Chester Castle

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[edit] Chester Castle

Chester Castle is one of the few castles in England or Wales that has been in constant use since first erected. For almost 2,000 years - even before the castle was built, armies have used and fought over this location. At times it has housed a mint, a prison, courts and local government offices. The Roman fortress, Æthelflæd's (Alfred the Great's daughter) burh, the small earthwork and timber castle of the Normans, and the larger stone castle created by Earl Ranulph III and Henry III were successively built near to, if not directly upon one another.

The history of the city and that of the castle are entangled. Indeed, the name of the city means simply "castle" and was used almost interchangeably in mediaeval descriptions such as the following of Hadrian's Wall:

  • It had many towres or fortresses about a mile distant from another, which they call Castle steeds, and more with in little fensed townes tearmed in these daies Chesters, the plots or ground workes whereof are to be seene in some places foure square; also turrets standing betweene these, wherein souldiers being placed might discover the enimies and be ready to set upon them, wherein also the Areani might have their Stations, whom the foresaid Theodosius, after they were convicted of falshood, displaced and removed from their Stations.

This is mostly the story of the castle, for a definitive history of the rest of Chester see:

The castle is more than its stones, and the different layers of history can take some time to disentangle. If you visit, don't expect a grand castle like Conwy. The surviving parts of the castle are impressive, but Chester Castle is more to do with social history than being a frozen ruin of a bygone age. Over the years:

  • the castle has seen revolts (several successful, several not) against various English rulers;
  • has been besieged by kings, has held besieged kings, has been a prison of kings and princes or of those who revolted against them;
  • has seen trials of the unquestionably guilty (and of the probably innocent);
  • has been amongst the best or the worst prisons in the country;
  • has been involved in the success and failure of many military campaigns.

Through almost all of history, someone has been trying to get inside or outside of the walls of the castle at Chester.

For further information on the castle, maps and copious photographs see:

[edit] Conflict and Fortification at Chester (Ice Age to 1069)

  • For a general introduction to the British Isles during this period see From Dot to Domesday.
  • For a useful overall sketch of British history see Wikipedia.

During the times of the Romans, the wars of the Welsh and Northumbrians, the English and the Danes and indeed later during the Civil War, Chester has found itself at an often fought-for crossroads. Until after the Norman Conquest, the fortifications in and around Chester were not at the site of the present castle, but there were still defensive works here. The fortuitous combination of a bend in the navigable River Dee around high ground and the lowest ford on that river meant that this was an ideal location for a fortress and later a castle.

One interesting theory about the importance of Chester (and one possible reason why there was so much fighting here) is that it may mark the meeting point of several major European human genetic groups. After the last ice age one theory holds that the Celts moved up the Atlantic coast from the ice age "refuge" in Spain. These people became the Cornish, the Irish and the Welsh. Other groups repopulated the British Isles through Norway and other parts of Scandinavia and a third group migrated across the land bridge that then connected Britain with Europe. Where these people live today can be mapped using genetic studies. Chester turns out to be a possible "outpost" of the "English" genes. According to the Oppenheimer Theory these are much earlier movements of people than the supposed invasions of the "Vikings", "Angles" and "Saxons". However the conflicting theories about who moved where and when are the subject of much debate! If this theory holds water, then Chester is placed at or close to the point where the worlds of the "Iberian/Celtic", "Scandinavian" and "Anglo-Saxon/Germanic" peoples collide and is one of the few points where the ASG group would have an "Atlantic" port.

  • Cunliffe, Barry, 2001. Facing the Ocean. Oxford: Oxford. (see also this article)
  • Mithen, Steven, 2003. After the Ice: A Global Human History 20,000-5000 BC. Phoenix (Orion Books Ltd.), London. ISBN 978-0-7538-1392-8
  • Oppenheimer, Stephen, 2006. The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story. Constable and Robinson. ISBN-10: 1845291581. See also article by Stephen Oppenheimer ("Prospect", October 2006) and another Oppenhiemer article ("Prospect", June 2007)
  • Stringer, Chris 2006. Homo Britanicus. Penguine Books Ltd., London. ISBN 978-0-713-99795-8
  • Sykes, Bryan, 2006. The Blood of the Isles. Bantam Press. ISBN-10: 0593056523
  • For more of the debate see this blog on chromosome studies
  • For more on genetic studies see this site
  • An
  • Rosser Z et al., 2000. Y chromosome diversity in Europe. American Journal of Human Genetics 67, 1526.
  • Foster P and Toth A, 2003. Towards a phylogenic chronology of ancient Gaulish, Celtic and Indo-European. Proc of the National Acadmy of Sciences of the USA 100, 9079.
  • Forster P et al., 2006. "Evolution of English basic vocabulary within the network of Germanic languages" in Forster and Renfrew (eds) "Phylogenic Methods and the Prehistory of Languages (McDonald Institute, Cambridge).
  • The Bradshaw Foundation website and a link to more on Oppenheimer's book "Origins of the British"
  • Capelli et al., 2003. A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles - Current Biology, Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages 979-984.
  • Thomas et al, 2006. Evidence for an Apartheid Like Social Structure in Early Anglo-Saxon England. Proceedings of the Royal Society Published online. doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.3627.
  • Wilson et al. 2001. Genetic evidence for different male and female roles during cultural transitions in the British Isles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. 98: 5078–5083.

[edit] An Iron Age Fortress?

There is no definitive evidence for any kind of Iron Age fortification, but signs of Iron Age settlement (including post-holes) have been found in Chester (see this history) and reported. It is likely that such a settlement would have included some kind of defensive structure. Hill top enclosures are known along the sandstone ridge at nearby Beeston, Bickerton and Kelsall. Earthworks have also been found at Heronbridge, a little south of Chester.

Some early historical speculation is found in Samuel Lewis's 1848 Topographical Dictionary of England which includes the following information for Chester:

  • The origin of this ancient city has been ascribed to the Cornavii, a British tribe who, at the time of the Roman invasion, inhabited that part of the island which now includes the counties of Chester, Salop, Stafford, Warwick, and Worcester; and its British name Caer Leon Vawr, "city of Leon the Great," has been referred to Leon, son of Brût Darian Là, eighth king of Britain.

There may be some confusion here with Caerleon in south Wales. Caerleon is also a site of considerable archaeological importance, with a Roman legionary fortress (it was the headquarters for Legio II Augusta from about 75 to 300 AD) and an Iron Age hill fort. The name Caerleon is derived from the Welsh for "fortress of the legion" (compare with the Anglo-Saxon name for Chester - Legercyestre). "Brût Darian Là" (Welsh: Bryttys darian las) appears to be a reference to Brutus Greenshield one of the legendary kings mentioned by the notoriously inaccurate Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical (i.e. mostly "made up") Historia Regum Britanniae ("the History of the Kings of Britain"). The "Leon" in question may be Liel after whom Carlisle (another Roman fort) may or may not be named.

Ptolemy's 2nd century Geographia has a passing mention (text) of the two cities of the Cornovii as:

  • ..From these toward the east are the Cornavi, among whom are the towns: Deva, Legio XX Victrix 17°30 56°45 and Viroconium 16°45 55°45

Deva Victrix is Chester, and Viroconium Cornoviorum is Wroxeter. The later had become the capital of the Cornovii under Roman rule. More on the Cornovii can be found here.

While the evidence is scant, at times confusing and some of the sources are known to be rather suspect, it may well be that there was some form of fortification at Chester in the Iron Age, but nothing is known of any particular part which it might have played in history.

[edit] The Roman Fort - Romani Ite Domum

Sometime around AD74, the then governor of Roman Britain, Sextus Julius Frontinus constructed an "auxiliary fort" at Deva Victrix (Chester). The placement of this fort appears to have been a strategic move by Frontinus with the intent of both blocking the route of any routed British trying to escape to the north, and to guard against help arriving from the Brigantes and other northern tribes. Frontinus was a noted engineer as well as being a governor, and author of De aquis urbis Romae, a history and description of the water supply of Rome. It is not known whether he was involved in providing Chester's water supply from the springs at Boughton to the Roman fort, but is is known that at this time lead (such as is used for plumbing) was traded with the Deceangli of north Wales. The lead was probably mined at Pentre

  • In June 1885 (at the Roodee) a lead 'pig' was found inscribed IMP•VESP•AVGV•T•IMP•III: the word DECEANGI appears on the side (this has been dated: AD74).
  • In 1838 (1¼ miles east of Chester's Eastgate) another 'pig' was found with the inscription; IMP•VESP•V•T•IMP•III•COS, and again, on the side; DECEANGI (again dated: AD74).

Frontius was succeeded as governor (in AD78) by Gnaeus Julius Agricola a Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. His biography, the well known De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae (The Life and Character of Julius Agricola), was the first published work of his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus (and says nothing at all about Chester). By AD79, the fort had developed into the extensive base of Legio II Adiutrix Pia Fidelis. Further lead piping can be seen in the Grosvenor Museum which bears the name of Gnaeus Julius Agricola in the following form:

  • IMP•VESP•VIIII•T•IMP•VII•COS•CN•IVLIO•AGRICOLA•LEG•AVG•PR•PR
  • (Imperator Vespasian nine times and Imperator Titus seven times consul. For Gnaeus Julius Agricola, pro-praetorian legate of the emperor)

Reconstructions of the Roman city have no specific fortification on the site of the present castle, and the city walls were only extended in mediaeval times to enclose the current castle site. A map detailing the locations of the Roman walls and the castle can be found here. During the Roman period, the castle site may have been an extra-mural official inn or "mancio" forming part of the "Cursus Publicus" (the first pub in Chester?) - although this could also have been the site of a mansion. Quite why the Agricola Tower (see below) at the castle is named after the governor is something of a mystery.

The Romans stayed in Chester until about 369, when the twentieth legion was withdrawn as part of the general collapse of Roman Britain and in the face of increasing "barbarian" attacks. There is no evidence that during the Roman occupation Chester's fortifications were ever put to the test.

The Grosvenor Museum contains a skeleton recovered from the bottom of a Roman well near the site of the castle. Whoever it was, they had broken their leg earlier in life and it had been badly set, so they would have walked with a limp. It appears that the well was near the site of a fire which happened at around the time that the body ended up in the well.

The skeleton (thanks to Chestertourist):

sources:

  • Excavations at Chester, the Roman and later defences, part 1: investigations 1978-1990 by Charles LeQuesne and others ISBN 1 872587 14 3.
  • Roman Chester: City of the Eagles. 2001 D J P Mason ISBN 0 7524 1922 6.
  • Excavations at Chester, the Elliptical Buildiing: an image of the Roman world. Excavations in 1939 and 1963-9 by D J P Mason, fieldwork by R Newstead, J Droop and J Eames. 2000. ISBN 1 872587 15 1




[edit] The Chester Castle Site (Middle Ages)

[edit] William the Bastard and Hugh the Fat

Chester played some part in the events following Hastings:

  • Immediatlie after he [William] had thus got the victorie in a pight field (as before ye haue heard) he first returned to Hastings, and after set forward towards London, wasted the countries of Sussex, Kent, Hamshire, Southerie, Middlesex, and Herefordshire, burning the townes, and sleaing the people, till he came to Beorcham. In the meane time, immediatlie after the discomfiture in Sussex, the two earles of Northumberland and Mercia, Edwin and Marchar, who had withdrawne themselues from the battell togither with their people, came to London, and with all speed sent their sister quéene Aldgitha vnto the citie of Chester, and herewith sought to persuade the Londoners to aduance one of them to the kingdome: as Wil. Mal. writeth. (Holinshed)

Chester was one of the last places subdued after the Norman Conquest. During the "Harrying of the North" (1069-1070), the death toll is believed to have been 150,000, with substantial social, cultural, and economic damage. Due to the ruthless and violent "scorched earth" policy which the Normans employed, much of the land was laid waste and depopulated. In parts of the north, the damage was such that the survivors had to resort to cannibalism. Inevitably, plague followed. All told, about a fifth of the population of England may have died during the Norman Conquest.

In 1069 the men of Chester in alliance with Eadric the wild and the Welsh rose against the Conqueror and laid siege to Shrewsbury. William quelled the revolt and ordered a castle to be built at Chester in 1069-1070. A large "motte and bailey" castle was constructed overlooking the lowest fording point of the river. In order to make space for this, or perhaps as part of the "harrying", half the Saxon city was levelled. The ramparts and tower at this time would have been wooden. Very roughly, the motte or "inner ward" occupied the present site of the older buildings on the hill that can still be seen, while the bailey or "outer ward" occupied the site of the present car-park between the pillared entrance and include the site of the more modern buildings.

A description of this type of castle is given in the life of St John, Bishop of Terouanne:

  • "The rich and the noble of that region being much given to feuds and bloodshed, fortify themselves ... and by these strongholds subdue their equals and oppress their inferiors. They heap up a mound as high as they are able, and dig round it as broad a ditch as they can ... Round the summit of the mound they construct a palisade of timber to act as a wall. Inside the palisade they erect a house, or rather a citadel, which looks down on the whole neighbourhood".

This is the first real evidence of fortification exactly on the present site of Chester Castle.

At first, Chester was held by Walter de Gherbaud but when he returned to "more civilised" Normandy the castle and surrounding districts were given (1071) by the king to Walter's nephew Hugh de Avranches. A footnote in Gerald of Wales tells it thus:

  • The first earl of Chester after the Norman conquest, was Gherbod, a Fleming, who, having obtained leave from king William to go into Flanders for the purpose of arranging some family concerns, was taken and detained a prisoner by his enemies; upon which the conqueror bestowed the earldom of Chester on Hugh de Abrincis or of Avranches, "to hold as freely by the sword, as the king himself did England by the crown."

Hugh had contributed to William's invasion of England (providing 60 ships). He did not fight at Senlac Hill (called Hastings by some), but was trusted to stay behind and govern Normandy.

By 1075 and the subjugation of the Revolt of the Earls, the Conquest was completed. Before his death in 1101, Hugh went on to make a huge fortune from his position as the Earl of Chester and also became so fat that he could hardly walk (he was known in later life as "Hugh the Fat"). A further castle was build at Frodsham although nothing of this now remains.

As later events were to show, the Earls of Chester may have had a solid castle, but they tended to lead tumultuous lives.

[edit] The Nineteen Year Winter

The line of the d'Avranches as Earls of Chester failed when Hugh's son Richard, with his illegitimate half-brother Ottuel, joined the young prince William (heir to Henry I) aboard the doomed White Ship in 1120. The ship foundered, drowning all but one, and Richard died aged 26, leaving no issue.

William of Malmesbury wrote:

  • "Here also perished with William, Richard, another of the King's [Henry I] sons, whom a woman of no rank had borne him, before his accession, a brave youth, and dear to his father from his obedience; Richard d'Avranches, second Earl of Chester, and his brother Otheur; Geoffrey Ridel; Walter of Everci; Geoffrey, archdeacon of Hereford; [Matilda] the Countess of Perche, the king's daughter; the Countess of Chester; the king's niece Lucia-Mahaut of Blois; and many others..."

The earldom then passed through his father Hugh's sister Maud to Richard's first cousin Ranulph I, in 1121. However, following the death of Henry I, the loss of the White Ship was a cause of the conflicting claims to the throne during the period of the Anarchy (1135–1154) during which:

  • "æuric rice man his castles makede and agænes him heolden; and fylden þe land ful of castles. Hi suencten suyðe þe uurecce men of þe land mid castelweorces; þa þe castles uuaren maked, þa fylden hi mid deoules and yuele men. Þa namen hi þa men þe hi wendan ðat ani god hefden, bathe be nihtes and be dæies, carlmen and wimmen, and diden heom in prisun and pined heom efter gold and syluer untellendlice pining; for ne uuaeren naeure nan martyrs swa pined alse hi waeron."
  • ("Every chieftain made castles and held them against the king; and they filled the land full of castles. They viciously oppressed the poor men of the land with castle-building work; when the castles were made, then they filled the land with devils and evil men. Then they seized those who had any goods, both by night and day, working men and women, and threw them into prison and tortured them for gold and silver with uncountable tortures, for never was there a martyr so tortured as these men were.")

Ellis Peters set the Brother Cadfael stories (published 1977–1994) against the background of the Anarchy. During this time of trouble, known also as The Nineteen Year Winter, it was declared in the Chronicle that:

  • "In the days of this King there was nothing but strife, evil, and robbery, for quickly the great men who were traitors rose against him. When the traitors saw that Stephen was a good-humoured, kindly, and easy-going man who inflicted no punishment, then they committed all manner of horrible crimes . . . And so it lasted for nineteen years while Stephen was King, till the land was all undone and darkened with such deeds, and men said openly that Christ and his angels slept".

The then Earl of Chester, Ranulph, played a major part in the fighting - both against the new king (Stephen) and for him. Henry I had not helped to ensure a simple succession as he still holds the record for the largest number of acknowledged illegitimate children born to any English king (around 20 or 25).

As the Chronicle puts it:

  • After this waxed a very great war betwixt the king and Randolph, Earl of Chester; not because he did not give him all that he could ask him, as he did to all others; but ever the more he gave them, the worse they were to him.

[edit] Rebuilding in Stone

The 3rd Earl joined the baronial Revolt of 1173-1174 against Henry II, and lost the castle when captured and imprisoned after the Battle of Alnwick (1174 - at which he supported William I of Scotland). However, he had his estates restored in 1177. His son Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester otherwise known as Ranulph IV de Meschines (1172-1232) made an alliance with Llywelyn the Great (effectively Prince of Wales), whose daughter Elen married de Blondeville's nephew and heir, John the Scot, in about 1222.

The Norman wooden tower at the summit of the motte was replaced in the 12th century with a square stone tower, now known as the Flag Tower. Later castles had round towers so that there were no corners to attack with siege engines. Indeed, the later towers at Chester were round. The wooden palisade that ran around the summit of the motte was also later replaced with stone. When this was done, the wall was built flush with the flag tower (unlike in later castles where towers projected to allow fire along the walls). The lower level of the Flag Tower remains but is not visible from outside the castle, although it is possible to see where the stonework links up.


Image:Chester_Castle_2.jpg

  • The Norman motte and the Half-Moon Tower (the shuttered windows are modern).

At around this time, the Agricola Tower was added to the castle. This is named after the Roman governor of the same name, but why is unclear. It was initially the inner gatehouse of the castle, but one end of the gate passage was later blocked up.

Image:Chester_Castle_Keep.jpg

  • The Acricola Tower (originally the inner gatehouse)

The Tower is described at length in in Samuel Lewis's 1848 Topographical Dictionary of England:

  • Of the ancient castle, built by the Conqueror, there remains only a large square tower, called "Julius Agricola's Tower," now used as a magazine for gunpowder. Though of modern appearance, having been newly fronted, it is undoubtedly of great antiquity, and interesting as the probable place of confinement of the Earl of Derby, and the place in which Richard II., and Margaret, Countess of Richmond, were imprisoned. In the second chamber James II. heard mass, on his tour through this part of the kingdom, a short time previously to the Revolution. This apartment, when opened after many years of disuse as a chapel, exhibited, from the richness of its decorations, a splendid appearance, the walls being completely covered with paintings in fresco, as vivid and beautiful as when executed; and the roof, from the fine effect produced by the ribs of the groined arches, springing elegantly from slender pillars with capitals in a chaste and curious style, was equally striking.

Henry III (King from 1216 to 1272) added the part-round Half-moon Tower (shown in the photograph above) after the death of John the Scot without issue in 1237. He spent £1,717 on Chester Castle, a huge sum at the time. His son, the new Lord of Chester Castle and later Edward I, was an even more profligate castle-builder. According to some sources, a daring escape from Chester Castle was made in 1246 by Owain Goch ap Gruffydd, brother of Prince Llewelyn, who had been held hostage by King Henry - Gwr ysydd yn nhwr yn hir westai (a man who is in the tower, long a guest). Other sources have Henry III releasing Owain to cause trouble amongst his brothers. Owain rejoined Llewelyn's forces and in 1257 they "ravaged the country to the very gates of the city". In response, King Henry and Prince Edward organised a further expedition into Wales, mustering men and equipment in the city. Envoys from Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd visited the king at Chester, and the royal wardrobe and its staff were again brought to the castle. After a fortnight's stay, Henry and Edward set out on what was to be Henry III's last invasion of Wales. They returned to Chester less than a month later after a brief campaign leading to a difficult peace.

In 1267, during the second Baron's War, the royalist supporters of Henry III besieged Luke de Taney, Simon de Montfort's justice of Chester, in Chester Castle. Taney surrendered upon news of de Montfort's defeat at Evesham, and Prince Edward himself occupied Chester, from where he sent out instructions described as his 'first recorded act of state' as a 'responsible adviser of the Crown'. While de Montfort had held Chester Castle (as Earl), he had reached an arrangement with Llewelyn, something that Edward would neither forget nor forgive.

[edit] The "Hammer Of The Scots"

Edward I (ruler from 1272) is remembered as the conqueror of Wales and the "Hammer of the Scots" (he had this inscribed on his tombstone). He also introduced to England the repugnant practice of forcing Jews to wear yellow patches on their outer garments - before their expulsion in 1290 (the idea was later copied by the Nazis). When the newly crowned Edward called Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, then Prince of Wales, to Chester Castle in 1275 to pay homage, Llywelyn refused to attend ("fearing for his safety") and Edward had the excuse he needed for the Welsh war.

With the outbreak of Edward's first Welsh war in 1277, Chester Castle was made one of the three military commands from which Llywelyn's principality was attacked. Royal forces operating from the city under the command of William de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, quickly brought northern Powys to submission. As in previous campaigns, workmen, soldiers, timber, ammunition, victuals and boats were assembled in the city. The royal wardrobe was also brought there in five carts. With the castle thus established as the chief base for operations in north-eastern Wales, Edward himself arrived July 1277 to lead a large force of infantry on the culminating campaign. He returned to the castle in September 1277 when it was clear that Llywelyn would be forced to surrender. After Llywelyn's defeat an unsteady compromise was reached, but strained relations did not last. After Llywelyn had been lured into a trap and put to death on 11 December 1282, his brother Dafydd became ruler of Wales.

On 22 June 1283, Dafydd ap Gruffydd was captured. Dafydd, seriously wounded, was brought to Edward's camp at Rhuddlan and taken from there to Chester (presumably to the castle) and then on to Shrewsbury. On 30 September 1283, Dafydd was condemned to death, the first person known to have been tried and executed for what would be described as "high treason" against the king. The execution featured dragging through the streets, hanging, drawing and quartering, apparently at the express order of the vengeful Edward.

The future Edward II, was born in 1984, the fourth son of Edward I of England by his first wife Eleanor of Castile, and was the first English prince to hold the title of the Prince of Wales. He was also made Earl of Chester.

A new gateway tower to the outer bailey flanked by two half-round towers was added to Chester Castle c.1290, between Edward's second and third Welsh wars. Edward last visited the castle in 1301. In 1302, there was a fire in the Agricola Tower and the lower floor was remodelled entirely, with one of the doorways being bricked up. Meanwhile, Edward ensured that the heirs of the Welsh princes would trouble him no more:

  • "As the King wills that Owain son of Dafydd ap Gruffudd, who is in the Constable’s custody in the castle, should be kept more securely than he has been previously, he orders the Constable to cause a strong house within the castle to be repaired as soon as possible, and to make a wooden cage bound with iron in that house in which Owain might be enclosed at night" - (Order from King Edward I to the Constable of Bristol Castle).

Edward's own son did not exactly prosper. The Earl of Chester became king (Edward II) in 1308, was deposed in 1327, and died (horribly) later the same year. He never passed the Earldom of Chester on to his heir. A rumour that Edward II had been murdered (at Berkeley Castle) by means of a red hot iron was elaborated in a later history by Sir Thomas More:

  • "On the night of 11 October (1327 AD) while lying in on a bed [the king] was suddenly seized and, while a great mattress... weighed him down, a plumber's iron, heated intensely hot, was introduced through a tube into his secret parts so that it burned the inner portions beyond the intestines."

Holinshed states that the shrieks of the King were heard, through the thick stone walls, all over the town of Berkeley, but compared to what happened to Edward II's favourite and possible gay lover Hugh Despenser, this was quite mild.

It is thought by some that the beautiful frescos in the chapel of St Mary de Castro (upper part of the Agricola Tower) were painted by artists brought back from Europe by Edward II, but others have suggested Henry III. While the English Heritage website says they were discovered in the 1980s, Lewis (see above) apparently mentions them as being visible in 1848. Mysterious stuff, history.

[edit] Bollingbroke and Richard II

Richard II was another mild-mannered king who favoured genteel interests like fine food, insisted spoons be used at his court and is said to have invented the handkerchief. Like Edward II, he had a militaristic father but was a much weaker character himself. In 1399, his cousin, Henry Bollingbroke, later Henry IV but then just Duke of Lancaster, landed in Britain after exile and took Chester without a fight. The Duke stayed at Chester Castle for 12 days, amusing himself by drinking the king's wine, wasting fields and pillaging houses. While there ("this thief, this traitor, Bolingbroke, who all this while hath revell'd in the night"), he also found time to secure the arrest and execution of Sir Peter Legh of Lyme, one of Richard's leading retainers in Cheshire - Legh's head was placed on the Eastgate.

Henry then marched against Richard at Fflint Castle to which Richard had been lured from the safety of Conwy Castle. Richard surrendered, but not before trying to escape dressed as a monk. Shortly before his capture, Richard II hid his personal fortune of 100,000 marks in gold coin and 100,000 marks in other precious objects (about £200 million in today's money) in the Chester area. Some say at Beeston Castle, some say elsewhere - but the hoard has never been found.

Henry returned to Chester with the unfortunate monarch (still wearing the monk's habit in which he had attempted to escape) and the Earl of Salisbury "mounted on two little white nagges not worth 40 francs" and "lodged" them in Chester Castle for a few days (possibly in a tower over the outer gateway, possibly in the Agricola Tower), while Henry received a deputation from the City of London renouncing their fealty to the prisoner. Afterwards, Richard was escorted to Westminster, where he was persuaded to abdicate. Bollingbroke usurped Richard and became Henry IV.

Rebellions continued throughout the first ten years of Henry IV's reign, including the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr, who declared himself Prince of Wales in 1400, and the rebellion of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. Early in 1400, there was a revolt in Cheshire, linked with the Earls' Rising. Those involved included prominent members of Richard's Cheshire retinue and a large group of townsmen from Chester, who, dressed in the livery of the deposed monarch, removed Legh's head from the Eastgate and unsuccessfully besieged the castle, then held by the Chamberlain of Chester, the Sheriff of Cheshire, and the Constable, William Venables of Kinderton. The deposed King Richard died in prison later in the year (17 February 1400), possibly having been starved to death on Henry's orders.

By 1400, two courts were operating in Chester. One was the Court of the city sheriffs which heard petty criminal proceedings, and was named the Pentice after the two-storey building in whose upper floor (or penthouse) the court was housed. The other was the Portmoot presided over by the mayor and bailiffs, sometimes with the sheriffs present too. The Portmoot dealt with civil actions, including disputes over real estate, and with offences against the community (breaches of the assizes of ale and bread came up before the Pentice). Some law reports from these times can be found here. By today's standards the punishments were quite barbaric - in 1435:

  • "Thomas Broune of Irby complained to the Justice of Chester that John Strete of Nantwich stole a horse of his, worth 12s. Strete was arrested, but refused to plead; he could speak but of his malice he would not. The jury convicted him and the sentence was pronounced: let him be sent back to prison in the King's Castle of Chester and there be kept under strict custody, lying naked upon the floor; let iron above what he can carry be placed upon his body; as long as he lives let him have a morsel of bread one day and the next a drink of water from the nearest prison gate, until he shall die there in the said prison." (Chester Plea Rolls)

The antagonism between the houses of Lancaster and York following the usurpation of Richard was to continue. The Wars of the Roses were mostly fought between 1455 and 1485. After the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459, two of the Yorkist leaders, the Earl of Salisbury's sons, Thomas and John Neville, were imprisoned in Chester Castle. Margaret, Countess of Richmond, was also imprisoned here for a time.

[edit] The Castle Site: Early Modern

By the middle of the 15th Century, the cannon had appeared as a significant weapon. In 1453, at the Battle of Castillon the Valois used cannon to defeat the Lancastrians and effectively end the Hundred Years' War. Following this time, castles were in decline as military structures but they continued to perform important social roles, where security was important: often being used as prisons, mints and for the storage of gunpowder.

Chester Castle plan prior to 'modern' changes
Chester Castle plan prior to 'modern' changes

[edit] The Shire Hall and Prison

The Saxon Great Hall in the outer bailey was rebuilt in the 1570-80s, roughly where the court buildings now stand. However, the Saxon hall was not demolished - in 1581, the city magistrates bought it "for six Cheshire cheeses", and moved it to the Market Square where it served as a granary, before being taken over by the city's butchers, to become the "flesh shambles".

In 1626, the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire was ordered to establish a magazine in Chester Castle at the county's expense. The post of the Lord Lieutenant was at this time held by the Earl of Derby. He was later tried at Chester and executed (1651) in Bolton. While in Chester Castle, Derby nearly escaped by means of a long rope thrown up to him from outside the walls; he fastened the rope securely, slid down it, and reached the banks of the River Dee, where a boat waited for him. Unfortunately, Derby's escape was discovered; he was seized and brought back to the castle.

The hall was the site of the surrender of the city in 1646 after the siege during the Civil War.

In 1651, the castle was described as follows:

  • "At the first coming in is the Gate-house, which is a prison for the whole County, having divers rooms and lodgings. And hard within the Gate is a house, which was sometime the Exchequer but now the Custom House. Not far from thence in the Base Court is a deep well, and thereby stables, and other Houses of Office. On the left-hand is a chappell and hard by adjoyning thereunto, the goodly fair and large Shire-Hall newly repaired where all matters of Law touching the County Palatine are heard, and judicially determined. And at the end thereof the brave New Exchequer for the said County Palatine. All these are in the Base Court. Then there is a drawbridge into the Inner Ward, wherein are divers goodly Lodgings for the Justices, when they come, and herein the Constable himself dwelleth. The Thieves and Fellons are arraigned in the said Shire-Hall and, being condemned, are by the Constable of the Castle or his Deputy, delivered to the Sheriffs of the City, a certain distance without the Castle-Gate, at a stone called The Glover's Stone from which place the said Sheriffs convey them to the place of execution, called Boughton."

The "Glover's Stone" can still be seen but it is now in Water Tower Gardens.

[edit] Edmund Halley and the Mint

The building adjacent to the Half-moon Tower was used as the Chester Mint for the Great Recoinage of 1696-98. At this time, most silver coins in circulation had been reduced in size by "clipping" - the offence (at times punishable by death) of paring the edge of each coin and collecting the silver for sale. Coin clipping is why many coins later had the rim marked with stripes (milling or reeding), text (engraving) or other ornamentation that would indicate any clipped coin. By 1695, hammered coin had been debased to a mere 50% of its original weight and it was decided that all the coins in circulation would be recalled and reminted to a standardised form, overseen by eminent and respectable men (to reassure the public who were concerned about the effect recoinage would have on their wealth). Sir Isaac Newton presided at the Royal Mint in London and Edmund Halley (of Halley's Comet fame) in Chester.

The recoinage was something of a disaster. On 4 May 1696, hammered silver coin was officially "demonetised" but by the end of June, only 12% of the new coin had been returned to circulation. Public confidence in bank "notes" collapsed and a general currency crisis followed. There was a widespread resort to barter and the government found it almost impossible to borrow or to pay the army. Financially exhausted, William III (aka William of Orange or King Billy) was forced to end his part in the War of the Grand Alliance.

Halley was a contemporary of Wren, Pepys, Hooke, Handel, Purcell and Dryden. He was a schoolboy in London while the Great Fire raged, and was an active participant in the Enlightenment, an age of profound developments in all the arts and sciences. As a younger contemporary of Isaac Newton, he had a crucial part in the Newtonian revolution in the natural sciences. It was Halley who posed the question that led Newton to write the Principia (published in 1687), and who edited, paid for and reviewed it. In 1705, applying historical astronomy methods, Halley published Synopsis Astronomia Cometicae, which stated his belief that the comet sightings of 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682 related to the same comet and predicted it would return in 1758. When it did, it became generally known as Halley's Comet.

[edit] Jacobite Prisoners

James II of England (VII of Scotland) had become King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland on 6 February 1685. According to Lewis (cit ultra) he once (in 1687) heard mass in the chapel of the Agricola Tower. James was the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdom of Scotland, Kingdom of England, and Kingdom of Ireland, being deposed in the Glorious Revolution (1688). He was replaced not by his Roman Catholic son, James Francis Edward (the 'Old Pretender'), but by his Protestant daughter and son-in-law, Mary II and William III, who became joint rulers in 1689. The belief that James (not William or Mary) was the legitimate ruler became known as Jacobitism (from Jacobus or Iacobus, Latin for James). In 1715 and 1745, there were Jacobite risings in the country.

Captives of both the 1715 and the 1745 Jacobite risings were held in Chester. Hemingway, in his History of Chester, mentions the following:

  • Of the fifteen: "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."
  • Of the forty-five: "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."

[edit] Thomas Harrison and Later

Sometime between 1745 and 1776, the southern wall of the inner bailey was removed to make way for a four-gun platform that gave a broad field of fire across the river. At the same time, the upper parts of the Flag and Half-moon Towers were removed so that ordnance mounted on their roofs would have a solid firing platform. By this time the development of artillery had rendered the simple stone castle obsolete as regards a defensive position. There were plans to build massive earthworks around the castle as a defence against artillery, but these came to nothing. However, like many other many castles, Chester found a continuing role as a place for the storage of arms, a courthouse, a garrison point and as a prison.

[edit] Demolition Without War

In 1780, the castle was largely demolished to make way for County Hall, Courts, and barracks for the Cheshire Regiment. At around this time, there were also many demands for reform of the prison system and the deplorable conditions in Britain's gaols. Chester Gaol was particularly bad, and compared by John Howard (after whom the Howard League for Penal Reform is named) to 'the Black Hole of Calcutta'. In 1785, it was decided to hold a competition to rebuild Chester Gaol. The prize was 50 guineas and the winning design was submitted by Thomas Harrison, then relatively unknown. The new prison was praised as one of the best-constructed prisons in the country. It had such endearing features as a raised exercise yard with a delightful view of distant Beeston Castle. However, it was a project that was to take 37 years, was plagued by financial problems, needed two separate Acts of Parliament and was slowed down by poor workmanship (much of the work being undertaken by a badly housed and often-undernourished population of convicts).

Image:CHESTER_PRISON.jpg

The completed gaol, shown in the print above, still seems a grim place.

Harrison's gaol is gone, with only the Gaoler's House and one row of cells surviving.

The Georgian entrance to the castle, which is more properly a propylaeum (pillared entrance) was also designed by Harrison, as well as the incomplete Jubilee Tower on Moel Famau and the Commercial News Room in Northgate Street, Chester (1808, later the City Club). Other new buildings at the Castle included the Assize Court with its massive and impressive portico. The dozen Doric columns are each a monolith 23 feet in height. When the first of these was raised, a lead casket (containing a Wedgewood urn) was ceremonially placed in the plinth - the urn contained coins of the day. An engraved brass plate was fastened over the cavity before the column was hauled into position. As the court's foundations are situated over the moat of the medieval castle, considerable structural cracking occurred (the same can be seen on the main gate of the castle today) and in early 1920s, when repairs were undertaken, the urn was found and under another column, a small brass snuffbox which had belonged to Admiral Lord Nelson. When the columns were re-erected in 1922, the urn was replaced with coins minted in 1921-22 added. Nelson's snuffbox was added to the collection of Cheshire Regimental relics.

  • A panoramic view of the courts can be found here

Harrison's last major commission, at the age of 82, was the design of the nearby Grosvenor Bridge over the River Dee. He did not live to see this completed. The Grosvenor Bridge was opened on 17 October 1832 (three years after the death of Thomas Harrison), by the Duchess of Kent, and a 21-gun salute fired from the Castle Square. A small stone model of the bridge can be seen in the castle moat to the south of the motte.

[edit] The Fenian Plot of 1867

In 1867, Chester Castle was the focus of an audacious plot by Fenians (supporters of Republicanism in Ireland) that ended in farce. Their plan was that around 2,000 men would infiltrate Chester and, under American-Irish command (by officers with experience in the American Civil War), seize a cache of rifles belonging to the Chester Volunteers. These arms would be used to storm the castle, at that time garrisoned by only 60 regular soldiers of the 54th Regiment. The castle arsenal contained 10,000 rifles and 900,000 rounds of ammunition, which the Fenians hoped to obtain. Once armed, the plan was to commandeer a train, take the arms to Holyhead, seize a streamer, sail to Wexford and raise a revolt in Ireland. Unsubstantiated additional features of the plot (possibly just scaremongering) included sabotage of the waterworks, the burning of Chester and the sacking of its shops.

On 11 February 1867, the plot was to put into action led by the American ex-confederate soldier John McCafferty (who had been a member of Morgan's Raiders). However, the previous night the plan had been betrayed by John Carr, alias Corydon (why is this clever? - see here), a police informer who had infiltrated the leadership of the Fenians in Liverpool. The cache of rifles had been removed to the castle and the garrison quickly reinforced by another 70 regular soldiers from Manchester.

Despite efforts to turn their men back, an estimated 1,300 Fenians reached Chester, in small parties from Manchester, Preston, Halifax, Leeds and elsewhere. Mostly, they discarded what few weapons they had and melted away. The next day, with nothing now happening, a further 500 household troops arrived by train from London in time for a tumultuous reception and breakfast at Chester hotels. Only one arrest was made at the time, but some of the leaders were later apprehended.

More on McCafferty can be found here.

The council signwriter cannot spell!
The council signwriter cannot spell!

[edit] The Council Offices

The large Neo-Georgian County Hall, housing the offices of Cheshire County Council, was built between 1938 and 1957, (work was delayed by WW2). The building was designed by the county architect, E. Mainwaring Parkes, and involved the demolition of the gaol and houses in Skinner's Lane. The castle precincts (bounded by Castle Drive to the south, Grosvenor Street to the west and Castle Street and St Mary's Hill to the east - and not including the castle itself) were historically an extra-parochial area and today remain a civil parish, although with no inhabitants. Curiously, the parish was part of the Chester Rural District, and did not form part of Chester County Borough. This meant that County Hall was actually in the administrative county of Cheshire, despite being in the middle of the city. However, the Local Government Act 1972 saw it become part of the City of Chester district, along with the rest of Chester Rural District. In 1891, it had a population of 249, which had declined to 8 by 1971. According to the 2001 census, it had no inhabitants at all.

County Hall started a criticism of local government buildings in Chester which continues to the present day with the debates over the proposed Glass Slug. Architectural historian and critic Nikolas Pevsner commented of County Hall that it was: "not an ornament to the riverside view". It has been described elsewhere as "a meagre affair unworthy of its historic site and riverside setting" (Boughton, Picturesque Chester, no. 118). Presumably, the same was said of the Roman Fort, the Saxon Shire Hall, the various castles and gaols.

Chester Castle & Government Offices
Chester Castle & Government Offices

[edit] Chester Crown Court

In two weeks of April-May 1966, the infamous Moors Murders case was tried at Chester Assize Crown Court within the castle grounds. Both Brady and Hindley denied some of the murders and tried to blame an associate, Smith, for them. Police protection had to hold back crowds from getting at the police cars carrying Brady and Hindley. Jeers rang out when these cars appeared. On 6 May 1966, Brady was found guilty of the murders of John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward Evans and was sentenced to three concurrent terms of life imprisonment as the death penalty had been abolished a year earlier. Hindley was found guilty of the murders of Downey and Evans and given two concurrent life sentences, plus seven years for harbouring Brady knowing that he had murdered John Kilbride.

[edit] Where

Not unsurprisingly, the castle is to be found on the walls of Chester off Castle Square between Castle Street and Castle Drive. Full directions can be found here. When visiting, it's useful to pop into the local Grosvenor Museum. The castle is near the Norman bridge to Handbridge, site of one of the earliest hydroelectric generating plants ever.

[edit] Atmosphere

Thomas le Wodeward, deputy constable of the castle, took delivery of the following new supplies in 1397: • 11 iron collars and 2 gross of iron chain; • 2 pairs of iron belts with shackles; • 2 pairs of iron handcuffs with 4 iron shackles; • 7 pairs of iron feet fetters with 3 shackles; • 1 hasp for the stocks ...so as you might guess this place has a lingering feeling of oppression. However, if you persist past mock-Greek columns, gun emplacements, local government offices and prison remnants you will find the chapel of St Mary de Castro - complete with a light fitting that looks like a scold's bridle. (Kafkaesquely, two weeks' notice in advance is required for visitors who actually want to enter this chapel, but this makes sense given the very delicate state of the mediaeval wall paintings).

Chester Castle
Chester Castle

[edit] Visiting the Castle

Most of the castle can be seen for free as explained on the useful local government information sheet linked here. Chester Military Museum (which is housed on the same site) has a modest entrance fee.

To visit, enter the castle car-park (which was initially the "bailey") through Tom Harrison's pillared gateway. The statue just outside the gate is Stapleton Cotton who fought alongside Wellington in the Peninsular War. Then head for the right-hand side of the court buildings. Pass through the arch and you'll find yourself on the "motte". At present (mid 2007) there is a lot of restoration work going on (around the flag tower), so parts of the walls are not accessible. However you can still walk along the gun emplacement in front of Napier House. There are useful informative placards scattered about, but not everything is marked (such as the broken Britannia statue). The door to the Agricola Tower is not locked during opening hours, so just let yourself in and walk up the stairs to view the Chapel of St Mary de Castro through a barred gate.

Chester Castle Keep
Chester Castle Keep

[edit] Food

This place has never been known for its food, not in Roman times, Saxon times, Norman times or later. It hit a real low when it was a mediaeval prison (one crust every other day and a drink from a puddle). The mess of the Cheshire Regiment once hosted a certain brevet lieutenant-colonel Bernard Law Montgomery, later to become Field Marshal Montgomery, 1st Viscount of Alamein. Things have only looked up recently - the Chester Food and Drink Festival is held there (various very thin ghosts turn up* to rattle chains in protest).

  • this is not surprising - Chester is the most haunted city in the UK

If you are looking for something substantial Pastarazzi - frequent winner of the Best Restaurant class at the Food and Drink Festival - is right next door. If that doesn't suit your budget, the Eating page lists many places within an easy walk.

[edit] Conclusion

(To the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's "I am the very model of a modern major-general" - but I shall let those more musical work on the verse!)


Frontius, Agricola, Queen Vic and her mother too,

William the Conqueror, Henry IV and huge Duke Hugh

Alfred, Edgar, Aedelfrith, Daffyd and Tom Harrison

Brady, Hindley, Halley and Aethelfled the Mercian

Edward Hammer of the Scots, Monty, Byron, Henry III

Edward (of hot poker fame), and a Strange Lord from Derby

John Howard and Llewelyn, Charles Murray Duke of Athol

And by the gate the model of a modern major general


Chester is a popular tourist site but, don't visit just for this. As part of a circuit of the walls, it is an interesting diversion, and one that should not be missed if time allows.

Chester Castle
Chester Castle

A film made by http://www.chestertourist.com

And another!

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