Pierpoint Lane

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Pierpoint Lane, which links Bridge Street and Pierpoint Court is named after the family of Pierrepont which in the 13th century produced a sheriff of the city and an abbess of the Benedictine nunnery. A lane leading from Bridge Street to the land of Robert Pierrepont was in being by the time of Abbot Birchills (1291-1323) and probably by the 1290s. It is to be identified with that named after an unidentified sheriff Richard, where in the later 13th century the Arneway family owned property including a chapel (probably that which earlier belonged to Alexander Harre). The lane also appears in the Assembly Book survey where it was described as "the way some time to the common hall", an indication that it probably extended no further west than that building.

The west side of Upper Bridge Street in 2015 looking into Pierpoint Lane - the curvature is an artifact of the panoramic photography process used.

It is one of the four surviving medieval "lanes" in Chester, they being Godstall Lane, Feathers Lane, Pierpoint Lane and Leen Lane.

History

The military hospital of Roman Chester (Valetudinarium) may have been located in this part of the legionary fortress, based on its location in other fortresses (such as Caerleon) and the Roman tendency to stick to a general layout. Typically the hospital would be close to the baths, and could therefore share a water supply and sewers. Roman soldiers would have suffered from many of the same illnesses as we do today. But some of the injuries they received as they battled across Northern Britain were quite distinct from those encountered in modern warfare. Roman wound care was advanced, utilizing honey dressings, suturing (using fibulae), and even successful amputation. Indeed, the standard of Roman wound care would not be equaled in western Europe for over a millennium after their decline.

A lot of basic wound care would have been provided by fellow soldiers, some of whom – the capsarii – were trained first aiders. The capsarii were probably under the control of a doctor with the rank of a centurion, the medicus ordinarius. The richly embellished tombstone of Anicius Ingenuus, medicus ordinarius of the first cohort of Tungrians from Housesteads perhaps reflects his importance amongst his colleagues. Basic surgical kits consisting of probes, hooks, forceps, needles, cautery tools and scalpels were readily available. Unlike modern hospitals valetudinaria were quite small, being only able to accommodate up to a maximum of 5-10% of a unit (estimates vary). Soldiers requiring long-term care or convalescence might have been granted sick leave to recuperate elsewhere.