Chester Walls Northern Section

Northgate to St Martin's Gate

Average Walking Time = approximately 5 minutes (not accounting for sightseeing)

 

9. Northgate

The present arched Northgate was built by Thomas Harrison - the architect of many other neo-classical buildings in Chester - in 1810. It replaced a medieval gateway with a narrow entrance and which incorporated towers and the city gaol. This gate is on the highest point in the centre of the city

 

10. Selected View: From Northgate Looking South into the City

Northgate Street is today a mix of building styles and ages - this includes flat fronted Georgian brick facades. In the distance is the spire of the Victorian Gothic Town Hall built in 1869. On the Western side of the street, in the mid distance, are two buildings of particular note: the 15th century Blue Bell (now a restaurant) and the 17^th century Pied Bull Hotel (still a traditional inn). The Town Hall and Blue Bell are on the Chester Millennium Trail. Northgate Street leads to the Cross through Town Hall Square. The square is a public open space which is used for colourful open air markets on certain days of the year.

 

11. Blue Coat 'School'

The Blue Coat Hospital was Chester's first charity school. The surviving building was constructed in 1717 on the site of a medieval hospital. The school had been created to educate poor boys. The building continued as a school until 1949. It now houses the Department of History and Archaeology for the University of Chester. This building is also on the Chester Millennium Trail.

 

12. Bridge of Sighs

A narrow bridge, dating from 1773, crosses the ravine through which the canal passes. Its name originates from the tradition that prisoners used to cross the bridge from the city gaol (in the old Northgate) to a chapel in the Bluecoat School for their last rites prior to execution. This can be seen by descending from the Walls at the Northgate and passing through the gateway to look Westwards along the canal.

 

13. Morgan's Mount

Probably on the site of an earlier watch tower, this structure is named after the commander of a battery of guns positioned here to defend the city during the Civil War. To the East is an early 19^th archway in the Walls which was constructed to aid access to the near-by canal. You can get down to the canal from the steps near to the Mount and then pass through this gateway. To the West the Roman Wall turned Southerly roughly along what is now St Martin's Way. The position of the former Roman angle tower is marked out by cobbles in the pavement below.

 

 

 

14. St Martin's Gate

A concrete footbridge over the 1960s Inner Ring Road which, controversially, punched through the City Wall. The bridge was opened in 1966.