Tudor / Stuart Chester (1501-1700)
Text: Chester City CouncilTUDOR CHESTER
Tudor Chester was a 'town of modest size' with a population of about 6,000 people. Most buildings were contained within the city walls, although suburbs had grown up outside the Northgate and the Easgate and south of the river in Handbridge. The city still had a rural appearance, with large open fields, gardens and orchards within the walled area. For most of the period, the river Dee flowed close to the western wall, with quays situated just north of the Watergate and south of the city, with access via the Shipgate.
MAJOR TUDOR BUILDINGS The skyline of Tudor Chester was dominated by its churches. St. Werburgh's Abbey, which became the Cathedral in 1540 was the largest, but the churches St. John's, St. Mary's St. Peter's and Holy Trinity all had tall spites. The spire of the church of the Carmelites or White Friars, dissolved in 1540, was demolished in 1597.
Many of the medieval pubic buildings were rebuilt or altered during the 16th century. The castle had fallen into 'sore decay' and major repairs were undertaken in 1511 and again between 1577 and 1582, when the great hall was rebuilt. The Common Hall or Moot Hall, originally situated in the present Commonhall Street. However, by the early 16th century, the Assembly was meeting in the former St. Nicholas's chapel in Northgate Street, which in 1546 was reconstructed as the new Common Hall. Civic business continued to be carried out from the Pentice, built along the south front of St. Peter's Church, facing the High Cross and the Pillory. This was a highly decorated, two-storeyed timber structure, with a row of shops at ground level and the civic offices above.
DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES The dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII was a major event in the religious life of the city and also in the the later development of Chester. The three friaries of the Dominicans, Franciscians and Carmelites surrended to the King's Commissioners in 1538 and St. Mary's nunnery in 1540. Their extensive lands to the west of the city, were acquired by wealthy families, although some of the monastic buildings survived for many years. Their legacy is preserved in the street names; Black Friars, White Friars and Grey Friars.
The wealthy abbey of St. Werburgh was still incomplete after more than two centuries of building when it was dissolved in 1540, In 1541, it was refounded as the new Cathedral of the diocese of Chester. The last abbot became the first dean, and the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral were granted the land in Chester formerly held by the abbey.
THE GREAT REBUILDING In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Chester enjoyed a building boom. Fine new houses, like Stanley Palace, were built in spacious grounds to the west of the city, on land which had belonged to the dissolved friaries. Fashions in living accommodation were changing as wealthy people people wanted more privacy. In the city centre, open halls were subdivided and the principal living rooms moved above Row level. Fireplaces with chimneys replaced open hearths, decorated plaster ceilings were introduced and carved Jacobean staircases were inserted. Externally, the timber frontages of these houses were highly decorated, with timbers elaborately carved and often painted bright colours.
CIVIL WAR The Civil War of 1642-46 devasted Chester. As an important Royalist stronghold and the main port for the King's troops in Ireland, Chester was besieged by Parliamentary forces for over 18 months. In the later stages of the siege, the city suffered very heavy bombardment before being starved into surrender. War damage was extensive. Not a street within the city escaped. All the suburbs, as well as Handbridge and Boughton were destroyed. The medieval hospitals of St. Giles at Boughton and Little St. John at the Northgate were lost. The fullers' or cloth mills on the south side of the weir were put out of action. Both physically and economically, Chester was in ruins.
PLAGUE Matters were made worse in 1647 when the citizens, already weakened by starvation, suffered Chester's worst ever outbreak of plague. Over 2,000 people died, perhaps 20% of the population. Trade ceased as people fled the city to escape infection. So depopulated was the city, that it was said that grass grew in the streets around the High Cross.
RECOVERY Not surprisingly, Chester's recovery after the Civil War took several decades. Nearly all the city's leading figures had been Royalists and as a consequence suffered fines and loss of office and it took some time for the City Assembly to function normally again. Gradually, the Assembly began to reassert its authority and also to regulate trade. The markets and fairs regained their regional importance and the Dee Mills were repaired and returned to full use. The port recovered rapidly, largely because of improved economic conditions in Ireland. Exports included manufactured goods, Cheshire salt and coal and metal from North Wales. The major imports were hides for the leather industries and linen, which by 1700 was Chester's most important trade. Despite growing prosperity, fears for the future of the port remained as the ancient problem of the silting of the Dee estuary and channel persisted.
REBUILDING Rebuilding Chester also took many years continuing through the 1650s and 1660s. Timber was used for the reconstruction of even the most imortant houses, including the Bear and Billet, a completely new town house built for the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1664. Other new houses of this reconstruction period include Cowper House in Bridge Street (1660), No. 1 White Friars, St. Michael's Rectory and the 'Dutch Houses' both in Bridge Street (c1670).
The use of brick and the adoption of new classical architectural styles were slow to appear in Chester. Brick did not start to replace timber until the late 1670s, when the first large scale brickworks were established south of the river at Hough Green and Edgar's Field. The Great Fire of London had a great impact on the design and construction of houses in the provinces. In 1671, the Assembly ordered that all houses in the main streets were to be roofed in slate or tile, not thatch. Wealthy citizens began to construct grand houses in the neo-classical style, most notably Bridge House (now Oddfellows Hall) in Bridge Street, built for Lady Mary Clavely in 1676. The earliest classical public building was the Exchange in Northgate Street, a brick and stone building set on columnades ant builtby public subscription between 1696 and 1698.