Chester Castle
Text: Chester City Council
The Castle area is rumoured to have been fortified By Queen Aethelflaed as early as 910, but it was in 1070 that William I ordered the building of a Norman castle here, of the typical Motte and bailey design. The great, grassy motte (mount) would have been raised at once and crowned with a timber palisade.
It was the administrative headquarters of the County Palatine, housing the Exchequer, the county court, the garrison and the prison. Richard II is said to have been lodged here after his surrender to Henry Bolingbroke in 1399 and in 1651 the Earl of Derby was imprisoned for his support of Charles II.
Over the years the castle fell into disrepair and was often restored but very little remains today of the medieval buildings. The Agricola Tower (c1150) survives, together with parts of the upper ward wall, but by the end of the 18th century the ruinous condition of the buildings gave rise to concern. John Howard, the prison reformer, likened the gaol to what he had heard of the Black Hole of Calcutta: " No light, but rather darkness visible, served only to discover sights of woe".
According to Hemingway (1831), the cells were seven and a half by three and a half, ranged on one side of a subterraneous dungeon, in each were often lodged three or four people.
In 1785 a public competition was announced to design and construct a new castle and this was won by the architect Thomas Harrison, a Yorkshire carpenter's son, who had studied in Italy. The ultimate scheme occupied an area much larger than the original compound and the work, begun in 1788, was not completed until 1822.
Harrison used a number of themes in his design, including Palladian, Grecian and Neo-Classical. The castle entrance is by way of a propylaeum, a massive gateway leading into the parade ground with the main castle block beyond with its portico and stone columns. This contained the main court with the gaol sited across the road. The gaol was demolished in the 1930s to make way for County Hall. The two wings at right angles to the central block were designed as a barracks and an armoury. The armoury was capable of holding 30,000 stand of arms as well as an immense quantity of ammunition, including muskets, pistols, swords and gunpowder.
As part payment for his work, Harrison - who died seven years after the building was completed - received a plot of land opposite the castle, where he built his home, St Martin's Lodge, overlooking the Roodee.