Agricola Tower
Picture: Mrs Birtwell copy from Book by Morris with permission
About this image:
The chapel in the Julian Tower Chester Castle from Morris 'Chester in the Plantagenet and Tudor Reigns P96.
The publication 2000 Years of Building notes:
The large red sandstone tower in the Castle courtyard, variously known as Julius Caesar's Tower, Julius Agricola's Tower, and The Agricola Tower, has no known Roman connections, although Roman remains have been found on the Castle site. It was built c1150 as the gate tower for the inner bailey of the castle, but the openings were walled up less than a hundred years later when a new gateway with two drum towers was built. The medieval fabric was refaced in sandstone by Thomas Harrison during his rebuilding of the castle in 1818.
The Tower has three floors, reached by a stone staircase contained within the wall. The ground floor is a vaulted crypt. The first floor is the Chapel of St Mary de Castro (St. Mary's in the Castle) built in 1181-7. The walls of the chapel bear traces of some very important medieval wall paintings which are believed to be the work of an artist in the court of King henry 3rd who took over the castle in 1237. Now largely obliterated, the delicacy of the remaining images is protected by restricting public access. The Chapel is seldom used today but the font there is still available for christening children of the Cheshire Regiment.
Image Description:
This is a print of a vaulted room.
The floor of the room is stippled grey, with a patch of lighter grey and white in the centre, under the window.
In the left-hand wall there is an arched doorway; this is placed between two columns. In the far wall there is a window set within a niche or aperture, which is pointed. Within the arch there is stone above the window and below. There is a window seat on either said within the aperture. The wall on the right is plain stone with a column in the corner and a second near the right edge of the print. All the walls are made of blocks of stone, different sizes.
The four columns are set on small plinths and all but the one on the left have a decorated capital. The columns support the vaulting to the ceiling. There are two arches to the back of the ceiling, which cross, and then two further arches in front of that.