St Bridget

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An ancient parish church, serving part of the city of Chester. The original church stood at the angle of Whitefriars and Bridge Street until 1829 when it was removed during the construction of the Grosvenor Bridge and Grosvenor Street. A replacement church was built to the west of the new Castle Esplanade.

St Bridget by one of the Randle Holmes' in the middle of the 17th C. Used in Ormerod then by Hemingway on his "Parorama".

Foundation

Hemingway writes:

  • "The origin of St Bridget's church is buried in obscurity but it may probably be dated from the reign of King Offa who died ad 797 about which time we read That 'divers parish churches were erected in Chester'"

Brigid is a pre-christian goddess associated with the spring season, fertility, healing, poetry and blacksmithing. In the early Middle Ages the goddess Brigid was syncretized with the Christian saint of the same name, who apparently lived in the 5th/6th century. Unsurprisingly therefore, the saint's feast day (1st Feb) co-incided with "Imbolc", a Gaelic traditional festival marking the beginning of spring. She was removed from the official catholic calendar in 1969.

St. Brigid is associated with perpetual, sacred flames, such as the one maintained by 19 nuns at her sanctuary in Kildare. The tradition of female priestesses tending sacred, eternal flames is a feature of ancient Indo-European pre-Christian spirituality. Other examples include the Roman goddess Vesta, and other hearth-goddesses, such as the Greek Hestia. The site of the church is close to that of the Porta Praetoria (main gate) of Roman Chester and it is likely that the church was either first built as a re-use of the Roman structure or of its stonework. Possibly St Michael originated in the same way.

Early History

The original parish included a detached portion south of the river, the Earls Eye, which was transferred to St. Mary's in 1887. In the 12th century the advowson belonged to the lords of Aldford, but after a dispute it was quitclaimed to Earl Ranulph De Gernon. Later it seems to have been granted to the de Orreby family, for in the earlier 13th century it formed part of Sir Philip de Orreby's endowment of his chantry in St Johns church. De Orreby (born c.1160, died c.1230} was Justiciar of Chester c.1208-1229 (he may have been the first to hold the office). A list of Justices is given by Peter Leycester but this disagrees with lists given elsewhere. Later tradition ascribed to his foundation the grant of the churches of Overchurch, Guilden Sutton, and two in Chester, St Martin and St. Bridget's, though at least some of them may already have been connected with St. John's.

The first St Bridget's Church stood on the corner of Whitefriars and Bridge Street and, standing across from St Michael, formed one of the "Two Churches" at or close to the site of the Southern gate of Roman Chester.

By 1318 and perhaps by 1298–9, when St. Bridget's was served by a chaplain, St. John's had appropriated it. A lengthy dispute between the deans and canons over the profits was resolved in 1397 in favour of the canons. The church was always poor and in 1535 St. John's received only £1 a year from the appropriated tithes. A chantry was established in St. Bridget's in the 1270s by John Arneway, mayor of Chester, with a priest maintained by the abbot of St. Werburgh's. Some sources cite John Arneway as the first mayor, others cite Sir Walter Lynnet, Mr W F Irvine, in a list published in The Cheshire Sheaf, 3rd series, volume. 34, 1939, pp.20-45 claimed that the first mayor was William the Clerk, mayor in 1238-39. The chantry was still maintained in the 1540s when the chaplain received £4 a year. In 1528 a parishioner made provision for a priest to say mass in the church for as long as the money would serve.

By the 1720s the total value of the living was £33 18s., of which £16 came from voluntary contributions and £11 15s. from tithes of land south of the Dee. At the Dissolution the church seems to have passed to the Crown and incumbents continued to be known as curates, but by the early 17th century it was a rectory in the gift of the bishop of Chester.

The puritan Christopher Goodman, who returned to his native Chester c. 1570, seems to have been associated with St. Bridget's. In 1572 Goodman (then rector of Aldford) wrote complaining about the Chester Mystery Plays in 1572 - he felt that the plays were heretical and dogmatically Roman Catholic. Goodman begins his 10 May 1572 letter to the earl of Huntingdon, the goal of which is the cesssation of the Chester Cycle, with a brief historical sketch of the Chester mystery plays:

  • "certain plays were devised by a monk about 200 years past in the depth of ignorance, & by the Pope then authorized to be set forth, & by that authority placed in the city of Chester to the intent to retain that place in assured ignorance & superstition according to the Popish policy. against which plays all preachers & godly men since the time of the blessed light of the gospell have inveyed and impugned"

The plays were consequently banned by the Church of England under Elizabeth I. Goodman was buried at St Bridget's in 1603.

There was a rapid turnover of incumbents in the early 17th century, suggesting an especially undesirable living. Matters improved with the appointment of the composer Francis Pilkington (rector 1616–38), who although also precentor of the cathedral and minister at St. Martin's continued to treat St. Bridget's as his principal cure, securing benefactions from the mayor, Sir Thomas Smith

A single-celled, probably late-medieval building survived until c. 1690, when it was totally reconstructed in local stone with funds raised largely by briefs granted in 1684–5 and 1694. The new church was repaired in 1727 and again in 1785, when it was refaced in stone under the direction of Joseph, Turner. By 1825, however, the whole structure was unsafe. A parsonage house adjoining the church was taken down in the late 17th century, and thereafter there was none until 1857 when the parish was given, by the architect Thomas Harrison's daughter, the house of c. 1820 which Harrison had built for himself off Castle Esplanade. It was occupied until 1914 when the rector moved to the former parsonage house of St. Mary's.

The Lavaux Map shows the original location of St Bridget on Bridge Street.

Hemingway adds:

  • "About the middle of the seventeenth century the church was taken down previous to which its appearance is represented by the wood engraving copied from a sketch made by Randal Holmes. On the removal of this structure the church was rebuilt when a wall was erected round it which enclosed several feet of the streets on the east and north sides then used as a burying ground. In the year 1745 ground was purchased by the parish behind the church, the interred bodies were removed, and all the ground on the north and east of the church thrown to the street, much to the public inconvenience".

The demolishion of the church is described in the "Cheshire Sheaf" (October 1880) as described by a Matthew Harrisson:

  • "During the time of its being removed I was present at the funeral of the late MR MELLOR the proprietor of the Shot Tower then in Commonhall street. I rather think from the dust and dilapidation then noticed in the old Church that this would be the last funeral service held in it. The very delicate and difficult work of removing the bodies interred in the Church was done at night darkness lending its aid to obscure the unwelcome and offensive operation. And now as to your question the removal of the stone work and windows. This was done with the very characteristic quality which usually marks our north country friends in this instance a body of Scotch reli gionists designated Sandemanian Baptists whose minister was a Rev Mr Sim. The stones and windows of ST BRIDE'S were purchased by this far seeing body for an old song and removed to Pepper street to the new Chapel they were then erecting and were built in there externally as they now remain. I cannot say that like Solomon's temple they were noiselessly fitted without hammer but there was no doubt a great saving in labour by the stones of the Church being adapted and suited to the construction of this Presbyterian sanctuary. The chapel has now quite lately been secularized as a School of Art."

The Second Church

The second St Bridget's Church. Built 1826, demolished 1891. Chester Castle can be seen in the background.

When Grosvenor Street was cut diagonally across the City in 1825 to form the approach Harrison's new Grosvenor Bridge, St. Bridget was demolished and William Cole (Harrison's pupil) designed a new church bearing the same dedication, which was erected close to Harrison's recently-rebuilt Chester Castle. It was restored in 1861 under the direction of James Harrison. Thomas Harrison had been buried in the churchyard, and in the 1960s, to make way for a traffic island on the new Inner Ring Road, Harrisons remains were transferred to Blacon Cemetery.

Disappearance

On 27 April 1842 the district was united with that of Chester: St Martin to form the combined district of "St. Bridget with St. Martin".

The district was affected by the following boundary changes:

  • 1882 February 17 — reduced when part of the ancient parish of St Martin was transferred to Chester: St Peter.
  • 1887 September 27 — reduced when the following part of the ancient parish of St. Martin was transferred to Chester: Holy Trinity: "All that wedge shaped detached portion of the said parish of Saint Martin bounded on the north partly by the ancient parish of Saint Oswald in the said city of Chester and partly by a portion of the same ancient parish which has for ecclesiastical purposes been annexed to the parish of Saint Peter in the same city on the east by the portion of the said parish of Saint Martin annexed to the parish of Saint Peter aforesaid and on the south and westerly sides thereof by the said parish of Holy Trinity aforesaid"
  • 1887 September 27 — extended when the following area was transferred from Chester: St. Mary without the Walls: "All that portion of the said parish of Saint Mary-on-the-Hill which is bounded on the south by the River Dee on the east by the centre of Lower Bridge-street in the city of Chester from the south boundary of the said parish to a point where Duke-street in the same city debouches into Lower Bridge-street aforesaid, and thence partly by the said parish of St Olave partly by the said parish of St Michael and partly by a detached portion of the parish of Saint Bridget on the north partly by the said parish of Saint Michael partly by the said parish of Saint Bridget and partly by the said parish of Saint Martin and on the east by the said parish of Holy Trinity. And also all that detached portion of the said parish of Saint Mary-on-the-Hill abutting upon Lower Bridge-street aforesaid at the northerly end thereof bounded on the south- east and north sides thereof by the said parish of Saint Michael and on the west side by a detached portion of the said parish of Saint Bridget"
  • 1887 September 27 — reduced when the following area was transferred to Chester: St. Mary without the Walls: "Part of the said parish of Saint Bridget situate on the south side of the said river in the city of Chester... bounded on the north and east sides thereof by the parish of Saint John the Baptist in the city of Chester along the course of the said River Dee and on the south and west sides thereof by the said parish of Saint Mary-on-the-Hill."

In 1891 St. Bridget's church was pulled down, and the church of Chester: St Mary on the Hill was constituted the district church for the district of St. Bridget with St. Martin. In January 1973 this became part of a unified district for the city of Chester. All that remains today are a few graves marking the site of the Churchyard, including that of Thomas Gould, who is buried under the roundabout between Grosvenor Street and Grosvenor Road. This is the site of the graveyard of St Bridget (since demolished). The grave marker is shaped as a casket and inscribed:

The gravestone of Thomas Gould, who took part in the battle of Waterloo.
  • IN MEMORY OF THOMAS GOULD LATE OF THE 52ND REGT. OF FOOT LI. DIED IN NOVEMBER 1865 AGED 72 YEARS 46 OF WHICH WERE SPENT IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY. HE WAS PRESENT IN THE FOLLOWING ENGAGEMENTS. VIMERA, CORUNA, CROSSING THE GOE NEAR ALMEIDA, BSACO, PUMBAL, REDINHA, CONDEIXA, FOZ D'AVOCA, SARUGAL, FUENTES DONOLE, STORMING OF CUIDAD RODRIGO AND RADASOS SALMANCA, SAN MUNOS (fallen prisoner), ST MILAN, VITTORIA, PYRENEES, STORMING OF THE FRENCH ESTABLISHMENT OF VERA (wounded), NIVELLE, PASSAGE OF THE NEVE ORTHES, TARBES, TOULOUSE AND WATERLOO. HE RECEIVED THE PENINSULA MEDAL WITH 13 CLASPS AND THE WATERLOO MEDAL. THE STONE IS PLACED OVER HIM BY A FEW FRIENDS

sources