Watergate Street





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 thee plague was over, and so the inscription actually relates to the earlier house on the same site.



Hughes 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.

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 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 te vault was rebuilt at some time in the 15thC, but using original materials.

Number 13
Number 13

Number 15
Number 15

Number 17 (The Leche House)
Number 17

Number 21
Number 21

Number 25
Number 25

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

Number 37 (St Ursula's)
Number 37

Number 39
Number 39

Number 41 (Bishop Lloyds's Palace)
Number 41

Number 51
Number 51

Number 53
Number 53

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

Number 69-71 (The Old Custom House)
Numbers 69-71

Number 73
Number 73

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;