone hath forced that old sorcerer to flee away O marvellous is the efficacy of the holy cross ... I will send to the abbey at Chester for the finger of St Martin that may secure me in some measure but saints know I would right gladly pay two score pounds of pure silver for a sliver of the true cross."

The Earl of Chester mentioned in the story would be the serial turn-coat Ranulf de Gernon and the "finger of St Martin" seems completely fictional.

By the early 14th century at least one of the ships which plied from Chester (the property of William (III) of Doncaster) was known as the "Holy Cross of Chester". In the 14th century the oath "by the Rood of Chester!" was evidently commonplace, being mentioned in both William Langland's great poem the "Vision of Piers the Ploughman" (see part V: "And with the residue and remnant by the Rood of Chester!. I shall seek Truth first before I see Rome.") and the less famous "Richard the Redeless" (For reson is no repreff, be the rode of Chester. - i.e "for reason is no reprieve, by the Rood of Chester!").

The relic was especially venerated in Wales; in 1278, 10 hostages from the leading men of Gwynedd were released after swearing loyalty (on the Rood) and that they would not bear arms against the king, and in the later 14th century it was the subject of several odes by the poet Gruffudd ap Maredudd (1352–1382), who seems to have made a pilgrimage to the relic.

At their height, offerings to the "Rood" amounted to perhaps £70 a year and constituted by far the biggest item in the revenues of the church. The highwatermark of the relic's popularity was reached in the mid 14th century. Gifts continued to be made to it throughout the later Middle Ages: a ring in 1467, £20 from the son of a former mayor in 1489, and five large candles from an alderman in 1505. In the early 16th century a man from Winwick (Lancs.) left 6s. 8d. to anyone willing to undertake a pilgrimage to the "Rood" on his behalf, and the courtier William Smith caused three gold marks to be offered for the soul of his late master, Henry VII. As late as 1518 Nicholas Deykin made provision for a priest to celebrate at the "Altar of the Holy Rood" for eight years after his death. Hemingway writes:


 * "Dr Cowper in his Penseroso says In this church was an ancient rood or image of wood of such veneration ihat in a deed March 27 1311 confirmed by Walter Langton the church was called The Church of the Holy Cross and St John Richard Hawarden of Winwick Lancashire by will dated March 28 AD 1503 left VIs VIIId to whatever priest would go for him to the Holy Rood at St John's Chester"

The relic was removed in the 1530s (according to Douglas Jones "The Church in Chester, 1300-1540", in 1541) and thereafter passes into obscurity (or see below) - the removal of relics was a feature of the Reformation. Lancelot Ridley, writing in 1540, rages against this and other examples of idolatry:


 * "As some ignorant persons have in times past thanked God for their health and the blessed Lady of Wal singham of Ipswich St Edmund of Bury Etheldred of Ely the Lady of Red bone the holy blood of Hayles the holy Rood of Begles of Chester and so of other images in this realm to the which hath taen much pilgrimage and much idolatry supposing the dead images could have healed them or have done something for them to God for the which the ignorant have crouched kneeled kissed bobbed and licked..."

Much the same appears in Foxe's book of Martyrs:


 * "What should I speak of Darvel Gartheren, of the rood of Chester, of Thomas Becket, of our lady of Walsingham with an infinite multitude more of the like affinity all which stocks and blocks of cursed idolatry Cromwell stirred up by the providence of God removed them out of the people's way ...."

(which seems to suggest that the "Rood" may have been around until the 1640's)

Hemingway, writes of a surviving document "written in Norman French upon a square piece of vellum to which two seals are appended much decayed and is in possession of Mr Thomas Walshman of this city". A translation of the document is quoted in Hemingway and given below:


 * "John Gosvenor Constable of Fronssac and Henry Van Emeric Provost of the said place for our very sovereign lord the King of England and France and for the very honoured and powerful lord Mr Thomas Swynbourne Mayor of Bourdeux Captain of the said place of Fronssac for our said lord the king to all those who these present letters shall see or hear in causing it to be known how that the praiseworthy man Henry Champaigne Esquire and Burgess of the town of Libourne a long time before his departure from this world proposed and devoutly intended to transmit into England to the city of Chester a great shrine of gold in which there was a piece of the holy cross on which our Saviour formerly underwent his passion according as he said and was truly informed by honourable people of the Holy Church who knew and were well acquainted with that relique when the very reverend Father in God the good Cardinal de Perigord kept it in bis treasury and caused it to be honoured as a relique of the cross of our Saviour and so the said Henry Champaigne had a firm faith and devout belief in that relique and on his departure from this world he ordered and charged his wife and executors and his other chief friends that that relique should be carried to the said city of Chester that it might be placed in the county of that city and he willed for the love and honour which he bore to the said city that it should be carried there and presented and not placed elsewhere and that the good people should have devotion for it and remembrance of his soul The which holy relique was by the order of his wife and of his executors and other his friends transmitted and presented to the aforesaid city of Chester by Nandon de Prey a burgess and merchant of the said town of Libourne And these things we certify to all to be true without any doubt It witness of the truth and foi the greater confirmation of the things above-said we the aforesaid John Gosvenor and Henry Van Emeric to these present letters have put our own seals Given at Fronssac the 6th day of December in the of our Lord 1411."

Documents in the national Archives have one 'John Grosvenor' as the 'Constable of Fronsac' at that time, but these dates make little sense as the relic was supposedly already in Chester long before 1411.

Writing in 1662 William Rowley may have made a reference to the Rood of Chester in his play "The Birth of Merlin" (this features a "Holy Hermit of Chester" - aparently called 'Anselm') and the lines:


 * Edol of Chester is a noble soldier - so he is by the Rood.

This is a very mysterious reference as "Edol of Chester" is only mentined in one other place in literature and that (by Hollinshead) is in connection with the Saxons and Vortigern (see Dark Ages). Finally, it shouldn't be forgotten that the cross which, according to legend, gave the Roodee it's name was said be some to have been taken to St John's. Another source gives a different source and fate for the 'relic'. According to "The Gentleman's Magazine" (May 1825):


 * Archdeacon Rogers gives a curious account of a wooden image formerly preserved here. It appears a statue of the Virgin was set up in the Castle of Hawarden in Flintshire about six miles from Chester which owing to the negligence of the artist fell down on the head of Lady Trawst the Governor's wife and killed her. An inquest was impanelled and the Jury condemned the image to be thrown into the River Dee. Sentence was accordingly executed and the tide washed it up to Chester and left it on that fine meadow called Rood eye on the race course. It was taken down from thence with great solemnly to St John's Church where it was long an object of pious adoration but the Reformation intervened and this sacred relic of superstition which had been so much honoured was converted into a block for the Master of the Grammar School to flog his refractory scholars upon and was subsequently burnt.

Archdeacon Rogers apparently lived in Chester (died 1595) also gave a description of the Mystery Plays and is normally considered a reliable source.

Whether with income from their relic or money from other sources, building of the church got under-way again in the 1200's. In the late 12th century the Early English Gothic style had superseded the Romanesque or Norman style, and during the late 13th century it developed into the Decorated Gothic style, which lasted until the mid 14th century. In keeping with the evolution from the Romanesque style to the English Gothic, the four bays of the triforium, each have arcade of four pointed arches, rather than the rounded Norman arches seen below. It is said that the innovation of the pointed arch was brought back from the crusades and borrows the style used in Arab architecture.

The early C13 clerestory repeats the triforium rhythm, but with mouldings more developed than those on the stonework below.

=Collapse=

Warnings of Disaster


If the cross which killed Lady Trawst did get transported to St John's, then it's "curse of falling down" may have moved with it. In 1468 the central tower collapsed destroying a great part of the choir. The steeple was rebuilt in 1470. At the end of the nave two bays are wanting of which the foundations only were laid. Of two large western towers one at the west end the foundations only of the southern had been laid and this tower was in fact, never built. The northern tower had made more progress. The lower story is Norman but the tower was completed in the time of Henry VII (1485 - 1509). By about 1550, the church was reduced in size. The transepts were entirely destroyed at the Reformation when the size of the church was reduced to adapt it for parochial use only. Those parts of the church which were no longer in use had the lead removed from their roofs and "given" to the king, while all of the bells save one were removed.

The rebuilt central steeple lasted until 1572, when the steeple again collapsed. Ormerod writes:


 * "..in 1572 a great portion of the of the whole steeple from top to bottom fell upon the west end of the church and broke down a great part of it".

In 1572 it seems that there was also a partial collapse of the north-west tower and in 1574 there was a greater collapse of this tower which destroyed the western bays of the nave. This was repaired around 1581. Hemingway writes:


 * "1581 - The parishioners of St John's having obtained the said church of the queen began to build some part of it again and cut off all the chapels above the choir."

The Braun and Hogenberg map (from around 1581) of Chester shows St John's with an intact north-western tower, no central spire and the ruins of the choir to the east. However the John Speed Map of Chester (1605) appears to show the church with a central spire still in place. Speed's map also shows Little St John Street curving round the amphitheatre and contains valuable clues as to the extent of the buildings and the religious enclave. It is especially important because some of the features on it can be traced on later mapping, and some still exist today as walls and boundaries.

During the siege of Chester (1645-46), the north-west tower was used to mount a gun battery. The weight of the guns and the shock of their discharge must have done much to weaken the structure. Packets of papers were also shot over the city walls, encouraging the towns folk to surrender. When this failed, snipers were placed at the church tower's summit. From here they were able to take pot shots at anyone seen in the streets beneath them, and succeeded in shooting and killing Sheriff Randle Richardson. Finally, on the 31st of January the city of Chester surrendered, agreeing terms on the 1st of February.

George Cooke, writing in 1806 describes how the church displays "the ravages of time".

Hemingway, writing in 1836 describes the west tower as follows:


 * "The tower about 150 feet high and detached from the body of the church contains an harmonious set of eight bells six of them cast in 1710 and two in 1734 The approach to it is through the remains of the north aisle The sides of the tower are decorated with a rich screen and ornamented with figures placed in niches of equisite workmanshop"

Oddly, Hemingway says nothing about the already decayed state of the west tower. Bentley's Miscellancy (1837) describes St Johns as follows (with clear indications that something is amiss with the foundations):


 * The most ancient of the churches of Chester is that of St John or the Holy Cross founded by the Mercian King Ethelred at a period when the opposite shores of the Dee were clothed with forests long since removed. From the city walls as the spectator looks down the tower seems still to rise to its stupendous height from a thick grove for an orchard filled with luxuriant trees interposes between the church and the ramparts. The tower is seen from all quarters vying in height with that of the more massive and squarer one of the cathedral. The tower and body of the church the arches and the numerous ruins attached to this singular old building all seem to be in the very act of sinking down into the earth which is piled with gravestones round them. A more venerable battered mysterious inexplicable time worn piece of architecture than the bell tower and ruins of St John's of the Holy Rood of Chester can seldom be met with. One principal doorway black with time and weather scarcely lifts the capitals of its supporting pillars out of the ground it must have sunk at least five feet and the same is the case with all the arches in the town which occasions them to present a most ghost like unearthly aspect which almost makes the beholder shudder.

In 1838, the church organ was installed. This was no ordinary organ, as earlier in the same year it has been built in the workshops of Hill and Davison for the coronation of Queen Victoria in Westminster Abbey (using many of the same rites that were devised by Dunstan for the coronation of Edgar). The organ was rebuilt before being transported to Chester (by canal barge).

Samuel Lewis, writing in 1848 says:


 * "The nave has massive Norman piers, with a triforium and clerestory of early English character; the north porch, in the same style, is very beautiful: the tower, a fine composition though greatly mutilated, is detached from the church by the shortening of the western part of the nave."

St Johns is shown very clearly in the John McGahey "balloon" view of Chester from 1855. Close examination reveals that the tower is in a rather poor state of repair.

In 1875 the tower was described as "mouldering".


 * “The ruins at the East-end, recently extricated from heaps of rubbish and the growth of trees, are now a recognised ornament of Chester, near the new park which is laid out on a table-land above the banks of the Dee; while the lofty tower, erect though mouldering, and still showing in parts some faint traces of its old enrichment, is conspicuous in every view of Chester, and rivals in its elevation the tower of the present Cathedral, which stands on the highest ground in the city.”

Collapse!




Given the clear and dire warnings that are repeated above it is not surprising what happened next: on Good Friday (15th April), 1881 the north-western tower collapsed.

Rev S. Cooper Scott recorded:


 * "a rumbling noise, which was succeeded by a terribly and indescribably drawn out crash, or rather rattle, as though a troop of horse artillery was galloping over an iron road; this was mingled with a clash of bells, and when it had increased to a horrible and almost unbearable degree, it suddenly ceased, and was succeeded by perfect stillness"

Thomas Hughes, editor of the "Cheshire Sheaf" described it in the following detail:

'''“The night of the 14th and 15th of April, 1881, will be a melancholy one, and a memorable, in the history of the great Church of St. John's. On that night and a little after daybreak next morning, a calamity befel the church and the city, for which no amount of personal money sacrifice on the part of the citizens, or of their generous friends elsewhere, can ever adequately provide a remedy. The grand old Perpendicular Tower, and even more grand and graceful Early English Porch, have both in one night virtually become things of the past, for they lie today heaped together in one sad, solemn, undistinguishahle pile of ruin. Two sides only, it is true, of the steeple have as yet actually fallen; but it is almost morally certain that the two remaining ones, the southern and western faces, must one day follow the fate of the rest. Six or seven bells only, it was at first thought, out of the once melodious peal of eight, remain hanging, as it were almost literally, in mid-air: the other two, it was feared were in all probability lying shattered beneath the mass of fallen masonry- a wilderness of danger and desolation which will probably not be removable for some weeks to come. I was sitting alone in my room, and actually reading Ormerod’s description of St. John’s, at the very instant, 10 o'clock, when the crash of masonry, mingled with the sound of tinkling bells, fell upon my ear! The conviction at once seized me that the great Tower had succumbed; for the imminence of its fall had been for some days past manifest to all who, like myself, had watched the widening cracks in the eastern and northern faces of the structure. I was on the spot in a few moments, and realized at once all my worst fears ; for there, palpable in the moonlight to every eye, ran a fearful chasm up the northern wall of the steeple; the belfry being exposed, but the bells still all, as it now turns out, standing, though awaiting as it then seemed to every one, an all but certain destiny ere a few hours should pass by! It was a sight to daze the head, and well nigh disorder the brain, of one who reverences and revels in the treasures of the past! Exactly three centuries ago this very year, viz., in 1581, the parishioners, having their old church, with the western end in ruins, through the fall seven years previously of the eastern and southern sides of the tower, handed over to them by Queen Elizabeth, began at great cost and labour to close up again the stunted nave. Apparently also, at least two other extremities of the cruciform church were reduced and closed in at the same date, and divine service was thenceforward celebrated, on the Reformed basis, in the still handsome parish church. The steeple, too, was rebuilt as far as needful at the same period: and the work our zealous forefathers then bequeathed us has borne the wear and tear of three hundred years gallantly, till hard fate has re-enacted, now, the fearful havoc the previous fall did for the sacred fabric in 1574! But it has done more than this; for that one night's wreck has deprived us of the chaste and beautiful Early English Porch, which had become, as time grew on more precious and beautiful still after its nearly three centuries' accumulation of mould and decay. There it lies now, crushed and mangled beyond, it is sadly to be feared, the possibility of restoration; and thus has one more milestone, marking the city's life journey, perished before our very eyes! The fragment remaining of the steeple, for a second fall occurred at four next morning, is probably doomed to immediate destruction. If so, old Chester will be shorn of another grand feature in its sky-line for, viewed from whatever point the city may, the massive tower of St. John's has been long a landmark familiar to the eye and dear to the sympathies of the thoughtful Cestrian, and to every intelligent visitor to our venerable city”'''.

Restoration
The collapse destroyed the north porch, which was rebuilt in 1881–82 by John Douglas. The statue of king Ethelred on the reconstructed porch originally decorated the Central Tower, being found "miraculously unhurt" amonst the rubble when that tower fell, for the second time, in 1572. The statue was transferred to the West Tower, from whose ruins it was once again rescued in 1881. The rather dull Victorian appearance of the exterior of present day St. John's is the result of the "restoration" carried out by R. C. Hussey, between 1860 and 1866, and the addition of John Douglas's clock tower in 1887.

In 1925 the chapel at the south east corner, then the Warburton chapel, was extended to form a Lady Chapel.

The Coffin in the Wall
In one of the arches of the ruined choir an ancient oak coffin can be seen set into the masonry. Within the coffin is inscribed "Duft to Duft". Signs in the churchyard state that the coffin and inscription dates back to the 11th Century, was found during the 19th Century by grave digger Benjamin Carter and that the rector at the time (Richardson) ordered the coffin to be set high into the wall. However, others say that the coffin is actually 15th Century and was found in the Nantwich area, having been brought to Chester as a curiosity - and that Richardson brought the coffin from a boat in the canal in 1813. One 'G.T.", writing in the Cheshire Sheaf in November 1878, gives it's story as follows:


 * "The perambulating Chester Guides, a race not yet quite extinct, have from time to time made up many a foolish story about this solid oak coffin for the delectation of their Lancashire dupes, who usually pay more court to that ghastly old shell than to the beautiful architectural ruins and church that adjoin it. One story is that it was the coffin of a monk who murdered one of his brethren at St. John's, and at his own death was refused the ordinary Christian burial, whether within the church or beneath the green sod of the churchyard. Another is that a dignitary of the church was at his own request 'buried' up there in a standing position, so that, when the last trumpet should sound, he might be ready at once to answer the call. Another is that a wicked old parishioner of past days was unable to rest in his grave, and that Satan himself had helped to place him in the lofty position so that he might look down, in perpetual penance, on the fair world he had defiled by his sins. I have overheard during the last dozen years every one of these stories recounted in sober earnest by Mr. Guide to his morbid listeners. The real story of the coffin is soon told. Forty years ago, when a boy at school, I remember old John Carter, the then sexton of the Cathedral, going with me at my request into St. John's Ruins (at that time enveloped within a brick wall, and portion of the of the old Priory House), to show me the relic and then fresh-looking inscription. He assured me on the spot that his father, who was sexton of St. John's a great number of years, had in his younger days come upon the coffin while digging a grave in a long disused part of the churchyard; and had, by the Rector's (Mr. Richardson's) orders, stuck it up in the recess where it still stands, so that it might be out of the way of passers by! Thus has a very matter of fact in incident given rise in superstitious minds to no end of mystery. The date of the coffin is probably of the latter half of the 15th century and the relic has this one element of real interest in it, that it is composed of a single block of oak which has been hollowed out to receive the body".

Grosvenor Park Dig

Update 21st October 2007

During the summer 'Archaeology in the park' dig. Four human burials were found in Grosvenor Park, just outside the eastern end of St John's church yard. It is thought that this was a burial place for executed criminals because one skeleton appeared to have its hands tied behind its back.

sources and links

 * Wikipedia;


 * Parish of Chester history page;


 * St John on Chester Walls;


 * Pastscape - the English Heritage page;


 * Gravestones at St John's;


 * Cheshire Now on St Johns;


 * http://www.matthewpemmott.co.uk/2010_01_01_archive.html


 * A very detailed review of the architecture with many photographs has been written by Ron Baxter


 * http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CHESHIRE/2001-01/0979588046

The Past Uncovered Newsletter October 2007

The Wikipedia entry Lots more information about St. John's on the Chester Virtual Stroll The church's own website The ruins on Chester 360

Some information on the Saxon cross heads from the "Megalithic Portal". Everything you could want to know about the organ. What Chestertourist has to say

A. W. Clapham, English Romanesque Architecture, II, After the Conquest. Oxford 1934, 46.

R. Gem, 'Romanesque Architecture in Chester, c.1075-1117', A. Thacker (ed), Medieval Archaeology, Art and Architecture at Chester (British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions 22), Leeds 2000, 31-44.

C. Hiatt, The Cathedral Church of Chester. London (Bell's Cathedral Series) 1898, 83-90.

J. H. Parker, 'The Collegiate Church of St John the Baptist, Chester', Journal of the Architectural, Archaeological and Historic Society of Chester. 1st series, 2, 1855-62, 329-46.

N. Pevsner & E. Hubbard, The Buildings of England. Cheshire. Harmondsworth 1971 (repr. 1978), 148-50.

S. Cooper Scott, Lectures on the History of S. John Baptist Church and Parish in the City of Chester. Chester 1892.