Religious Life
EARLY CHRISTIAN FOUNDATIONS There is no actual evidence that Christianity reached Chester during the Roman period, but in the centuries immediately after the collapse of the Roman empire, the city quickly became an important ecclesiastical centre. Chester was probably the scene of a synod of the British church shortly after 600, and to the south there seems to have been an early mother church at Eccleston. It is thought that the St. John's Church just outside the Roman fortress, may have been founded in 689, soon after Chester fell under Mercian control. By the end of 10th century, there were probably five churches chuches: St. Johns; St. Werburgh's (originally dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul), St. Peter's, St. Olave's and St. Bridget's.
UNDER NORMAN RULE Folowing the conquest of 1066, the Normans brought many changes to religious life in Chester. St. John's, the earliest and most important parish church, became the first cathedral in 1075, when Bishop moved the seat of his dicocese from Lichfield to Chester. He began to build a fine new church, worthy of its new status. However, very little work was completed before Peter died in 1085 and in 1102 the seat was removed from Chester. Despite this, St. John's continued to be described as a cathedral and a bishop's palace was maintained near the church. The result of Bishop Peter's ambitious building programme,which continued over two more centuries, was one of the best Romanesque churches in the region.
The Normans also brought monasteries to Chester. In 1092, Hugh Lupus, first Earl of Chester, re-founded the Saxon church of St. Werburgh as a Benedictine abbey. Monks from the monastery at Bec in Normandy were brought over to ensure that Norman observances prevailed. The abbey was richy endowed with income and land, including all the north-easten corner of the walled area, which became the abbey precincts. Building work started immediately and had progressed far enough for Earl Hugh to be buried there when he died in 1101. A Benedictine nunnery was also founded near the castle in about 1150, on land which is now occupied by the former County Police Headquarters. The chancel arch has been re-erected in Grosvenor Park.
PARISH CHURCHES Medieval Chester had nine parishes, but only eight parish churches. These were: St. John's (surviving); St. Peter's (surviving); St. Mary's (surviving); St. Michael's (now Chester History and Heritage); Holy Trinity (now the Guild Hall); St. Olave's (surviving); St. Martin's (demolished)and St. Bridget's (demolshed). Only the churches of St. John and St. Peter are still places of worship, and all have been significanly altered or rebuilt since medieval times. The parish of St. Oswald did not get its own church until 1881 (when confusingly it was called St. Thomas's). Before then it successively occupied the abbey nave, St. Nicholas's Chapel and the south transcept of the Cathedral.
RELIGIOUS HOUSES Throughout the medieval period, the grandest religious house in Chester was the Abbey of St. Werburgh,which ranked high amongst the wealthiest benedictine monasteries inthe country. As well as being the largest landowner in the city, the abbey had its own trading priviledges, including the annual Midsummer Fair,and held its own courts. Not surprisingly,its power within the city led to frequent disputes with the Mayor and Corporation.
Three other religious houses were established during the 13th century. Unlike the abbey, these were popular with local people, for instead of forming a closed community cut off from the world and dedicated to a life of prayer, their friars went out among the people, preaching and ministering to the poor and needy.
The Dominicans or Black Friars arrived in 1236, occupying a site to the west of the city, between Black Friars Lane and Watergate Street. They were followed in 1237 by the Franciscians or Grey Friars, whose house stood north of Lower Watergate Street. Finally, the Carmelites or White Friars came sometime before 1277 and built their church alongside White Friars Lane in 1290. Although never rich, these friaries were successively enlarged and they became very significant features within the medieval townscape, occupying almost a quarter of the land within the walled city.
HOSPITALS Chester had three hosptitals, providing accommodation for the elderly, needy and infirm. St. Giles in Boughton was originally founded as a leper hosptial. It was demolished during the Civil war in 1643 and the burial ground, which still survives, was used for victims of plagues in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Hospital of Little St. John, just outside the Northgate, was founded in the 1190s and provided accommodation for 13 inmates. It too was demolished during the Civil War, although later re-founded under the auspices of the city. St. Ursula's Hospital, was founded in 1510. Six almshouses were built in Commonhall Street and the disused Common Hall was converted into a chapel.
HERMITS In medieval times, monks or others wishing to retreat from the world to a life of solitary prayer and contemplation, lived in cells or hermitages. There were two cells associated with the collegiate church of St. John, both built on the site of a former quarry besides the river. The surviving building, known as the Anchorite's Cell, probably dates from 1357 and has been heavily restored. However, early plans show a second cell which may have been an older structure. In the 12th century, there was a widely believed legend that King Harold II did not perish at hastings in 1066, but fled to Chester where he lived as a religious hermit for many years.
DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES The Reformation and dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII changed Chester's religious life considerably. The three friaries of the Dominicans, Franciscians and Carmelites surrendered 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 to Chester is in the street names: Black Friars, Grey Friars, White Friars.
The wealthy abbey of St. Werburgh was still incomplete after morethan two centuries of rebuilding when it was dissolved. 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.
PROTESTANT v CATHOLIC The protestant religious changes which continued under Edward VI (1547-53) affected Chester's parish chuches. The colegiate church of St. John was dissolved in 1547 and the parishioners were left with only the body of the church. The fabric of the church was neglected and the north west tower collapsed in the early 1570s and the chancel in 1581. In the other churches the alters were removed. Vestments, oraments and sacred vessels were taken away and the interiors were whitewashed.
During the counter Reformation under Mary 1 (1553-58) some 300 English Protestants were burnt at the stake. One of these, the Lancastrian George Marsh, was burnt at Spital Boughton in 1555, folowing a heresy trial in the consistory court at Chester Cathedral. A memorial stands on the site.
Althought the Elizabethan settlement of 1559 ended the period of religious upheavals, the compromise between Protestant doctrine and Catholic ceremonial was not accpeted by many Catholics and Protestants. The church authorities tried to maintain conformity by enforcing laws against recusants (those who refused to attend Church of England Services). Roman Catholic recusants were treated with particular suspicion, owing to England's hostile relations with Spain and the fact that, as the main port for Ireland, Chester was the first point of call for many Irish Catholics entering the country.
PURITANISM The growth of puritanism within the Church of England from the later 16th century, was most clearly reflected in the banning of the Mystery Plays in 1575. The plays never lost their association with the Roman Catholic Church and puritan feeling hardened against the boisterous, often comic treatment of some sacred scenes. There were also a number of attempts to ban or reform the Midsummer Watch Parade. Puritan preachers visited Chester and St. Peter's Church became something of a puritan centre. A small but influential group of puritans were appointed to the Assemby, and they openly supported Parliament at the outbreak of Civil War.
NONCONFORMISTS Until the Toleration Act of 1689, nonconfomists faced penalties and restrictions so it was difficult for them to form perment congregations. After 1689, they began to erect meeting houses and eventually chapels, although meetins stillhad to be licenses and nonconformists like Roman Catholics were barred from holding civil and military offices. The Reverend Matthew Henry began his ministry in Chester in 1687, holding meetings in his house in White Friars. In 1699-1700 a chapel was built between Crook Street and Trinity Lane, probably the first nonconfomist place of worship in Chester. It was demolished in the 1960s.
John Wesley first preached in Chester in 1752 and soon after the earliest Methodist meeting house opened in St. Martin's Ash. Early Methodism attracted much hostilty and the meeting place was pulled down by a mob, only to be immediately rebuilt. In 1764-65 the Methodists built the Octagon Chapel at the Bars. Following Wesley's death in 1791 a new chapel was built in Trinity Street. However, in 1797 the congregation broke with the Wesleyans and in the 1830s, erected an imposing neo-classical chapel, which still survives as a shop in Pepper Street. The Wesleyans moved to a new chapel in St. John Street in 1812, and this remains in use today.
Both Primative and Welsh methodists were active in Chester in the early 19th century, with a succession of small meeting houses, mainly in the poorer parts of the city. There were also congregational chapels in Commonhall Lane and Queen Street. Quaker preachers were active in Chester from the 1650s and as early as 1702 a Quaker meeting house had opened in Frodsham Street.