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).

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.

The Inner Bailey is managed by Chester City Council on behalf of English Heritage. The Agricola Tower and guardroom are open regularly - contact Grosvenor Museum for details

Further Information

• Chester ed.P Carrington published by Batsford Books
• Chester Castle - Excavation Report
• Both for sale in the Grosvenor Museum

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