Information Sheet: Chester Castle
Many residents and visitors do not realise that they can
still explore parts of Chester Castle free of charge. Usually all
you notice as you go by the area are the current Castle buildings
built 1788-1822 by Thomas Harrison. You could be forgiven for
thinking that there was very little of the earlier castle left but
you would be wrong.
If you go through the main gateway to the Castle, cross the
car-park and aim for the gap between the centre (Crown Court) and
the buildings to the right hand side as you face them you will
arrive at a little known part of Chester's
history(1).<
Please note: The castle is currently closed to
casual access. However It is open for booked groups by
appointment. Please contact 01244 402033 for
details, or to arrange a visit.
The Normans built their Castle here in 1070 to control this area
as part of their conquest of England. Originally it would have been
a simple "motte and bailey" castle. The motte (or mound) would have
been surmounted by a wooden tower with the bailey, a fortified
enclosure, at the bottom, following roughly the pattern of the
current inner walls. The wooden tower was replaced in the 12th
century with a square stone tower, now known as the Flag Tower.
You can get an idea of the scale of the original castle
from this print by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck in 1727. If you follow
the route above, pass the bollard and the first building on the
left, then turn left again you will find the original stone gateway
to the Castle's Inner Bailey.(2)
Although Norman in origin it is now confusingly named the
Agricola Tower. (Agricola was one of the Governors of Roman
Britain.) The original archway at ground level is now walled up to
form a room which you can go inside. If you climb the steep spiral
stairs inside the tower you can see into the Chapel of St Mary de
Castro which is still consecrated as a regimental chapel of the
Cheshire Regiment.
Hidden Frescos
Although you cannot see them clearly now, the ceiling of this
room is covered with medieval wall paintings, preserved under
layers of whitewash during the centuries when the room was used as
a magazine or powder store. These date to the early part of the
13th century, either during Earl Ranulf III's time or shortly after
when the Castle was taken over by Henry III in 1237. The pictures
include the Visitation and miracles performed by the Virgin Mary
such as that of Theophilus - a priest who sold his soul to the
devil but had it retrieved by the Virgin Mary.
The wall paintings were revealed after conservation work in the
1990s - in the ground floor room you can see a display of specially
enhanced photographs of the paintings. Unfortunately the minerals
in the whitewash which covered the paintings in the past continue
to leech out of the stonework and the images have nearly vanished
once more.
Continuing Development
After leaving the Agricola Tower turn right and head up the
slope.(3) The ruined buildings that you see here
include the Flag Tower - the square building in the middle - one of
the oldest surviving parts of the Castle. The original castle was
built by the first Earl of Chester, Hugh Lupus who ran the
surrounding area rather as his own kingdom, answerable only to the
King. It was known as the County Palatine of Chester. The earldom
was reunited with the crown in 1237 after the last earl John the
Scot died without an heir and the title continues to be held to
this day by the eldest son of the King or Queen.
After the title reverted to the Crown there was a further period
of building in the mid 13th century when the residential
accommodation was built along the south wall of the Inner Bailey
and the Agricola Tower gateway was blocked up. An Outer Bailey was
also added to the Castle in the 12th century. This also had high
stone walls and occupied a slightly smaller area than the current
car park.
A new gateway Tower to the Outer Bailey flanked by two
half-drum towers was built in c.1290 (roughly where the exit for
cars is now by the Military Museum (5) and
included a drawbridge over an 8m deep moat. (This is the cause of
the slight subsidence in the car park that you can see if you look
closely.) The area outside this Outer Bailey Gate was known as the
Gloverstone. It was a kind of 'no-mans land' where criminals
waiting for execution were handed over to the city authorities
having been tried by the County Palatine. These criminals would
have included:
1589 - John Taylor - the Keeper of the Castle who had himself
killed a prisoner called Hokenhall for "recusancy" (failure to
attend Church of England Services) and was himself to be executed
for this crime.
1601 - A woman called Candey who was executed for conspiring to
murder her husband - her paramour Mr Boon was pressed to death for
refusing to plead.
Within the new Outer Bailey a Great Hall was created for use
both as a residence and as a meeting place for the administration
of the County Palatine. (You can see a later example of the silver
mould or matrices for the great seal of the County which sealed all
the official documents in the Silver Gallery at the Grosvenor
Museum). The Great Hall was rebuilt in the late 1570s roughly where
the courts are now. This hall was the site of the surrender of the
City after the Civil War (1640s) when the City held for the King
but was defeated after a long siege - September 1645 - February
1646.
Cause for Celebration
The building projecting back from the half moon tower
(4)(to the right of Flag Tower) was used as the
Chester mint for the Great Recoinage of 1696-8. By this date the
majority of silver coins in circulation had been damaged by
clipping - the criminal activity of cutting off little pieces from
the edge of each coin. The coins became smaller and smaller, while
the little pieces added up to a considerable amount of silver. It
was decided that all the coins in circulation would be recalled and
re-minted to a standardised form in a number of mints throughout
the country. The process was to be overseen by eminent and
respectable men to reassure the public who were concerned about
what effect the re-coinage would have on their wealth. Sir Isaac
Newton presided at the Royal Mint in London and Edmund Halley (of
Halley's Comet fame) here in Chester. Possibly some political
pressure was applied to get the mint to be held in Chester (rather
than the original site at Hereford) but the decision to come here
was greeted with great rejoicing at Chester - bells ringing,
bonfires and cannon fire.
If you're not scared of heights continue up the slope and to
your left (6) onto the gun emplacement, built when
the city was expecting trouble during the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion.
(Do take care particularly if you are visiting with children.) The
platform gives good views of the south and west of the city.
Times of Trouble
The Castle was also used as a prison, with trials being held in
the Great or Shire Hall in the Outer Bailey. As the following
extracts from Hemingway's History of Chester show the castle housed
prisoners from both of the Jacobite uprisings:
1715: "This winter Lord Charles Murray (son to the Duke of
Athol) with several gentlemen, and a great number of private men,
who had been taken (November 13th) in the rebellion at Preston,
were brought prisoners to Chester Castle. The weather was very
severe, and the snow lay a yard deep in the roads. Many of the
above mentioned prisoners died in the castle by the severity
of the season; many were carried off by a very malignant fever; and
most of the survivors were transported to the plantations in
America. As the castle was quite filled with these prisoners, the
Lent Assizes were held in Northwich."
1745: "Fearing the rebel army from Scotland, Chester and its
Castle was again fortified. One veteran regiment, and three new
ones were raised. However the rebels did not approach the city only
passing through a part of the county on their way to Staffordshire.
However, after the surrender of Carlisle, a number of the rebels
were brought prisoners in sixteen carts and held at the castle -
which they completely filled.
"Once again the assizes (spring) were held elsewhere The
area in front of the Flag Tower you have just passed, which was in
military occupation until 1950s, has been built over many times and
was called the Armoury, indicating its function from 17th - 19th
centuries. Prior to that there is some documentary evidence that
there was a garden here between Towers for the Judges to walk in at
the assizes.
Although the Inner Bailey of the Castle has been patched and
repaired as a defensive position right up to World War II, by the
late 18th century, many of the Castle buildings had fallen into
disrepair. Thomas Harrison was commissioned to build his
architectural masterpiece, completely remodelling the Outer Bailey
to create the buildings we see today. To reach the Harrison
Buildings once more complete your circuit of the gun emplacement
and descend the steps to pass along the front of the Agricola Tower
once more and turn right. Before you leave the Inner Bailey you
might like to look at the displays in the Guardroom on your right.
These tell you more about the history of the Castle and how it
looked at various dates.
Reform and Restoration
Demands for prison reform swept the country at the end of the
18th century. Notaries such as John Howard drew peoples attentions
to the deplorable conditions in Britain's gaols where felons were
crowded together in filthy communal cells or kept in irons, chained
to walls whereupon they fell victim to Typhus, or 'Gaol Fever.'
Chester Gaol was particularly bad with prisoners kept in an
enclosed and airless yard, compared by Howard to 'The Black Hole of
Calcutta.' In 1785 it was decided to hold a competition to rebuild
the gaol. This was won by Thomas Harrison. The main principles of
the new design were to be security, separation and ventilation.
Communal wards would be replaced with dry and airy cells,
raised into arcades so that air could circulate underneath helping
to prevent the spread of disease. Debtors were kept separate from
the main body of felons and were held in an airy yard in the upper
level of the castle which commanded a delightful view of the ruins
at Beeston. The new prison was completed in 1792, and was praised
in every respect as one of the best constructed prisons in the
country. There was only one further outbreak of gaol fever but it
was attributed to a lack of general hygiene rather than faulty
design.
Harrison's gaol is now long gone with only the Gaoler's House
and one row of cells surviving as a reminder of the days when up to
one hundred men and women, many guilty of petty crimes, were
incarcerated a Chester Castle.
Neo-Classical Splendour
Harrison's original commission to build new gaol was extended to
include the rebuilding of the original medieval Shire Hall. Work on
this building ran for ten years until 1801 resulting in the
building visible today with its impressive colonnaded portico. The
success of this project meant that permission was given to Harrison
to further develop the castle adding new barracks and an armoury
block as east and west wings to the main body of the building. The
castle now extended far beyond the medieval curtain wall and so to
complete the structure a new gateway, or 'Propylaeum,' complete
with Doric columns was placed at the entrance to the castle
esplanade built between 1810 & 1822.
The Castle Today
Military occupation of the Castle, which lasted for nearly 1000
years, is now represented by the Cheshire Military Museum
(7) which is located in the Harrison block
opposite the Inner Bailey. Open daily it tells the story of the
Regiments of Cheshire from the 17th century to the present day. the
Castle has been the home of the Cheshire Regiment since 1871.The
barracks can be visited by previous application subject to military
needs.
Justice continues to be dispensed on the castle site with the
Crown Courts in regular use for major cases. Visitors may watch
cases whilst the Court is sitting. Otherwise the Courts are usually
open once a year for special Open Days.
Please note: The castle is currently closed to
casual access. However It is open for booked groups by
appointment. Please contact 01244 402033 for
details, or to arrange a visit.
Further Information
- Chester ed.P Carrington published by Batsford Books
- Chester Castle - Excavation Report
- Both for sale in the Grosvenor Museum Shop.
(8)