A Brief History of St Michael's Church

There has been a church at the bottom of Bridge Street since the 10th century. Exactly when St Michael's was built is not known, although there are several references to the church towards the end of the 12th century.

Parish records survive from 1560 and from the Churchwarden's Accounts, it is apparent that the church was practically rebuilt in 1582. Thirty-one 'tymber treese' were obtained from Wrexham. The work also required 3,000 double and 2,000 single slates and it took two labourers four days to take down the roof. A crane was brought from Chester Castle to raise a new one.

(Right: 17th century woodcut of St Michael's Church from Hemingway's History of the City of Chester, Vol 11 1831)

During the Siege of Chester in the 1640s the church was used as a prison and the Royalist prisoners were not to have 'meat, drink, candles, light or Tobacco by especial order from the Commissioners such were their cruelty'. Perhaps because of the damage caused by this period the chancel of the church had become ruined by 1679 and was rebuilt.

(Left: St Michael's Church viewed from Lower Bridge Street. One of many images held on the Imagebank (external link)  at CHH)

By 1708, the 'old wooden steeple and clockhouse' was said to be in a poor state and was replaced with a stone tower, surmounted by a cupola and clearly visible in Buck's South West Prospect of the City of Chester. New problems arose in the 1840s. 

The parish had been amalgamated with St Olave's but the interior of St Michael's had become inconvenient, unsightly and dilapidated with the new tower being declared unsafe. The South and East walls of the church were also revealed to be in poor condition, so between 1849 and 1851 the church was rebuilt again under the supervision of Chester architect James Harrison. Apart from the north aisle and chancel roof, which date from the 15th century, most of what can be seen today is Harrison's work.

The church closed in 1972 and after being acquired by Chester City Council became Britain's first Heritage Centre, opening in 1975. Now it is run by Cheshire West and Chester Council, which took over from the city council in 2009.