St Olave



The church was founded in the 11th century. Its dedication is to Saint Olave, a Norwegian king. At the time that the church was founded, the area around Lower Bridge Street was largely occupied by Scandinavians, and it is thought that this is the reason for the dedication. The present church building dates from 1611.

Hemingway describes it as follows:


 * "The church is a low miserable-looking building of red stone differing but little in its general appearance from the above facsimile of a drawing by one of the Randal Holmes' about the year 1660. In 1802 a new wooden steeple (not much better than a pigeon cote) was built covered with lead the old one was covered with slates."

In 1841 the parish of St Olave's was united with that of St Michael's, and the church closed. The building was restored in 1849 by James Harrison and converted into use as a school. It was declared redundant by the Church of England on 3 October 1972. It has since been used as the Chester Revival Centre, a Pentecostal church, and as an exhibition centre.