Chester city walls

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The view from St Martin's Gate, on the Northern-most part of the walls.
The view from St Martin's Gate, on the Northern-most part of the walls.

The Chester city walls are system of largely intact defensive walls surrounding the strategically important English city of Chester. The city has been defended with walls since the foundation of the Deva Victrix fort on the site in AD 79. The current walls are mainly medieval and Victorian, although the earliest surviving sections date back to at least AD 120,[1] and the most recent section was constructed as recently as 1966.[2] The walls are a Grade I listed building,[3] and are the most complete city walls in the United Kingdom.[4]

Contents

[edit] History

A section of the original Roman walls.
A section of the original Roman walls.

The first walls were wood and earth palisades built to defend the Roman fort in AD 79,[2] although these were replaced by stronger stone walls between the 1st and 3rd century. The walls enclosed a far smaller area than the modern walls, with the south-western corner much further from the River Dee. With the withdrawal from Britain of the Romans, the walls fell into disrepair until 907, when Queen Æthelflæd ordered the fortification of the city in response to the Viking settlement of the nearby Wirral Peninsula.[2]

Following the construction of Chester Castle in 1070, the walls were extended south-west towards the river, with a short spur off the north-west corner to defend the Roodee, at the time a valuable shipping port.

During the English Civil War, Chester was a Royalist stronghold and was heavily besieged. Charles I of England intended to break the siege with a concentrated attack, allowing Irish allies access to the port. However, Charles I watched from the Phoenix Tower (King Charles' Tower),[5] part of the city walls, as his forces were defeated in the Battle of Rowton Heath.[6] Charles I fled and the city was completely circumvallated and contravallated by the Parliamentarians.

The siege engines and cannons used by the Parliamentarians caused great damage to the walls, with many sections completely breached. As a result the wall was almost impassable, so the walls were much repaired and renovated during the Georgian era. The walls became a popular promenade, with many of the towers and gatehouses removed or adapted to allow free movement along the entire circuit of the walls.[2] The Victorians further adapted the walls, with the original medieval gates being removed and replaced with wider ornamental gates. The famous Eastgate Clock was added in 1899, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.[7]

The most recent change to the walls was made in 1966, when the St. Martin's Gate was built to allow the A5268, or Chester ring road, to pass through the city. The gate is a brutalist-modernist concrete footbridge between the Northgate and the Water Tower.[8]

[edit] Today

An OpenStreetMap of Chester. The walls are indicated by the dashed brown line.
An OpenStreetMap of Chester. The walls are indicated by the dashed brown line.

The walls form an almost complete circuit 2 miles (3 km) long;[4] the only breaks being for the entrance to the car park of the Cheshire County Council headquarters and the approach road to the Grosvenor Bridge. The walls are both a Grade I listed building[3] and a Scheduled Ancient Monument[4] Despite this protection, the local Conservatives have raised concerns about the state of the walls, claiming that damage due to vandalism and erosion of the walls is unsightly and poses a danger. However, Chester City Council, who are responsible for maintenance of the walls, have rebuked the claims, stating that the walls are kept safe, and that the sandstone used to build the wall is especially prone to weathering.[9] Following the collapse of a section of the wall on 3 April 2008, a 30-metre section of the wall near the Grosvenor Hotel has been closed to the public while repairs are planned.[10]

A famous archaic bye-law of Chester states that any Welshman loitering within the city walls after sunset may be killed by decapitation or shot with a longbow. The law was originally imposed by King Henry V following the Welsh Revolt. This order was never repealed, and still officially stands on the statute to this day,[11] although it no longer provides protection against prosecution for murder.[12]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The North Wall, Chester. Chester Virtual Stroll. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  2. ^ a b c d Chester City Walls - A Potted History. Chester City Council. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  3. ^ a b Images of England. English Heritage. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  4. ^ a b c Chester City Walls. Chester City Council. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  5. ^ Images of England: Phoenix Tower. English Heritage. Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
  6. ^ The Phoenix Tower, Chester. Chester Virtual Stroll. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  7. ^ The Eastgate, Chester. Chester Virtual Stroll. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  8. ^ St. Martin's Gate, Chester. Chester Virtual Stroll. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  9. ^ "Leaders knock down claims that Walls are in disrepair", Chester Standard. Retrieved on 2007-02-25. 
  10. ^ "Probe into collapse of City Walls", Chester Standard. Retrieved on 2008-04-09. 
  11. ^ History Facts. Chester City Council. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  12. ^ Holmes, David. "If elected, I will make it illegal to shoot Welshmen", Chester Chronicle, 2006-06-30. Retrieved on 2007-02-25. 
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