Chester City Walls - North East Section

Eastgate to Northgate

Average Walking Time = approximately 10 minutes (not accounting for sightseeing)

 

1. Eastgate (with Clock)

The present arched Eastgate was built in 1768-69 (designed by a Mr Hayden). It replaced the medieval gate to improve the flow of traffic in Georgian times. It is likely that the Eastgate has been considered the principal gate of the city since the Romans. The clock - an icon of Chester - commemorates Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 1897, although it was installed in 1899. Today the street below is pedestrianised, although access for commercial vehicles is permitted. Throughout medieval times traffic through the gate was subject to tolls. The Eastgate clock is on the Chester Millennium Trail. Also visit the Eastgate Clock information sheet.

 

 

2. Selected View: From Eastgate Looking West into the City

This view is of Eastgate Street and, at the far end, the Cross. Eastgate was one of the four main Roman Streets and during the Roman period it was known as the Via Principalis (ie 'Main' Street). Many of the buildings are in black and white 'magpie' style influenced by the half-timber revival encouraged by the architect Thomas Penson. From 1830 the street was transformed from its former Georgian brick facades. Roughly half way down the street are examples of the Rows - Chester's unique first floor galleries allowing two-storey shopping with a continuous public walkway at the gallery level.

 

 

3. Cathedral & 'Bell' Tower

The Cathedral was founded in 1092 as St Werburgh's Abbey on an earlier Saxon religious site. The cloisters - an enclosed rectangular courtyard surrounded by a covered and colonnaded passageway - survive intact.  It was converted into a cathedral during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in 1540.

The adjacent Addleshaw (Bell) Tower was built in 1975 to house the Cathedral bells since the Cathedral's own tower could no longer support them without substantial re-strengthening. It was named after the Cathedral's Dean at that time. The Cathedral and Bell Tower are both featured on the Chester Millennium Trail.

 

 

4. Kaleyards Gate

Access through the Walls originates from the 13th century when the Cathedral was an Abbey. A private gate (postern) led to the monks' kitchen gardens or kale yards.  Because of concerns about the security to the city the monks agreed to keep the gate closed. Until recently it was still the practice for the Cathedral authorities to lock the present gate each night.

 

 

 

 

 

5. Deanery Fields

These grounds are part of the Cathedral precinct. Below the grass are the remains of Roman barracks. The Roman fortress housed some 5,500 troops from various locations across the Empire including Spain, Southern France and Northern Italy.  Around the field below the Walls you can see an earth bank. It has been said that this is the remains of the original Roman earth and turf Wall. However, it is more likely that it is the remnants of earth piled against the city Wall during the Civil War to help strengthen it against the Parliamentary bombardment during the siege of Chester. 

 

6. King Charles/ Phoenix Tower

This tower has had a number of names: Newton's, Phoenix and King Charles. The latter is because it is said that from the tower King Charles I had watched his army defeated by Parliamentary forces at the Battle of Rowton Moor in 1645. In reality it was not the battle itself that the King witnessed, but the scattered remnants of his army being pursued through the suburbs. The tower used to be leased to the City Guilds. A stone carving of a phoenix can be seen on the Tower - this was the emblem of the Painters.

Also visit the King Charles Tower Information Sheet.

 

 

7. Shropshire Union Canal

Below the section of the City Walls from King Charles Tower to Bonewaldesthorne's Tower lies the Shropshire Union Canal. Originally the Chester Canal, it was started in 1772 linking Chester to Nantwich and in the 1790s extended to Ellesmere Port and to Shropshire and a wider hinterland. The canal lies at the bottom of a deep sandstone ravine - the excavation of which was assisted by the existence of the rubbish-filled Roman defensive ditch along this section of the City Walls. The sandstone ravine is now a Regionally Important Geological Site (RIGS). Here the rocks clearly show massive cross bedding associated large sand bars in a multiple, shifting channel river flowing through a desert environment. The canal towpath is a public thoroughfare and provides another route to explore Chester's heritage.

 

8. Original Roman Wall

A number of remnants of Roman Wall can be seen but the best preserved section is to the Eastern side of the Northgate. The best view is obtained by descending the Wall at Northgate, passing under the Northgate to stand on the viaduct across the canal and looking Eastwards along the Wall. Note the large dressed and squared sandstone blocks (opus quadratum) which were used for the outer face of the Wall and the decorative cornice that marks the walkway where Roman legionaires once patrolled. The stone is thought to have come from near-by quarries along the River Dee.