St John's Church
Text: Chester City Council
According to legend, in the 7thC King Aethelred was instructed in a dream to build a church "at the place where he sees a white hind". Certainly, the present church and it's ruins occupy one of the oldest religious sites in Chester.
The Saxon church was rebuilt by the Normans in the 10thC and in 1069 the Bishop of Lichfield transferred his see to Chester and proceeded to build his cathedral, laying it out in the classical Norman style. After his death in 1082 work on the building was largely abandoned and was only completed some 200 years later. By 1348 however, maintaining the building had become a struggle and it was described as "a comely and sumptuous fabric constructed of stone and wood of great breadth and length, but the same being ancient and decayed, repair was necessary or it would fall into irrevocable ruin". The building is thought to have suffered serious damage c1470 when the central tower collapsed.
With the Dissolution, St John's became a parish church and was reduced in size, leaving the west end in ruins. When the east end duly fell out of use a curtain wall was subsequently erected to seal it off from the rest of the building. The remains of the 14thC chancel, Lady Chapel and choir still stand next to the church. In 1572 and again in 1574 further damage occurred with the partial collapse of the north west tower.
St John's was used as a gun emplacement by Parliamentary forces during the siege of Chester in the Civil War, inflicting much damage upon the walls, buildings and citizens. The army virtually turned the church into a fort during their occupation, with windows and furniture destroyed, memorials defaced and broken.
The 19thC saw a large scale restoration, with the incorporation of the organ which was brought from Westminster Abbey where it had been used at the coronation of Queen Victoria. Whilst the exterior of the church is Victorian, inside can still be seen four surviving Norman bays with round piers, scalloped edges and double arches. Above is a triforium from c1195 and the clerestory is Early English, dating from the 13thC. A medieval wall painting has survived, along with 14thC effigies,a Mace Board and painted heraldic memorials. In 1862, forty Saxon coins were found buried beneath the church.
Disaster occurred in 1881, when the west tower collapsed, destroying the church porch. The porch was rebuilt by John Douglas in 1882 but unfortunately there was no money left to rebuild the tower.