The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Chester (now)
Parish church
The church that stands today is on the plan of the collegiate church projected by Sir Hugh Calvely in 1385-86 and begun after 1388. Of this only the lower parts of the S nave wall, the W tower, the N treasury and the chancel with its arch survive. The parish retained the nave, and they replaced it c.1500 with the present light and airy six-bay construction with its large aisle windows and the aisles extending alongside the tower. In 1527 the Ridley Chapel was added to the S of the chancel, the chancel wall being pierced by a two-bay arcade while the E window of the S nave aisle was retained (as at Acton). The present clerestorey dates from 1865, and replaces one of c.1500. None of the fabric of the Romanesque church survives in place, but carved stones have been discovered beneath the floor from time to time, and all are now stored in the S porch, along with the assortment of ironwork and flower-arranging equipment essential to the operation of a modern church. This store is something of an Aladdin's cave, containing as it does a substantial collection of later medieval carved tomb-slabs, moulded stones, and the 12thc. stones described below. There may well be more.
Parish church
St Bertoline's is a 15th-16thc. Perpendicular church with chancel rebuilt by Austin and Paley in 1925-26. It has a four-bay nave with aisles and clerestorey and a N porch; a chapel (the Crewe Chapel) of c.1528 on the S side of the chancel and a vestry on the N, and a Perpendicular W tower. The oldest feature, however, is an elaborate 12thc. doorway, now blocked and reset in the N chancel wall, trimmed to fit the narrow gap between the vestry and the end of the aisle. Construction is of red sandstone blocks, generally eroded.
Parish church
St Andrew's is basically a Norman church that was extended in the 14thc. and 16thc. The church may have been cruciform, with an aisleless nave, and a three-bay S arcade was added in the 12thc. On the N the aisle windows are early 14thc., so an arcade of some form must have been present by then. In the 16thc. a fourth bay was added to both arcades at the E. The central vessel between the arcades is notably wider in the E bay, and the lines of the arcades have been modified to compensate, apparently in the 1870-72 restoration. On the N side the original arcade was entirely replaced with a copy of the 12thc. S arcade to effect a smooth transition, but on the S only the easternmost Romanesque bay was replaced, and this doglegs to meet the Perpendicular E pier. The S aisle windows have Y-tracery of c.1300, and at the W end of this aisle is the tower, of similar date and with a broach spire. The chancel and its arch are Perpendicular, as are the large chapels to either side of it, with three-bay arcades to the chancel and broad arches to the nave aisles. The restoration was by W.J. and G.A. Ashdown of Liverpool (1870-72). The church is of greyish pink sandstone ashlar.
Parish church
St Mary's is built of red sandstone ashlar. It has a four-bay aisled nave with a clerestorey; the aisles extending W alongside the tower, and the present clerestorey a rebuilding of 1879. The arcade piers are mid 13thc., but they have been heightened, and the capitals are late 19thc., part of Paley and Austin's restoration of 1897-98, although one of the originals survives as a loose stone in the S aisle. The W tower is also 13thc. in its lower parts. It was once over 100 feet tall, but the top of it fell in 1757 and was rebuilt shortly afterwards by William Baker. The chancel arch is 14thc., but the long chancel itself is Perpendicular, articulated inside with colossal four-centred wall arcading. It has a N chapel added after the nave aisles, and the N aisle E window survives, with its tracery but lacking its glazing, inside the church (something similar took place at Bunbury). The grandest monument is a large 17thc. chest tomb with recumbent figures of Sir Richard and Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham in the S aisle. More interesting is the wall tomb in the N aisle, with an alabaster effigy of Sir William Mainwaring (d.1399). The figural but mutilated font is Romanesque, as are a series of important carved stones, some figural, at present at the E end of the S aisle, behind the Wilbraham tomb.
Parish church
St Michael's is a large church, mainly Perpendicular, with a W tower of c.1500 over the end of the N nave aisle, and an aisled, clerestoreyed nave of four Perpendicular bays with a fifth narrow bay of late 12thc. date at the E end of each arcade. The aisles continue alongside the chancel, providing an organ loft and vestry on the N side, and a spacious chapel on the S. The chancel aisles are divided from the main vessel by two-bay arcades, that on the N of the 13thc. The S aisle is canted at the E and W ends. The exterior is faced with red sandstone, but its appearance owes much to the intrusive restoration of 1857-60 by Joseph Clarke. 12thc. work is found in the narrow E bays of the nave arcades and a loose chevron voussoir.
Parish church, formerly chapel
A spectacular and important timber church with a stone W tower, said to be of 1582 (see Pevsner) but probably earlier. The aisled nave (13th-14thc.) is of four bays, and the slightly lower chancel of two, all timber work with box pews. The nave aisles continue alongside the chancel, the N aisle dating from 1624 and the S from c.1610. They now house an organ loft and vestry to the N and the Shakerley Chapel to the S. The three vessels have separate roofs, built by Salvin in his restoration of 1852, but originally the nave and its aisles shared a single roof. The church was founded in 1269, hence none of the fabric is 12thc. What is at issue is the font, said to have been brought from Norton Priory in 1322.
Augustinian house, former
What survives is the undercroft of the west range of the cloister, once the west front of the house. A portico was added to the west front in 1886, and at the S end is a late-12thc. doorway assumed to be the reset chapter house doorway of the priory. At the N end of the portico is a replica of this doorway dating from 1886. The 12thc. doorway gives access to bay 3 of the undercroft, and the 19thc. copy of it to bay 4. Slight remains of an earlier doorway can be seen behind the replica. To the E of the undercroft, entry to the cloister is by large unarticulated arches in bays 2 and 3.
The undercroft itself is rib vaulted in seven pairs of quadripartite bays, supported on a central row of piers with wall- and angle-responds. The bays are numbered (following Thompson) from S to N. The undercroft consisted originally of two compartments, and the division is marked by a rectangular central pier between bays 3 and 4, with responds to N and S to carry the longitudinal vault ribs, and transverse arches springing to E and W linking the pier with the E and W walls. A much later transverse wall has been inserted in bay 5, dividing the undercroft into a N and a S section with a narrow arch between the two. Brick wine bins have been built into the N section, on the N and E walls. To the N of the undercroft a vaulted passage runs through the range from W to E. This must have been the parlour between the cloister and the outer court of the priory, providing the meeting place for monks and laymen. A hole has been knocked through the N wall of the undercroft to allow access to it. At its E end the passage opens into the NW angle of the cloister. The W end is now blocked. The passage is rib-vaulted in two quadripartite bays, and along the N and S walls are blind arcades built on benches running the lengths of the walls, with 4 arches per bay.
Benedictine house, former
The priory was originally isolated on a headland overlooking the Mersey, but is now entirely hemmed in by what remains of the shipyard graving docks and by a recently built industrial estate. A promenade has been built along the waterside, offering splendid views of Liverpool across the river, but no part of the priory is visible from this.
The original foundation is attributed to Hamo de Masci, 3rd Baron of Dunham Massey c.1150, but Pevsner prefers a slightly later 12thc. date. What remains is the cloister, without its arcades, and some of the surrounding monastic buildings. It lay to the N of the church, and of this only fragments of the N walls survive. To the E of the cloister square stands the chapter house, of red sandstone, the only part of the original foundation to survive. It is a simple rectangular building of two rib-vaulted bays, preserving only one of its original side windows - a completely plain splayed opening in the S wall of the E bay. The W front has the usual arrangement of a doorway flanked by windows, but these are completely plain and are not described in this report. A second storey was added to it in the 14thc., now called the Scriptorium, although Pevsner doubts whether that was its function. In the N range stands the 14thc. vaulted undercroft of the refectory, and to the W the 13th-14thc. buildings of the guest hall and prior's lodging.
The priory was bought by public subscription in 1896, and Birkenhead Borough Council took responsibility for it. It was restored 1896-98, and the chapter house restored from 1913-19, when it was dedicated as a chapel. Romanesque sculpture is found in the vault supports of the chapter house. This picture is confused by the presence on the same site of the remains of St Mary's church. The church, by Thomas Rickman (1819-21) was built as part of F. R. Price's plan to develop the town as a resort. It was enlarged by the construction of transepts in 1832-35, but closed in 1971 and all except the tower demolished four years later. This remains as a viewpoint.
Parish church, formerly collegiate church
The Romanesque church was a cruciform building with an aisled nave with triforium and clerestorey; N and S transepts and an aisled eastern arm with a gallery rather than a triforium. Of the nave, the four eastern bays and the beginning of a fifth survive. In the fifth bay was a 13thc. north doorway under a porch, and west of the sixth stood the façade. There is no evidence for the original form of this beyond the ruinous lower part of a NW tower. This tower collapsed partially in 1572 and more drastically in 1574, destroying the western bays of the nave, and was rebuilt on a magnificent scale. Until 1881 it was reportedly the glory of the exterior and a notable Chester landmark, but in that year, while long-overdue repairs were taking place, it collapsed again, destroying the Early English north porch, which was rebuilt by J. Douglas in 1881-82. The eastern arm of the church was originally aisled and of five straight bays, but now the entire north aisle has been removed (except for its eastern chapel; see below). Of the main vessel and south aisle only a single bay survives within the building, which terminates in a straight wall. The remainder of the eastern arm was abandoned in 1547, when the King's Commissioners decided that the nave alone was sufficient for the parish, and that the lead on the choir roof along with the metal of four of the church's five bells should be removed and sold. To the east, outside the building, parts of the S choir aisle wall still stand, along with what remains of the east chapels. Originally the main vessel terminated in a deep apsidal chapel, and the aisles in shallower ones. All three chapels were remodelled and enlarged in the later middle ages, but the 12thc. wall containing their entrance arches still stands. This is in a disastrously eroded condition, which should be borne in mind while reading the descriptions of its elements in this site report.
The central tower of the church collapsed in 1468, and again in 1572, and at some point, presumably after 1547, the transepts were removed. The only other medieval part of the church is the enigmatic two-storey structure of c.1300 built in the angle between the south transept and the choir and accessed through a doorway in the S choir aisle. Its undercroft is square and vaulted in four bays with a central pier: the upper storey has lost its roof. Locally it is known as the Chapter House, but neither its form nor its position make this very likely, and it is here suggested that it was a two-storey treasury. In the early 19thc. it was incorporated as a kitchen in a house (now demolished) which became the residence of Thomas de Quincey's mother. What remained of the treasury was renovated in 1937 and the undercroft taken over in 1939 as a public air-raid shelter. It now serves as a stone store.
There was apparently a thorough repair to the chancel in 1813, but the external appearance of the church today is of a 19thc. building in Early English style, and this is largely due to the restorations of J. C. Hussey who rebuilt the south side in 1859-60 and the north in 1886-87. Included in the latter restoration was the construction of a modest bell-tower in the angle of the north transept and the choir. No firm dates are available for the Romanesque fabric. The present church was traditionally begun by Bishop Peter de Lea, who moved the see to Chester from Lichfield in 1075, but judging from the sculpture, none of the fabric is this early.
Regimental chapel, formerly castle chapel
The present Chester Castle is largely Thomas Harrison's group of county buildings, dating from 1788-1822, and including the courts and the Shire Hall. The main medieval survival is Agricola's Tower, a three-storey tower on a rectangular plan, with a doorway to the south. The tower dates from the 12thc., but there was a fire in 1302, after which the lower room was remodelled entirely. Romanesque interest centres on the 2nd-storey chapel. This is a single space vaulted in two rectangular bays with quadripartite rib-vaults and an altar at the east. The present author was unable to gain access, and this report is based on what can be seen of the chapel through the grille that closes it off. For the guidance of future researchers, the chapel is now the Regimental Chapel of the Cheshire Regiment, and entry is controlled by the staff of the Military Museum, also on the castle site, who require at least two weeks' notice in advance of any visit.