MEDIEVAL PARISH CHURCHES

Holy Trinity

The church existed by the late 1180s and its dedication suggests an origin in the late 12th century. (fn. 1) Soon afterwards its priest was mentioned in terms which suggest that it was associated with St. Peter's. (fn. 2) Probably it was founded by the Montalt family, barons of Mold (Flints.), with whom early rectors seem to have been connected. (fn. 3)

Figure 73: Holy Trinity in late 17th century

The parish lay in the west of the city, extending from the walls of the legionary fortress to the Dee, and thus reaching beyond the medieval city walls to cover the Roodee. It also included the manor of Blacon, beyond the liberties. (fn. 4) In 1882 and 1960 the intramural portions and the Roodee were assigned to St. Peter's, leaving Holy Trinity as the parish church for Blacon alone. (fn. 5) The city-centre church was closed in 1961 and replaced as the parish church by a new building in Blacon. (fn. 6)

Advowson, Income, and Property

The living is a rectory and has never been appropriated. Until the early 14th century the advowson belonged to the barons of Mold, whose heir in 1335 transferred it for life to Isabella, widow of Edward II. With her death in 1358 it passed to the Black Prince, who in 1361 gave it to William Montagu, earl of Salisbury. After forfeiture to the Crown it was granted in 1401 to Sir John Stanley of Lathom (Lancs.), with whose descendants, the earls of Derby, it remained until c. 1989, when they transferred it to the bishop of Chester. (fn. 7)

The income was always modest. In 1291 the church was valued at £6 13s. 4d., (fn. 8) and throughout the 15th century at less than half that sum. (fn. 9) In 1535 it was worth £8 15s. 6d. (fn. 10) Income was derived mainly from the tithes of Blacon and from lands in Crabwall and the city; (fn. 11) from 1401 the Roodee was tithe free. (fn. 12) In the Interregnum the income, still only £10, was augmented by £100 a year. (fn. 13) At the Restoration that additional sum was lost, and the parishioners agreed to increase the income by c. £18 a year from voluntary contributions. (fn. 14) In the early 18th century the city corporation made certain allowances in lieu of grazing on the Roodee, and in the 1720s the living was worth £33 11s. (fn. 15) The income from tithes more than doubled between 1696 and 1754. (fn. 16) In 1834 the benefice was worth £290, a figure at which it remained until the later 19th century. (fn. 17)

Figure 74: Effigy of John Whitmore (d. 1374), Holy Trinity

Although land belonged to it in the 13th century and to the rector in the late 14th, thereafter the church had no glebe. (fn. 18) In 1532 it was given a house in Watergate Street, and in 1537 it had a garden. (fn. 19) The parsonage house in existence in 1696 was unoccupied after 1735 and had fallen into ruin and been taken into the churchyard by 1778. (fn. 20)

The first known burial in the church was in 1374 (Fig. 74). (fn. 21) A churchyard existed by 1554, (fn. 22) and an additional burial ground in Bedward Row on land bought from the corporation was consecrated, complete with chapel, in 1810. (fn. 23) Both were closed in 1855, and the Bedward Row cemetery was sold to the city corporation in 1886 and afterwards built over. (fn. 24)

Church Life

Medieval rectors included some who were relatively well connected, and others who were clearly rich. (fn. 25) How far they were resident is uncertain, but by the mid 1540s both the rector and the parish maintained stipendiary chaplains. (fn. 26) By the later Middle Ages Holy Trinity was a fashionable church, and many leading citizens were buried there. (fn. 27) In the 16th century the city corporation worshipped there often enough to require a case for the civic sword. (fn. 28)

Holy Trinity was also the parish church of the sailors' quarter. (fn. 29) By the 17th century there was a Manx community in the parish, and the north aisle was dedicated to St. Patrick, the patron of Man, by 1539. (fn. 30)

The church had vestments, books, and ornaments valued in 1553 at £6 11s., second only in the city to St. Mary's. (fn. 31) They were still in use in 1547, (fn. 32) but by 1549 the altars and the tabernacle had been removed. As early as 1551 objects connected with the old religion were being sold, and in 1553 the church retained little besides a chalice, altar cloths, surplices, and bells. (fn. 33) In Mary's reign many items were replaced or bought back from those to whom they had been sold in 1551, only to be dispersed again from 1560. Although the parishioners temporarily retained mass vestments and a censer, by 1566 they had taken down the rood loft, and in 1574 paid to have images in the windows defaced. (fn. 34)

In the 1590s the rector gave sermons only every quarter and was negligent in other duties. (fn. 35) Though Edmund Hopwood (rector 1615–32) was more assiduous and was paid extra by his parishioners for reading morning prayers, in the 1630s his successor, Richard Wilson (1632–69), was also accused of neglecting his liturgical duties. (fn. 36) In 1637–8, in accordance with Archbishop Neile's instructions, the church was refurbished and its seats made uniform. The ensuing removal of two chancel pews set aside for the mayor and some of the aldermen provoked a dispute with the Assembly, and in 1640 fresh accommodation was provided for them. (fn. 37)

Wilson probably left Holy Trinity in the early 1640s, but in 1646 there must have been a minister, since baptisms were held there for other parishes. (fn. 38) By 1648 Thomas Upton, a Presbyterian, had been intruded into the living. (fn. 39) Upton left and Wilson was restored in 1660, but the changes did not pass without opposition: in 1663 the newly erected royal arms were destroyed by two parishioners and the church still lacked a surplice. (fn. 40) Later in the century relations with nonconformists appear to have been cordial, and several close relatives of the leading Chester Presbyterian Matthew Henry were buried in the church. (fn. 41) When Henry himself died in 1714 his funeral at Holy Trinity was attended by eight Anglican and nonconformist ministers. (fn. 42)

For much of the 18th and early 19th century incumbents were also cathedral dignitaries. William Smith (1735–80) became dean of Chester in 1758, (fn. 43) and Thomas Maddock (1786–1825) was a prebendary at his appointment. (fn. 44) Since both also held other livings most of the duties at Holy Trinity fell to curates. Communicants in their time averaged c. 80 at the monthly communions and up to 180 on the greater festivals. (fn. 45)

In the 1860s under Edward Marston (rector 1862–95) the church was rebuilt under the influence of the Oxford Movement, and there was a weekly communion and a surpliced choir. (fn. 46) Those traditions were retained by his successor L. M. Farrall (rector 1895–1927), and in 1926 the south aisle was made into a Lady chapel. (fn. 47) By the 1930s Sunday services included choral eucharist twice a month. (fn. 48) After 1951 more definitely Anglo-Catholic services were introduced; at Blacon from 1960 there were regular sung masses and occasional requiem masses. In the early 1960s ecumenical services were held at Blacon both with the Roman Catholics and with the Congregationalists. (fn. 49)

In 1929 a mission church dedicated to St. Chad was opened near the railway station in Blacon to replace an earlier mission room which had come into use by 1921. (fn. 50) In 1961 St. Chad's and the parish church were closed and replaced by a new building also in Blacon. (fn. 51) A church centre, including a chapel dedicated to the Holy Family, was opened c. 1987 in Melbourne Road, Blacon, and in 2000 the parish church and the chapel were served by an incumbent and a curate. (fn. 52)

Buildings

The redundant church of Holy Trinity in Watergate Street is built of red sandstone and comprises a chancel of two bays, an aisled and clerestoried nave of six, and a south-west tower and spire, all built in the later 1860s (Fig. 75, p. 136). There is no structural division between nave and chancel. An earlier church on the site, built on or near the west gate of the legionary fortress, was a twoaisled structure, (fn. 53) repaired in 1593 and extensively restored in 1637. (fn. 54) In 1678 the south side was taken down and rebuilt, and in 1728 the tower and north side were similarly treated. (fn. 55) The spire was removed in 1811. (fn. 56) Galleries were added in 1750 and 1761, and the north aisle was enlarged in 1774. (fn. 57) A new south gallery with two tiers of free seats was erected in 1826. (fn. 58)

In 1864 the old church was demolished; its replacement, consecrated in 1869, was designed by James Harrison in the Decorated style. (fn. 59) A screen designed by Douglas and Minshull was added in 1898. (fn. 60) Further alterations took place in 1926 when the aisles were converted into side-chapels. (fn. 61) In 1963 the redundant church became a guildhall and most of the fittings, except the screen, were removed. (fn. 62) Surviving mayoral monuments included the armoured effigy of John Whitmore (d. 1374), and a brass reused for Henry Gee (d. 1545). (fn. 63)

The mission church of St. Chad built in Blacon in 1929 had a chancel with north vestry and south organ chamber, and a nave with a south porch and west bell turret; the chancel and nave were under one roof, with weatherboarded walls. (fn. 64)

Figure 75: Holy Trinity as rebuilt in 1869

The church of Holy Trinity without the Walls at Blacon was built in 1960 to designs by A. C. Bennett, a local architect; constructed of a steel frame with brick cladding, it comprises chancel, nave, and south tower. (fn. 65)

St. Bridget

The church existed in the time of Earl Ranulph II (1128/9–1153), (fn. 66) and may well have originated much earlier; the dedication and the site in the south of the city suggest an Irish-Norse foundation in the 10th or 11th century. (fn. 67) The medieval church was replaced on a different site in 1829 and when the new church was closed in 1891 the congregation moved to the redundant church of St. Mary on the Hill, remaining there until the parish was merged into the united benefice of Chester in 1972. (fn. 68) The original parish included a detached portion south of the river, the Earl's Eye, which was transferred to St. Mary's in 1887. (fn. 69)

Figure 76: St. Bridget's before 1690

Advowson, Income, and Property

In the 12th century the advowson belonged to the lords of Aldford, but after a dispute it was quitclaimed to Earl Ranulph II. (fn. 70) Later it seems to have been granted to the Orby family, for in the earlier 13th century it formed part of Philip of Orby's endowment of his chantry in St. John's church. (fn. 71) By 1318 and perhaps by 1298–9, when St. Bridget's was served by a chaplain, St. John's had appropriated it. (fn. 72) A lengthy dispute between the deans and canons over the profits was resolved in 1397 in favour of the canons. (fn. 73) At the Dissolution the church seems to have passed to the Crown and incumbents continued to be known as curates, but by the early 17th century it was a rectory in the gift of the bishop of Chester. (fn. 74) In 1842 the living was united with that of St. Martin's, (fn. 75) and in 1972 the parish became part of the united Chester benefice. The parish church then in use, St. Mary on the Hill, was thereupon closed. (fn. 76)

The church was always poor and in 1535 St. John's received only £1 a year from the appropriated tithes. (fn. 77) By the 1720s the total value of the living was £33 18s., of which £16 came from voluntary contributions and £11 15s. from tithes of land south of the Dee. (fn. 78) Augmentations in 1755 and 1814, together with an increase in the value of the tithes, brought the income to £68 3s. 2d. in 1809 and £150 in 1834, the last figure including St. Martin's. (fn. 79) The tithes were commuted in 1845 when they were worth £39 a year. (fn. 80) In 1874 the annual value of the united benefice of St. Bridget and St. Martin was £200. (fn. 81)

Figure 77: St. Bridget's, new church

A parsonage house adjoining the church was taken down in the late 17th century, and thereafter there was none until 1857 when the parish was given, by the architect Thomas Harrison's daughter, the house of c. 1820 which Harrison had built for himself off Castle Esplanade. It was occupied until 1914 when the rector moved to the former parsonage house of St. Mary's. (fn. 82)

Burials were taking place in the church by the early 16th century. (fn. 83) A graveyard to the north-east was replaced in 1785 by one to the south of the church, enlarged in 1790. (fn. 84) It was closed in 1829 and replaced by a new graveyard beside the new church. That in turn was closed in 1877. (fn. 85)

Church Life

A chantry was established in St. Bridget's in the 1270s by John Arneway, mayor of Chester, with a priest maintained by the abbot of St. Werburgh's. (fn. 86) It was still maintained in the 1540s when the chaplain received £4 a year. (fn. 87) In 1528 a parishioner made provision for a priest to say mass in the church for as long as the money would serve. (fn. 88)

St. Bridget's was never well provided with vestments and ornaments, which in 1553 were valued at only 13s. 3d. (fn. 89) In 1578 it had no Bible. Absenteeism went unpunished, (fn. 90) perhaps because the church had puritan leanings: the puritan divine Christopher Goodman, who returned to his native Chester c. 1570, seems to have been associated with St. Bridget's and was buried there in 1603. (fn. 91)

There was a rapid turnover of incumbents in the early 17th century, suggesting an especially undesirable living. (fn. 92) Matters improved with the appointment of the composer Francis Pilkington (rector 1616–38), who although also precentor of the cathedral and minister at St. Martin's continued to treat St. Bridget's as his principal cure, securing benefactions from the mayor, Sir Thomas Smith. (fn. 93) The association with St. Martin's was revived under later incumbents, (fn. 94) but the two livings were separated in 1725. (fn. 95)

Curates were employed in the late 17th century and throughout the 18th, when the rectors included pluralists and the unsatisfactory Thomas Parry (1720–54), who in 1730 was suspended for neglect. (fn. 96) In 1778 the sacrament was administered monthly to c. 40 communicants and to almost double that number on the great feasts. (fn. 97) Under Richard Massie (rector 1810–32), who until the 1820s did the duty himself, numbers rose to c. 140 at the great feasts. (fn. 98)

Curates continued to be employed, especially from 1875 to 1914, when St. Bridget's was held by two successive archdeacons of Chester. (fn. 99) An organ and singers were introduced in 1836, and by 1900 the principal Sunday morning service alternated between matins and sung eucharist. Communicants numbered up to 30 on Sundays and up to 200 at Easter. (fn. 100) Those traditions of worship were maintained but numbers thereafter gradually declined until the closure of the church in 1972. (fn. 101)

Buildings

The first church of St. Bridget was built on or near the western abutment of the south gate of the legionary fortress on the western side of Bridge Street almost opposite St. Michael's. A single-celled, probably latemedieval building survived until c. 1690, when it was totally reconstructed in local stone with funds raised largely by briefs granted in 1684–5 and 1694. (fn. 102) The new church was repaired in 1727 and again in 1785, when it was refaced in stone under the direction of 'Mr.', probably Joseph, Turner. (fn. 103) By 1825, however, the whole structure was unsafe. (fn. 104) Proposals for a new church were under consideration from 1818, and in 1829 St. Bridget's was taken down to make way for Grosvenor Street. (fn. 105)

A new church was erected opposite the castle entrance to a neo-classical design by William Cole junior which owed much to designs by his master, Thomas Harrison (Fig. 77). (fn. 106) Opened in 1829, it was restored in 1861 under the direction of James Harrison. (fn. 107) It was demolished in 1892. (fn. 108)

St. John

In 1547 or 1548 the collegiate church of St. John was dissolved. (fn. 109) The royal commissioners reserved for the parishioners the nave, one bell, and £21 6s. 8d. a year to support a vicar and curate, who were appointed from the former collegiate vicars. (fn. 110) For their accommodation they were assigned one of the college's houses, and the new vicar also held other collegiate property. (fn. 111)

Advowson, Income, and Property

The advowson passed to the Crown and was granted in 1585 to Sir Christopher Hatton, who promptly sold it to Alexander King. In 1587 King in turn sold it to Alexander Cotes, in the possession of whose descendants it remained until sold to Earl Grosvenor, later 1st marquess of Westminster, in 1810. The Grosvenors retained the advowson until 1972 when St. John's became part of the newly established Chester parish, served by a team ministry. The patronage board then set up included the duke of Westminster. (fn. 112)

The value of the living remained unchanged until 1646, when parliament granted an augmentation of £100 from the confiscated revenues of the cathedral. (fn. 113) In the 1650s the minister was still in difficulties, (fn. 114) and in 1660 the augmentation ceased. In the 1720s the assured value of the benefice was only just over £30, but voluntary contributions brought in a further £30 or more, (fn. 115) and by 1757 the income was further increased by pew rents from the new south gallery built within the church in 1741. (fn. 116) Even so, in 1789 the incumbent regarded his income as 'very inconsiderable'. (fn. 117) In 1803 more pew rents were assigned to the vicar, (fn. 118) and in 1804 a grant from Queen Anne's Bounty was used to buy land which brought in £7 10s. a year, (fn. 119) increasing the vicar's assured income to a modest £47. (fn. 120) Further augmentations were made by parliamentary grant in 1811, 1812, and 1817. (fn. 121)

Figure 78: St. John's from south-east, c. 1816

In 1860 the income stood at a respectable £237, but thereafter it was diminished by the closure of the churchyard, increasing resistance to pew rents, and the creation of separate parishes in Boughton and Hoole in 1879. (fn. 122) Eventually the Ecclesiastical Commissioners made a further augmentation of £60 a year in 1876. (fn. 123)

Church Life

After the Dissolution the parish was left with copes, vestments, and other items worth only 11s. 2d. in 1553. (fn. 124) The parishioners' difficulty in maintaining the building culminated in disputes with the patron which were resolved in 1596 by an agreement that he should keep up the chancel and its aisles and they the rest of the church. To assist them in particular in rebuilding the tower, they were given the remaining building materials on the site. (fn. 125)

By the 1630s the vestry had been augmented by a group of commissioners concerned with the disposing of seats and apparently appointed by the bishop. (fn. 126) In 1637 it was determined to make the seats uniform and adorn the church, which soon acquired a new pulpit and cover, altar rails, the royal arms, and new seats. (fn. 127) In 1641, however, the altar rails were removed, (fn. 128) and in 1643 the minister was ejected by the city authorities as a parliamentarian. (fn. 129)

During the siege of Chester, parish life apparently functioned normally until 1645, when Foregate Street was overrun by the parliamentary forces. By then the interior of the church had been wrecked, and between 1645 and 1647 communion was apparently suspended. In 1646 the minister was deprived and replaced by a parliamentarian pastor, Peter Leigh, who in 1648 signed the Cheshire attestation of Presbyterian ministers. Under his regime much effort was expended in making the interior fit for the new forms of worship, and the church acquired seats from the cathedral and a basin to replace the discarded font. (fn. 130)

Leigh was ejected in 1662 and replaced by Alexander Featherstone, a pluralist soon accused of scandalous life. (fn. 131) In the same year the old font was restored to use, although the church continued to lack other accompaniments of Anglican worship until 1663. By 1665 there was little amiss. (fn. 132) Improvements thereafter included the acquisition of plate in 1667 and 1674, (fn. 133) the construction of a gallery with free sittings between 1677 and 1679, (fn. 134) and the insertion of new altar rails and a reredos in 1692. (fn. 135)

By 1708 the pew commissioners were almost extinct and the bishop intervened with nine new appointments. (fn. 136) North and south galleries were added in 1727 and 1741 at private expense. (fn. 137) The parish declined in social standing in the 18th century, and included numerous nonconformists and Roman Catholics; in 1778, although the vicar was resident, held two Sunday services, and read prayers on Wednesdays, Fridays, and saints' days, communicants numbered fewer than 100 at the monthly celebrations and 300 at the great festivals. (fn. 138) By 1825, although congregations were large and increasing, the number of communicants seems to have fallen, to 50 and 150 respectively. (fn. 139) By then the vicar had a curate, and in 1830 another was appointed for the new chapel of ease at Boughton. The creation in the 1840s of ecclesiastical districts for Boughton and Newtown reduced the area of St. John's pastoral responsibilities, (fn. 140) but even so congregations remained large, and in 1851 were estimated at c. 500 at morning prayer and 360 at evensong. (fn. 141)

Figure 79: St. John's, 1855, looking from north aisle into nave

The organ used in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of Queen Victoria was brought to the church in 1838. A fund was started to pay for the organist, choral services were celebrated twice every Sunday, and in 1845 the vestry started paying the organist's salary out of the church rate. (fn. 142)

Although the parish declined further in numbers and wealth in the later 19th century, the incumbency of S. C. Scott (1875–1915) was marked by signs of vitality. (fn. 143) In 1876 the mission church of St. Barnabas was established in Sibell Street to serve a working-class district, and in the 1880s the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the 3rd marquess (later 1st duke) of Westminster made grants to pay an additional curate to work there. (fn. 144) At St. John's, improvements were in accordance with prevailing liturgical standards. The 18th-century galleries and box pews had been swept away in the 1860s, and in 1870 new stone altar rails were installed. In 1875 Scott consulted his cousin Sir George Gilbert Scott and Morris and Co. about the provision of a new reredos, and their recommendations influenced the final design by John Douglas. A new lectern was purchased in 1887, and a south-east chapel was established in 1894. (fn. 145)

Under Scott services continued to focus chiefly on matins and evensong, but his successor, J. D. Polehampton, introduced High Church practices with a daily eucharist and a sung celebration every Sunday. (fn. 146) Eucharistic vestments had been introduced by the 1920s, and in 1926 the rural dean declared that St. John's was 'the best equipped church in these things' in his deanery. (fn. 147) By then the south-east chapel had been refurbished by Sir Charles Nicholson as a Lady chapel, with a new screen and a reredos reconstructed from that of 1692. (fn. 148) The catholic tradition was retained; in 1936 Bishop Fisher authorized the reservation of the sacrament in the south-east chapel, (fn. 149) and in 1981 there was still a weekly sung eucharist with a vested celebrant.

In 1972 St. John's became the principal church of the newly established parish of Chester, which also included St. Thomas of Canterbury in Parkgate Road, Christ Church in Newtown, and St. Peter's. The parish was served in 2000 by a rector, two team vicars, and a non-stipendiary curate. (fn. 150) St. Barnabas's mission church closed c. 1988. (fn. 151)

Building

The church of St. John the Baptist is built of red sandstone, and comprises a galleried choir of one bay, a crossing, an aisled nave of four bays with triforium and clerestory, and a north porch, all of which represents the surviving central portion of a building once much larger. The medieval church suffered from neglect after the dissolution of the college, (fn. 152) and in the early 1570s the north-west tower fell down, ruining the west end of the church. (fn. 153) The collapse of the chancel followed in 1581. Although in that year the Crown granted the parishioners the entire church, they repaired only the central portion, rebuilding the tower, making a new west front, and cutting off all the eastern chapels. (fn. 154)

Figure 80: St. John's from west, 1855

The church was kept in good condition in the earlier 17th century, but suffered severe damage, especially internally, after its capture by the parliamentarians and use as a gun battery in 1645. (fn. 155) Despite restoration in 1646 and further work on the tower in 1660, the chancel was out of repair in 1665. (fn. 156) By 1719 the minister and churchwardens had to seek assistance for major repairs, including reroofing and rebuilding the aisle walls and steeple. (fn. 157) A brief was issued, which by 1720 had raised over £1,200, and in 1728 the church was said to be in good condition. (fn. 158) The chancel, however, was out of repair throughout the later 18th century, and was restored only in the early 19th, when the transepts were also restored and given new windows. (fn. 159)

The whole church was restored in the 1860s by R. C. Hussey, who rebuilt the south wall, provided new roofs, fittings, and round-headed windows in the clerestories, and inserted a new west window designed by T. M. Penson in the Norman style. The whole cost £9,000, towards which the marquess of Westminster gave £4,000. (fn. 160) In the 1870s further work was done in the churchyard, which was partly closed for burials in 1855 and completely in 1875. (fn. 161) The project resulted in the excavation of the ruins and the removal of the houses built among them in the 18th century to disclose the vaulted undercroft east of the south transept. It also brought to light many architectural fragments. (fn. 162)

In 1881 the tower, which had clearly been unsafe for some time, fell down, also ruining the north porch. On the advice of J. L. Pearson the tower ruins were reduced and tidied, leaving only the stump still standing in 2000; the north porch was rebuilt to its original design by John Douglas, who added a small belfry and clock tower on the north-east. (fn. 163) The ruins of the east end, which passed into the guardianship of Chester corporation in 1955, (fn. 164) were consolidated and repaired between 1976 and 1980. (fn. 165)

The monuments include three mutilated 14thcentury effigies, that of Agnes of Ridley (d. 1347) being half-length with the lower part of the body enclosed in a coffin carved with vine leaves. Notable tombs in the south-east chapel are those of Lady (Diana) Warburton (d. 1693) and Cecil Warburton (d. 1729). At the west end armorial fragments survive from the tomb of Alexander Cotes, erected in 1602 and destroyed in the Interregnum. There are also several monuments on panels, painted by the Randle Holmes between 1628 and 1682.

St. Martin

The church existed by the late 12th century, when St. Martin was described by the monk Lucian as one of the 'guardians' of Chester. (fn. 166) The parish was originally restricted to the south-west of the city between the Roman and medieval walls, but later included a detached area in the Crofts perhaps once associated with the vanished church or chapel of St. Chad. (fn. 167) That portion was transferred to Holy Trinity in 1887 and to St. Peter's in 1960. (fn. 168)

Figure 81: St. Martin's in late 17th century

Advowson, Income, and Property

The advowson probably belonged to the Orby family in the early 13th century, since it was among those granted to the collegiate church of St. John by Philip of Orby, justice of Chester, to endow a chantry. (fn. 169) St. John's had appropriated the living by 1318. (fn. 170) After the dissolution of the college St. Martin's seems to have remained a curacy until 1637, when it became a rectory in the gift of the bishop of Chester. (fn. 171) The bishop presented in 1664, but thereafter until the early 18th century the church was supplied with curates by the dean and chapter or after election by the parishioners. (fn. 172) From 1725 the bishop again presented rectors until the benefice was united with St. Bridget's in 1842. (fn. 173)

The living was always poor, and no medieval valuations exist. In 1541–2 the incumbent was described as living, in an obscure phrase, 'from the fruits of the parish' (ex fructibus parochiae). (fn. 174) In 1720 the annual income was only £1 16s., but after augmentations in 1725, 1782, 1787, and 1802 it rose to £76 18s. (fn. 175) In 1834, after another augmentation, it and St. Bridget's were together worth £150. (fn. 176)

In the early 17th century there was a structure over the porch similar to the rectory houses of other Chester churches, (fn. 177) but by 1778 the living had no residence. (fn. 178) A churchyard existed by 1662 and a monument formerly in the church recorded a burial there in 1644. (fn. 179) The churchyard was closed in 1855. (fn. 180)

Church Life

St. Martin's had no stipendiary chaplains in 1541–2, and the vestments and ornaments surrendered in 1553 were of so little value that they were given away to the poor. (fn. 181) The church generally had its own incumbent in the later 16th century, though in 1565 it was held together with St. Olave's. (fn. 182) In the earlier 17th century it seems often to have been held with St. Bridget's, and there is some evidence of neglect; in 1633 and 1634 the curate was presented for not reading prayers on the prescribed days. (fn. 183)

Despite the presentation of a rector in 1664, the church thereafter seems to have been served by minor canons of the cathedral. (fn. 184) In 1699, however, the parishioners chose as their minister the curate and later rector of St. Bridget's, thus resuming an association between the two parishes which lasted until the 1720s. (fn. 185) He and later incumbents seem usually to have performed the duty themselves unless old or incapacitated. (fn. 186) In 1778 the rector preached two Sunday sermons in summer and one in winter, and administered holy communion every six weeks and on the great festivals to an average of c. 30 people. (fn. 187) By the early 19th century numbers had increased to c. 50 at the monthly communions and up to 120 at the great feasts. (fn. 188)

In 1823, under a non-resident rector, the parishioners met to consider union with St. Bridget's. They rejected the proposal on the grounds that they had recently improved the church, and the union was delayed until 1842. (fn. 189) After the union, services were discontinued at St. Martin's except in 1849–50, when St. Michael's congregation met there. (fn. 190) By 1867, however, St. Martin's had reopened as the parish church for the Welsh in Chester. (fn. 191) Links with the Welsh dated from 1826, when a Sunday evening lecture in Welsh had been established, and they continued until 1964. (fn. 192)

Building

The church of St. Martin, which was situated near the south-west corner of the legionary fortress, was by the 17th century a small, two-celled building with a bellcote. (fn. 193) It had fallen into ruin by c. 1720, and in 1721 was replaced with a small, aisleless building of brick with stone dressings, with a tower but no chancel. (fn. 194) Repaired c. 1820 and again in 1869, it was enlarged in 1882 and demolished to make way for the inner ringroad after its sale to the city council in 1964. (fn. 195) Its preReformation font was transferred to St. Bridget's in 1861 and to St. Mary's on the Hill in 1892. (fn. 196)

St. Mary on the Hill

The church was granted by Earl Ranulph II to Chester abbey in the mid 12th century, when it was described as 'of' or 'by' the castle, (fn. 197) with which it remained closely associated. The part of the parish inside the walls was very small, but outside there were extensive detached parts, comprising in the south Handbridge and the townships of Claverton (fn. 198) and Marlston cum Lache, and in the north Upton by Chester and Little Mollington. (fn. 199) The southern portion was virtually coextensive with the castle demesne, while that to the north was originally held by the earl and his tenants; the link seems to have been the honor of Chester, and the parish was probably formed in the earlier 12th century. (fn. 200) In 1599 the parishioners successfully claimed that Moston township and half of Chorlton were in their parish and not Backford. (fn. 201) Marlston cum Lache was included within the new parish of Lache cum Saltney in 1855, and Upton became a separate parish in 1882. (fn. 202) In 1887 St. Mary's acquired Earl's Eye and lost the intramural areas north of the river, which were assigned to St. Michael's with St. Olave's, and St. Bridget's with St. Martin's. (fn. 203) Little Mollington and Moston were transferred to other parishes in the early 20th century. (fn. 204)

Advowson, Income, and Property

Chester abbey retained the advowson throughout the Middle Ages. In 1354 it was licensed to appropriate the living, but the move seems to have been opposed by the bishop, and incumbents continued to be styled rector. (fn. 205) In 1396 the licence of 1354 was renewed and briefly implemented, the rectory of St. Mary's being united with that of St. Olave's and served by a vicar and perpetual chaplain. The appropriation was quashed in 1402. (fn. 206)

At the dissolution of the abbey the advowson passed to the dean and chapter of the new cathedral, who in 1546 granted it to Sir Thomas Garden. (fn. 207) In 1553 it was alienated to Sir Richard Cotton, and by 1554 had passed to the Brereton family, in whose possession it remained until sold to the Wilbrahams of Dorfold (in Acton) after 1623. They first presented c. 1642, and retained the living until it passed by marriage to the Hill family in 1772. In 1819 it was sold to Earl Grosvenor, later 1st marquess of Westminster, in the possession of whose descendants it remained in 2000. (fn. 208)

From the later 12th century the rector paid an annual pension of 4 marks to St. Werburgh's. (fn. 209) Presumably because of its association with the earls, the benefice was one of the richest in Chester, valued in 1291 at £10 13s. 4d., (fn. 210) in 1379 at 80 marks, and in 1535 at £52. (fn. 211) The living remained valuable after the Reformation, worth £60 in 1559, (fn. 212) £140 in the 1720s, £322 in 1834, (fn. 213) and over £400 later in the 19th century. (fn. 214) Revenues were derived mainly from tithes, only the township of Marlston cum Lache, known as the nuns' lands, being virtually exempt. (fn. 215) The tithes were commuted in the 1840s. (fn. 216)

The rector's property, first mentioned in the early 14th century, presumably included a parsonage house. In the 1550s it stood near the church. (fn. 217) By 1328 St. Mary's also possessed a graveyard, perhaps originally for the burial of prisoners from the castle. (fn. 218)

Church Life

St. Mary's retained links with the palatine administration throughout the Middle Ages. In the late 12th century the earl and his court worshipped there; (fn. 219) in the 13th some incumbents were associated with palatinate officials, and by the 14th the church was regarded as a suitable reward for such men. Many rectors were members of local landed families, and were often absentee pluralists. Alan Retford (rector 1327–35), for example, was a royal clerk and prebendary of Chichester, and John Brereton (1534–42) a canon of St. Paul's in London. (fn. 220)

Stipendiaries were employed as curates at St. Mary's before the Reformation, and there was at least one chantry chaplain, endowed by William Troutbeck in 1444. The church seems to have become a favoured burial place for the well-to-do; Randle Brereton, for example, in 1537 left £5 a year for two years for a priest to sing masses at his grave in St. Catherine's chapel, located in the north aisle. In 1549 a chantry priest was supported from the rents of property in the city. (fn. 221)

Before the Reformation St. Mary's possessed notable images of St. Stephen and the Virgin, and an abundance of vestments, ornaments, and sacred vessels. (fn. 222) It was also the starting point for the most important event in the annual round of civic ceremonial, the Corpus Christi procession. (fn. 223) The old services continued unimpaired until 1547, but thereafter change was rapid: in 1547 the rood was taken down and the church whitelimed, presumably to obliterate wall-paintings; in 1549 a prayer book, two psalters, and the Paraphrases were bought; in 1550 the holy water stoup was removed, the altars were taken down, and the parson married; finally, in 1553 the royal commissioners confiscated church goods which were sold for £10 13s. 6d., more than any other church in Chester. The parishioners' attempts to retain the choicest vestments were largely unsuccessful. (fn. 224)

After Queen Mary's accession the married incumbent was deprived in 1554, and money was spent on new altars, a new rood, and gilding a new image of the Virgin, (fn. 225) but under Elizabeth the rood was once again removed in 1559, and in 1562 the altars and rood loft were taken down, the church was painted, and the ten commandments were set up. The organ, probably taken down in 1553, was not disposed of until 1574, and the holy water bucket and censer were sold only in 1573. By the 1630s the church was well provided with the necessities of Anglican worship. (fn. 226)

Figure 82: St. Mary's, medieval wall paintings as in 1843

Throughout the later 16th and earlier 17th century, when rectors were absentees, St. Mary's appears to have been served by curates, sometimes with unsatisfactory results. (fn. 227) Francis Edwards (1623–42), although absentee, appears to have tried to force his evidently Caroline sympathies on the parish, unsuccessfully attempting to prevent the parishioners from exercising their customary right to sit in the chancel stalls, and employing as curate a royalist protege of Bishop Bridgeman. (fn. 228) His successor, Richard Hunt, was ejected c. 1646, and replaced by William Peartree, who signed the Cheshire ministers' attestation in 1648. Reinstated after Peartree's death in 1655, Hunt appears to have conformed; the font was discarded in 1657 and the chancel was so neglected that in 1659 it was unusable. (fn. 229)

Hunt died in 1662. His successor, Nicholas Stevenson, a former Presbyterian, (fn. 230) found the church seriously out of repair, though not wanting in the essentials of Anglican worship. (fn. 231) Stevenson was probably resident, but his successor, Richard Wright (1674–1711), a prebendary of Chester cathedral, was not and in the 1690s his curate, Hugh Burches, was so established a figure at the church that he was styled rector in the registers. (fn. 232) Absenteeism and the employment of curates continued throughout the 18th century, under a succession of well-born rectors, including members of the Wilbraham and Brooke families, who whether resident or not usually maintained curates. (fn. 233)

By 1800 communion was administered monthly and at the great festivals to between 60 and 100 people. (fn. 234) A Sunday evening lectureship, managed by a committee of subscribers, lasted from 1822 until 1857, and one lecturer, Charles Tayler (incumbent of St. Peter's 1836–46), preached to congregations numbering 1,200. (fn. 235) Under William Massie (rector 1847–56) attendances at matins reached 500. (fn. 236) Curates were maintained throughout the 19th century, originally at the incumbents' expense and later through a voluntary fund established by the 1880s. (fn. 237)

In 1887 a new church in Handbridge replaced St. Mary's on the Hill, which, however, reopened in 1891 as the parish church of St. Bridget's. (fn. 238) By the early 20th century, under Henry Grantham (rector 1882–1922), St. Mary's in Handbridge offered a moderate Anglicanism, with a weekly early communion and matins the principal morning service. (fn. 239) A more catholic tradition had been established by the 1930s, when there was a weekly sung eucharist and the English Hymnal was in use. (fn. 240)

Buildings

The redundant church of St. Mary on the Hill is built of red sandstone and comprises a chancel with side chapels, an aisled and clerestoried nave with north and south porches, and a west tower. Nothing remains of the Norman church. The earliest parts of the surviving building seem to be the chancel arch and a reused base in the north arcade, both probably early 14thcentury. Building activity was under way in 1358, (fn. 241) and in the late 14th century the existing tower was built. Between 1433 and 1444 William Troutbeck added the south chapel, (fn. 242) which until 1661 housed the monuments of his family. (fn. 243) At about the same time the south aisle was probably remodelled. There was further building in the 1490s, when bequests were made for the tower and for repairs, (fn. 244) and by the early 16th century the church had been largely reconstructed. The arcades appear then to have been remodelled, and a clerestory and a new oakpanelled camber-beamed roof were put into the nave; (fn. 245) the north aisle and north chapel are of a similar date, and the older north doorway was probably then reset. Additional repairs in the 1530s included retiling the floor and refurnishing the chancel with the choir stalls of Basingwerk abbey (Flints.). (fn. 246) North and south porches were built in 1542, the former with stones from St. Mary's nunnery; a chamber over one of them accommodated one of the church's priests. (fn. 247) Frequent internal redecoration in the later 16th century and the earlier 17th included the painting of the commandments and other scriptural texts on the walls, and the royal arms by Randle Holme (I) in 1622. (fn. 248)

The church suffered badly in the Civil War and Interregnum. The tower was damaged in the siege of Chester and in 1646 the church lost its stained glass. Although repaired in 1657, the tower was deprived of its upper stages in 1659 on the orders of the governor of Chester castle. (fn. 249) By then the chancel was ruinous, and in 1661 the Troutbeck chapel fell down, destroying the monuments. (fn. 250) Piecemeal repairs were made between 1676 and 1680 to St. Catherine's chapel in the north aisle and to a porch; in 1693, after it had been granted to the parishioners by Charles Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, the Troutbeck chapel was reconstructed; in 1715 the upper stages of the tower were renewed; (fn. 251) and galleries were erected in 1703, 1728, 1756, and 1793. (fn. 252)

In 1861–2 the church underwent a major restoration by James Harrison. The tower was raised, the church repewed, plaster stripped from walls and pillars, and a plaster ceiling removed from the south aisle. (fn. 253) In 1891–2 under J. P. Seddon work undertaken for St. Bridget's congregation included the removal of the galleries and the insertion of new windows in the north aisle; the tower arch was also opened out, the nave roof repaired, and the south clerestory and north porch rebuilt. (fn. 254) In the 1930s the remaining plaster ceilings in the Troutbeck chapel, aisles, and chancel were replaced by oak roofs, and a three-light window was inserted above the west arch of the chapel. (fn. 255)

Figure 83: St. Mary's, tower and porch in 1641

The fittings, including a font and pulpit from St. Bridget's and reused early 17th-century altar rails, were removed after the church's closure in 1972. The church contains monuments to Philip Oldfield (d. 1616), a reclining effigy enclosed by a railing; Thomas Gamull (d. 1613) and his wife, a tomb-chest with effigies; and the Randle Holme family, wall monuments in the north aisle. Traces of elaborate late medieval wall paintings, uncovered in 1843, survive at the east end of the south aisle (Fig. 82).

After its closure for worship in 1972 the church passed into the hands of the county council, which used it, under the name of St. Mary's Centre, for conferences and other meetings.

The large church of St. Mary without the Walls, which is built of red sandstone, consists of a chancel, transepts (the north a vestry), an aisled nave of eight bays with porches, and a west tower and spire. It was erected in 1887 in the Early Pointed style at the expense of the 1st duke of Westminster. The architect was F. B. Wade of London. (fn. 256) The south transept was converted into a chapel in 1909 by Philip Lockwood, and a porch was added at the south-west entrance in 1914. (fn. 257) The fittings include a reredos with mosaics by Clement Heaton to designs by Frederick Shields, erected between 1889 and 1896. (fn. 258)

Figure 84: St. Mary without the Walls, Handbridge

St. Michael

In the mid 12th century a 'monastery' of St. Michael in Chester was supposedly among the gifts of William fitz Niel to Norton priory. (fn. 259) It was presumably the 'mighty minster' of St. Michael later said to have been burned in the great fire of 1180. (fn. 260) A parish church with the same dedication, apparently on the existing site, was first mentioned in 1178. (fn. 261) The parish was entirely intramural and its boundaries suggest that it was formed at the same time as its neighbour St. Bridget's. (fn. 262) It was united with St. Olave's in 1839, (fn. 263) and was incorporated in the new parish of Chester in 1972, when the church closed for worship. (fn. 264)

Advowson, Income, and Property

St. Michael's was probably in the charge of a parochial chaplain in the Middle Ages, but the identity of the patron or appropriator is unknown. If the church was indeed William fitz Niel's then the advowson was presumably held by the canons of Norton, at least until the earlier 14th century, though it was not among their possessions at the Dissolution. (fn. 265) After the Reformation the benefice was a perpetual curacy in the gift of the bishop of Chester. (fn. 266)

The living was always poor. In 1541–2 the incumbent was said to live 'from the fruits of the church' (ex fructibus ecclesiae), and in 1547–8 his successor had a clear income of only c. £4. (fn. 267) By the 1570s assessments were made on the parishioners to pay the minister's stipend. (fn. 268) Even in the 1720s, after a number of legacies, the incumbent seems to have remained largely dependent on voluntary contributions amounting to c. £20 a year. (fn. 269) Augmentations in 1772, 1791, 1810, and 1814 took the value of the living to £44 10s. in 1809, and £84 in 1834. (fn. 270) By 1864 it had reached £173. (fn. 271)

A chamber over the west porch may have served as a parsonage house in the late 16th century, (fn. 272) and in the early 17th the minister was given a house in Bridge Street Row. (fn. 273) No. 43 Bridge Street, a mid 17th-century timber-framed building which survived in 2000, was left as a rectory house by Lettice Whitley in 1659 and was used as such, perhaps intermittently, until 1907. (fn. 274) The small churchyard, first mentioned in the 1480s, was closed in 1854. (fn. 275)

Figure 85: St. Michael's in late 17th century

Church Life

Provision for chantry priests, perhaps temporary, was made in 1384, 1439, and 1505; (fn. 276) by the mid 16th century there was perhaps one chantry chaplain in addition to the incumbent. (fn. 277)

The church contained an image of St. Michael by 1401. (fn. 278) It possessed relatively few vestments and ornaments, and those sold by the royal commissioners in 1553 realized only 5s. 9d. (fn. 279) The vestments and other appurtenances of catholic worship, including an altar stone, dismantled and in a coffer, survived until 1565, after which they were sold and the remaining Marian fittings were taken down. The rood loft and the vaults over the two altars survived until 1568. (fn. 280)

The poverty of the living caused it to be held in plurality with St. Olave's in the mid 16th century and the 1630s. (fn. 281) Nevertheless in the early 17th century the church was apparently used for civic services, for in 1606 and 1609 Randle Holme (I) was paid for painting the rest for the city sword. (fn. 282) By 1633 St. Michael's was much neglected, the chancel full of pews, and the incumbent accused of failing to catechize and to church women correctly. (fn. 283) Further disorder culminated in the parishioners' destruction of the chancel screen, and in 1637 they were ordered to erect a new one, make the seats in the chancel uniform and facing the holy table, and receive the sacrament not in their pews but at the altar rail. (fn. 284) The instructions were observed only until 1641–2, when the screen and altar rails were removed. (fn. 285)

By 1650 the parish had a strongly Presbyterian minister in William Cook. (fn. 286) Arrested for aiding Sir George Booth's rebellion and taken to London in 1659, he had returned by 1660, when he gave £10 towards restoring the seats in St. Michael's, but he was ejected in 1662 for refusing to conform. (fn. 287) Thereafter the church seems to have had no minister until John Hancock was presented in 1685. (fn. 288) The congregation, however, retained its nonconformist sympathies, and in the 1680s Hancock's Wednesday and Friday lectures were attended by the Presbyterian Matthew Henry. (fn. 289)

Throughout the 18th century the living was held by prebendaries or, more usually, minor canons of Chester cathedral. (fn. 290) In 1778 holy communion was celebrated monthly and on the great festivals, and communicants numbered between 70 and 120. Thereafter attendances declined to 50 or fewer in 1825. (fn. 291) From 1826 the incumbent, Joseph Eaton the younger (1796–1850), who was clerk to the cathedral chapter, employed a curate, and assistant clergy continued to be needed under his successor James Haworth (1850–93), who became insane. (fn. 292) St. Michael's retained a tradition of moderate Anglicanism, with in the 1870s holy communion generally restricted to a weekly early celebration, an arrangement which persisted largely unchanged in the 1930s. (fn. 293)

Building

The redundant church of St. Michael is a mostly 19thcentury rebuilding of a much repaired medieval church. It is of buff-coloured sandstone and comprises a chancel with a north chapel, and a nave with a north aisle. Since it is built over the remains of the eastern abutment of the south gate of the legionary fortress, its entrance is well above street level. (fn. 294) Fragments of 12thcentury masonry were discovered during restoration c. 1850. (fn. 295) The earliest part of the present structure, the north arcade with its octagonal piers, probably dates from the 15th century; money was left for building work in 1413 and 1439. (fn. 296) In the 1490s the chancel was rebuilt, and it was probably then that the arch-braced roof with decorated panels was installed. (fn. 297)

Figure 86: St. Michael's as rebuilt 1849–51

In 1582 the church was almost entirely rebuilt with a slate roof, a wooden steeple, and a porch chamber presumably like the rectory house at St. Peter's. (fn. 298) In 1610–11 further work was done, including a carved ceiling and, probably, the nave roof, which has tiebeams and crown posts. (fn. 299)

The church suffered in the Civil War, and c. 1678 the chancel had again to be rebuilt, the medieval roof being adapted to fit the new structure, which was perhaps extended northwards. (fn. 300) In 1708–10 the steeple was replaced with a square stone tower, (fn. 301) eventually capped by a cupola. (fn. 302)

By the 1840s the whole church was unsafe. Between 1849 and 1851 it was virtually rebuilt in a late Decorated style by James Harrison, only the north arcade, part of the north wall, and the roofs (but not the ceilings) being retained. (fn. 303) After the closure of the church in 1972 it was reopened by the city council as a heritage centre in 1975. (fn. 304)

St. Olave

The church was given in 1119 by Richard the butler to Chester abbey. (fn. 305) Its dedication, to the Norwegian King Olaf killed in 1030, may be as early as the mid 11th century. (fn. 306) The very small parish, which lay within the medieval walls but outside the Roman ones, may have been carved out of a larger parish focused on St. Bridget's, which also had Scandinavian associations. (fn. 307)

Advowson, Income, and Property

The living was a rectory in the gift of Chester abbey in the Middle Ages. (fn. 308) It was united with St. Mary's in 1394, separated in 1406, and thereafter independent until 1460 or later. (fn. 309) At the dissolution of the abbey the advowson seems to have passed into private hands, and in the earlier 17th century belonged to the Vawdrey family. After a prolonged dispute it was sold in 1661 to Hugh Harvey, in whose possession it remained in 1685. Before 1722, perhaps in the 1690s, the living passed to the bishop of Chester, and afterwards was regarded as a perpetual curacy until its union with St. Michael's in 1839. (fn. 310)

The value of the benefice was always negligible and in 1394 the bishop considered it insufficient to support a rector. (fn. 311) In 1414 and 1459 papal dispensations made allowances for the poor endowments. (fn. 312) In 1541–2 the incumbent was said to live 'from the fruits of the church' (ex fructibus ecclesiae), (fn. 313) but that seems to have been exceptional, and in 1699 there was no income except for surplice fees. (fn. 314) The living was augmented in 1723 and 1771, and perhaps in 1726 and 1744, but by 1778 some of the augmentations had been withdrawn. (fn. 315) A legacy of 1732 added £10 a year. (fn. 316) In 1809 the living was valued at £42 1s., and after further augmentations in 1810 and 1823, it had increased to £89 by 1834. (fn. 317)

There was no parsonage house. (fn. 318) The churchyard, which existed by the 17th century, was closed for burials in 1851. (fn. 319)

Church Life

Several rectors in the 14th and early 15th century, especially after 1406, appear to have been pluralists. (fn. 320) No incumbents are known between 1460 and 1540, though services were evidently still held in the church and modest bequests were occasionally made to it. (fn. 321) In 1541–2 it had a stipendiary curate as well as an incumbent. (fn. 322) Nevertheless, in 1553 the royal commissioners found so little of value in the items surrendered that they distributed them to the poor. (fn. 323)

In the later 16th century and the early 17th St. Olave's seems to have been held in plurality with St. Michael's. (fn. 324) Their incumbent in the 1620s and 1630s, Roger Gorst, apparently officiated irregularly at St. Olave's until his death in 1660, but in 1666 it was said that public prayers, preaching, and the administration of the sacraments had been largely discontinued for many years. Christenings and burials were still occasionally held, and there were interments in the chancel in the 1680s. (fn. 325)

In 1693 a curate was licensed to St. Olave's, and in 1694 he also became minister of St. Michael's. (fn. 326) The two livings were held together until 1724, when St. Olave's was given its own incumbent. (fn. 327) It retained its independence until 1839. (fn. 328) By 1778 there were two Sunday services, with communion monthly and on the three great festivals, and between the 1780s and 1825 the number of communicants varied between 10 and 40, though congregations were considerably larger. (fn. 329) The numbers were insufficient to maintain the church. In 1839 it closed and services were transferred to St. Michael's, (fn. 330) although weekday services were held in it in the 1870s. (fn. 331)

Building

The redundant church of St. Olave is a small, aisleless, single-celled building of red sandstone. The present structure, which is entered from a small west terrace several feet above street level, is of uncertain date, although earlier than the mid 17th century. The east end is clearly a later addition. (fn. 332) Although money was left for the repair of the church in 1548, (fn. 333) in 1633 the interior was unpaved and strewn with rushes. (fn. 334) In 1662 the churchwardens were presented for not repairing the church, and though some attempt at remedy was apparently made in the later 1660s the building soon fell into severe decay. In 1699 the chancel was ruinous, and the bishop appealed for funds. (fn. 335) The reconstruction of the east end presumably dates from the ensuing restoration in the early 18th century. (fn. 336) Further work included the replacement of the bell-cote in 1802, and the installation of new seating in 1819. (fn. 337) After its closure the church was kept in repair, and in 1858–9 it was thoroughly restored by James Harrison for use as a school. (fn. 338) In 1995 the building was in the care of the city council.

Figure 87: St. Olave's in 1690

St. Oswald

Ancient Parish

The parish of St. Oswald, king and martyr, originated in association with the minster church which eventually became the Benedictine abbey of St. Werburgh. A late tradition that the cult of St. Oswald was introduced when the minster was refounded by Æthelfiæd of Mercia gains plausibility from the fact that she translated the same saint's remains to Gloucester in 909. (fn. 339) The parish was termed indifferently St. Oswald's and St. Werburgh's in the 13th century, when the parishioners used the altar of St. Oswald in the abbey nave as their chief place of worship. (fn. 340)

The parish possessed burial rights in the city and its environs, originally shared only with St. John's, the other early minster church in the city. Besides the churchyard south of the abbey nave, it had by the later 12th century a cemetery outside the Northgate, associated with the chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury and served by the monks of St. Werburgh's. Its burial rights were guaranteed by agreements with St. John's and by a papal bull in the late 12th and 13th century. (fn. 341) The parish probably originally comprised much of the city together with a sizeable extramural territory. After other parishes were carved out of it, it covered a large discontinuous area embracing the north-east part of the walled city, the abbot's manor of St. Thomas outside the Northgate, and, beyond the liberties, to the north Bache, Newton, Croughton, Wervin, and Crabwall (in Blacon township), and to the east and south-east Great Boughton, Churton Heath, Huntington, Lea Newbold, and Saighton; further afield lay Iddinshall and Hilbre Island. The parish in that form perhaps represented the remains of a once much greater Anglo-Saxon unit, together with some outliers added to it only after they became part of St. Werburgh's estates. (fn. 342) In the 19th century the parish was much reduced. Newton was lost in two stages in 1843 and 1867, and Great Boughton in 1846. (fn. 343) Bruera chapelry (Huntington, Lea Newbold, Saighton, and Churton Heath) became an independent parish in 1868. In 1882, a year after the new chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury in Parkgate Road replaced St. Oswald's as the parish church, the intramural portions were transferred to St. Peter's. After 1889 the hamlet of Crabwall was lost to Holy Trinity, and in the 1930s Wervin and Croughton were also detached from the parish. By 1951 the parish comprised only the area outside the Northgate and Bache. Anomalously it still also included the small civil parish of Iddinshall, almost 10 miles east of the city, which, however, had a population in that year of just six people. (fn. 344) United with Little St. John's in 1967, St. Oswald's was incorporated in the new parish of Chester in 1972, St. Thomas of Canterbury remaining in use as one of four churches serving the parish. (fn. 345)

In the 13th century St. Oswald's had dependent chapelries at Bruera, Wervin, and Great Boughton, served by chaplains maintained by the vicar. (fn. 346) By the 17th century, though Bruera survived, Wervin was in ruins and Great Boughton had disappeared. (fn. 347) In the later 16th century parishioners from Newton and Great Boughton were allotted seats in St. Oswald's, and most, if not all, of the townships paid assessments to provide new fittings. (fn. 348) In the early 17th century many country people attended sermons in the church. (fn. 349)

Advowson, Income, and Property

The benefice remained a rectory in the patronage of St. Werburgh's until its appropriation in the early 13th century, after which vicars were appointed and paid by the abbey. (fn. 350) In 1397 St. Werburgh's was licensed to suppress the vicarage, but it seems to have survived, though perhaps with smaller endowments. (fn. 351) After the dissolution of the abbey the dean and chapter of the cathedral became the impropriators. (fn. 352)

The living was outstandingly rich before its appropriation. (fn. 353) Thereafter the vicar received 40s. a year and a place at the abbot's table, a provision increased in the later 13th century by the grant of land in Bruera. (fn. 354) In 1291 the church was valued at £6 13s. 4d. (fn. 355) By the 1360s the vicar had some property in Chester, and in the 1390s there was a vicarage house, apparently near the churchyard. (fn. 356) In 1535 the vicar possessed only a small glebe and a very modest share of the parochial tithes and offerings, in all amounting annually to only 33s. 4d. The rest went to the abbey, whose share was worth over £70. (fn. 357)

In 1646 parliament granted the minister £120 a year, (fn. 358) and by 1649 there was a vicarage house in the cathedral precinct valued at £4 a year. (fn. 359) At the Restoration the augmentation was lost, and the living was further impoverished by the failure of several of the outlying townships to render any dues. (fn. 360) In the 1720s the benefice was worth only £27 a year, of which the house represented £9. The income came mostly from Easter dues and surplice fees, though small sums were also derived from the lesser tithes and a pension paid by the dean and chapter. (fn. 361) No augmentation was made in the 18th century, and in 1804 the living remained small. (fn. 362) In the 1830s the vestry engaged in unsuccessful litigation to recover dues from the outlying townships. (fn. 363) Thereafter, however, the value rose to £250 in 1850 and £300 in the 1870s. (fn. 364) The Ecclesiastical Commissioners made grants towards a new parsonage house in 1868 and 1880, and a further small augmentation in 1907. (fn. 365)

Figure 88: St. Nicholas's chapel, 1854

Church Life

In the 13th century the parishioners were responsible for repairing the south nave aisle of the abbey, which served as the parish church. (fn. 366) By then a chaplain assisted the vicar at St. Oswald's altar four days a week. (fn. 367) Shortly after 1348 the monks removed the congregation to the chapel of St. Nicholas in the south-west corner of the abbey precinct, where the parish continued to worship until 1539, when it moved back to the abbey and the chapel was leased to the city. (fn. 368)

While occupying St. Nicholas's chapel, the church contained an altar to St. Leonard in 1397, (fn. 369) and attracted chantry endowments in 1408 and 1528. (fn. 370) In 1541, shortly after the parishioners returned to St. Werburgh's, there were five stipendiary priests, including one maintained by a warden of the fraternity of St. Anne, (fn. 371) but the church's possessions were valued at only £4 3s. 2d. in 1553. The parishioners' part of the cathedral was in disrepair in 1557, and by 1559 the parish was encumbered with a non-resident vicar and a negligent curate. (fn. 372) Conditions seem to have improved little by 1578, (fn. 373) and the problem of the churchyard, long a subject of complaint, was resolved only when it was paved in 1593 and enclosed and levelled in 1619. (fn. 374)

Despite its poverty and neglect St. Oswald's was the most 'eminent and spacious' church in Chester, because from 1539 it was sited in the south transept of the cathedral. The mayor and corporation regularly attended services, notably on Sunday afternoons, when they heard a sermon by one of the city preachers. (fn. 375) The church contained a joint seat for the mayor and bishop and there was much competition for the other pews, especially in the early 17th century. In 1624 the vestry appointed seating commissioners, mainly to secure better seats for the richer parishioners. (fn. 376) The ensuing rearrangement resulted in a bitter dispute between Bishop Bridgeman and the corporation. When the bishop returned to Chester in 1626 after two years' absence he found that the parishioners had allotted unsatisfactory seating to the cathedral dignitaries and choir and had positioned the pulpit and the pew which he and the mayor shared in such a way that the mayor 'sat in the midst . . . and he [the bishop] was shouldered to the end'. In retaliation Bridgeman ordered the sermon to be preached not in St. Oswald's but in the cathedral choir, so incensing the corporation that they refused to attend services there and did not return until 1638. (fn. 377)

During the dispute St. Oswald's seems to have suffered further neglect. In 1633 the church was thought 'very indecent and unseemly', the fittings were in need of repair, and there had been no communion in the previous six months. Many parishioners attended other churches, and the vicar, a prebendary of the cathedral, neglected preaching, catechizing, and weekday prayers. Improvements were ordered to the paving and pews, the communion table was to be placed against the east wall, and altar rails were to be provided. (fn. 378)

During the Interregnum the ministers of St. Oswald's, then also known as Werburgh church, included the noted Presbyterian John Glendal (1642–c. 1648), and Henry Massey, who signed the Cheshire attestation in 1648. Immediately after the Restoration the Independent Thomas Harrison came there from Ireland. (fn. 379) He was ejected in 1662, and under his successor, another cathedral prebendary, (fn. 380) the lack of a font, surplice, royal arms, books, and other necessities was made good by 1664. (fn. 381) The dean and chapter appear to have maintained firm control of the church after 1662, and in the 1690s it was still repaired by them and said to be used by the parishioners only at their pleasure. (fn. 382) In 1708, however, they allowed the parishioners to erect a gallery at their own expense. (fn. 383)

By 1778 the church's inadequate accommodation forced many parishioners to worship in the cathedral choir or other city churches. The vicar was resident, and a curate was paid to officiate at Bruera. In St. Oswald's itself there was only a Sunday afternoon service, since parishioners were expected to attend morning service in the cathedral choir; prayers were read every Thursday. The sacrament was administered four times a year to between 100 and 150 people. The church's situation within the cathedral led the vicar to complain that services were disturbed by people walking and conversing and by children playing in the nave and aisles. (fn. 384) In the late 18th and early 19th century the vicar, though resident, employed curates to serve both the church and Bruera chapel. (fn. 385) Communicants appear to have declined to c. 60 in 1804. (fn. 386) The single afternoon service still held in 1825 had been replaced by 1849 with matins and evensong, and in the 1850s an evening lecture was introduced. (fn. 387)

In 1868 the growing population of the parish led to the decision to build a chapel of ease, and land was obtained in Parkgate Road. The new chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury, was consecrated in 1872; services there included holy communion at least once a month on Sundays and on saints' days, as well as morning and evening prayer. (fn. 388) In 1880 the parishioners finally responded to the suggestion of the dean and chapter, first made in 1868, and agreed to surrender their rights in the cathedral and make St. Thomas's the parish church. (fn. 389) In the same year a new vicarage house next to St. Thomas's was begun. (fn. 390)

St. Thomas's opened as the parish church in 1881 with between 190 and 250 communicants. Services then included a weekly communion, held in the early morning or at midday. An experiment with a choral communion in 1889 did not meet with universal approval, and Sunday services remained unchanged for another twenty years. (fn. 391) More successful was the establishment in 1895 of the mission church of the Good Shepherd on South View Road in the western part of the parish. A curate was required for services there, and in the early 20th century the vicar generally had two curates. (fn. 392) In the early 1910s the congregation at the mission church usually numbered 50–80, ten or twenty of whom were communicants, but services were cut back in 1918 and discontinued in 1919. The building seems not to have been used regularly thereafter. (fn. 393)

H. E. Burder (vicar 1909–48) introduced AngloCatholic services at St. Thomas's, with a daily mass and a sung celebration on Sundays, (fn. 394) a tradition which continued under his successors. (fn. 395) From 1951 to 1967 the vicars of St. Oswald's had charge of Little St. John's, and in the mid 1960s the mission church of the Good Shepherd was finally closed. (fn. 396)

Buildings

Until the 14th century the church of St. Oswald was within the abbey, probably in the south nave aisle, for the maintenance of which the parishioners had special responsibilities. (fn. 397) About 1348 it was transferred to the new chapel of St. Nicholas within the abbey precinct. (fn. 398) That chapel was greatly extended in 1488, when a 'new church' of St. Oswald was added to its east end, largely at the expense of the abbey but with a significant contribution from the parishioners. (fn. 399)

In 1539 the parish returned to St. Werburgh's, presumably from the first being housed in the south transept, where it remained until 1881. (fn. 400) Its condition after the dissolution of the abbey was unsatisfactory, (fn. 401) and in 1624 the interior was refurbished. (fn. 402) Further repairs were undertaken c. 1703, (fn. 403) and more thoroughly in 1826 by the architect William Cole junior, whose fittings, with Gothic mouldings, included seats for the cathedral clergy, a bishop's throne, and a three-decker pulpit. In 1828 a new screen rising to roof level was added. (fn. 404) Those fittings were removed in 1876. (fn. 405)

The church of St. Thomas of Canterbury as built between 1869 and 1872 by George Gilbert Scott had a chancel with a south aisle and an aisled nave of three bays, all in an Early English style. (fn. 406) On becoming the parish church in 1881, it was enlarged to the designs of J. O. Scott with the addition of two bays to the nave, a north porch, and a tower which was never completed. (fn. 407) The red-brick vicarage of 1880 is by John Douglas. (fn. 408)

St. Peter

A late tradition tells that St. Peter's was founded by King Alfred's daughter Æthelflaed and her husband Æthelred of Mercia, who transferred the dedication when they re-established as St. Werburgh's the minster formerly dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. (fn. 409) Soon after the Norman Conquest the church was given to Robert of Rhuddlan, who in 1086 unsuccessfully claimed that it stood on thegnland dependent on an extramural manor and was exempt from borough dues. (fn. 410)

The parish, always entirely intramural, had complex boundaries, possibly reflecting the holdings of an early burgess. (fn. 411) It was enlarged in the 1880s and 1960, and in 1972 was merged in the new parish of Chester, to which St. Peter's then served as a chapel of ease. (fn. 412) The church had no early burial rights and seems to have acquired a small churchyard only in the later Middle Ages. (fn. 413)

Figure 89: St. Oswald's church, doorway in cathedral south transept, 1876

By 1081 Robert of Rhuddlan had granted the church to the Norman abbey of Saint-Evroul (Orne), a gift confirmed in the 1120s by Earl Ranulph I and King Henry I. Later in the 12th century the abbey transferred it to St. Werburgh's, whose position was consolidated when Simon fitz Osbern of Pulford (Ches.) and South Ormsby (Lincs.) and the rector, Alexander, also surrendered their interests. (fn. 414)

Advowson, Income, and Property

St. Peter's was never appropriated, and until the 17th century the incumbent seems always to have been styled rector. (fn. 415) In 1627 there were appointments not only to the rectory but also to a vicarage. (fn. 416) After the Restoration incumbents were styled rector or vicar until 1701, when they became known as curates. The title of rector was reintroduced in 1837 and was retained until 1972. (fn. 417)

The advowson was kept by St. Werburgh's until the Dissolution, when it passed to the dean and chapter of Chester. By 1593 it was held by the Crown, which continued to present until 1624 and perhaps until 1627. After the Restoration the bishop of Chester became patron. (fn. 418)

From the 12th century St. Peter's paid an annual pension, never exceeding £3, to Chester abbey. (fn. 419) The benefice seems always to have been poor. In the 1530s it was valued at only £6 13s. 4d., and between 1628 and 1643 the parishioners paid their minister a yearly stipend of £26 13s. 4d. (fn. 420) During the Interregnum the benefice, which had no fixed income, was augmented with £150 a year from the revenues of the dean and chapter. (fn. 421) After that was taken away at the Restoration there was again no endowment, (fn. 422) and in the 1720s the income was only £12 18s. 4d., £10 of which came from surplice fees. (fn. 423) In 1760 and 1765 the living received grants from Queen Anne's Bounty, (fn. 424) and the income eventually rose to £120 in 1834. (fn. 425) Pew rents provided about half the total throughout the 19th century. (fn. 426)

A building known as the rectory house stood over the south door of the church by 1555. It was rebuilt in 1584, and demolished with the Pentice in 1803, though it had ceased to be occupied by the incumbent before the 1690s, when it was used to house the city records. (fn. 427) A new parsonage house was provided only after 1873. (fn. 428)

Church Life

In the 15th century the fraternity of St. George had a chapel in St. Peter's, probably in the south aisle, served by two or three chaplains. At its dissolution it possessed property in Chester worth c. £12 a year. (fn. 429)

Although in the late Middle Ages incumbents included two who were wealthy and apparently resident, Jordan of Marthall (1320–c. 1346) and Robert of Bredon (1350–77), St. Peter's seems generally to have been in the care of a parochial chaplain. (fn. 430) The church enjoyed close relations with the city authorities by the 13th century, when the Pentice was first built against its south wall. (fn. 431) The Assembly, which maintained the church clock from the 1460s or earlier, (fn. 432) established a trust fund for repairs in 1574, (fn. 433) and rebuilt the porch chamber in 1584. (fn. 434) By the early 17th century the city officers attended divine service alternately at St. Peter's and St. Oswald's, but a pew erected for them in St. Peter's in 1611 was pulled down on the orders of Bishop Lloyd, then in dispute with the corporation. A new pew was provided in 1612 and the mayor still worshipped there in 1627. (fn. 435)

In the 16th century St. Peter's appears to have been served by a curate paid by the rector. In 1541–2 the other clergy included two chaplains of St. George's fraternity and another paid by a city official. (fn. 436) The absentee rectors between the 1550s and the Civil War provided curates who by the 1590s were unlicensed and generally unsatisfactory. (fn. 437) In 1628 the parishioners engaged their own curate, John Glendal, to read the service and preach once every Sunday. (fn. 438) Glendal, a puritan, remained at St. Peter's until 1642 when he transferred to St. Oswald's. By 1648 he was again at St. Peter's, where he remained until ejected in 1662. (fn. 439)

The puritanism of St. Peter's was reinforced by its association with the city preachers, established in the reign of Elizabeth I to deliver sermons on Wednesdays and Fridays and partly paid by the corporation. (fn. 440) In the earlier 17th century they included such notable puritans as Nicholas Byfield (1608–15) and John Ley (1630–3 or later). (fn. 441) By the 1640s two preachers were appointed by the corporation to lecture in St. Peter's on Fridays and Sunday afternoons. (fn. 442)

St. Peter's was poorly provided with books and ornaments, and in 1553 its possessions were valued at 24s. (fn. 443) In 1605 it lacked even books of homilies and a new prayer book. (fn. 444) Improvements effected under Bishop Bridgeman included the repair of the pulpit in 1629, and the provision in 1639–40 of a new surplice, altar cloth, and liturgical books. (fn. 445) The church furniture, reordered at the rebuilding of 1637–40, (fn. 446) suffered in the bombardment of 1645. (fn. 447) The insalubrious churchyard, abutted by three alehouses, was paved only in 1657–8. (fn. 448)

A 'dish for baptizings' was in use by 1648 and the old font was destroyed in 1656, (fn. 449) the church retaining its puritan tradition until Glendal's ejection in 1662. With the coming of a new minister, William Thompson, in 1663 the church was furnished with a prayer book, altar rails, and surplice, (fn. 450) changes opposed by some parishioners, who were accused of distrupting a funeral service conducted in accordance with Anglican rites. (fn. 451) Thompson, a prebendary of Chester cathedral from 1675, remained rector of St. Peter's until his death in 1693. (fn. 452) A strong royalist and an active persecutor of Dissenters, he aroused much local hostility. (fn. 453) After 1683, when he received an additional living, he employed a curate at the church. (fn. 454)

St. Peter's retained its importance among the city churches in the later 17th century: it was the location of a monthly lecture for the reformation of manners established by Bishop Stratford and Dean Fogge in 1689, (fn. 455) and the corporation retained seats there, rebuilt in 1701. By the 1720s the newly refurbished church contained seating for all the city officers and prayers were said daily. (fn. 456) Communion was celebrated monthly and on the three great feasts, communicants numbering between 50 and 150. Residence among incumbents varied. Some, such as Rigby Baldwin (1776–94) and John Halton (1815–36), lived in Chester and performed their duties in person; others, such as John Baldwin (1794–1815), resided on their other livings and employed curates. (fn. 457)

In 1817 a Sunday evening lecture was instituted, financed and run by a committee and popular enough by 1819 to require improvements to the accommodation in church. The lectures continued until 1852 when they were ended at the petition of the parishioners. (fn. 458) By 1803 payments were made to singers, and throughout the 19th century services appear to have had some musical accompaniment. In the 1820s and early 1830s the church had a paid organist and choir, but thereafter the organist alone was retained. (fn. 459)

By the earlier 19th century St. Peter's had developed a firmly protestant tradition, strongest perhaps under Charles Tayler (1836–46), appointed by the Evangelical Bishop Sumner and a prolific author with a strong bias against Roman Catholicism. (fn. 460) In the 1870s holy communion was celebrated only twice a month, (fn. 461) a pattern of worship which remained much the same until the 1920s. (fn. 462) In 1909 a worshipper protested at the performance of Stainer's Crucifixion in the church, and prompted the rector, Alfred Waller, publicly to declare his Low Church convictions. (fn. 463)

St. Peter's distinctive tradition helped to maintain congregations until after 1918 even as the population of the parish declined, by attracting worshippers from a wider area, (fn. 464) but from the 1920s financial problems led to a succession of brief incumbencies and the Low Church tradition was diluted. From 1959 to 1972 the benefice was held in plurality with that of St. Michael's with St. Olave's. In the 1990s, as part of the united parish of Chester, the church was in use as an ecumenical Christian centre and the base for the Anglican chaplaincy to Chester businesses. (fn. 465)

Building

The church of St. Peter, which is built of red sandstone, is almost square, with four aisles, the south-centre one forming a nave of two bays and ending in a west tower; the unusual plan developed from the exigencies of the site, which allowed expansion only to the north. The church is built over part of the remains of the Roman headquarters building, from which some stones may survive in the western footings, and presumably for that reason has a south entrance at Row rather than street level. (fn. 466) From the 13th to the 19th century it was abutted to the south by various structures, including shops at ground level and the Pentice on the first storey. (fn. 467) The earliest surviving parts of the building are the 14th-century tower and the arcades, which like the rest of the building have been much reconstructed. In 1415 £10 was given to the fabric from the sale of lands bequeathed by Robert of Bredon's heir, (fn. 468) and in 1488–90 the steeple was repaired. (fn. 469) In the 1530s the church was almost doubled in size by the addition of the two northern aisles on land given c. 1528 by Fulk Dutton (mayor 1537–8). Dutton also gave £23 and the materials of the house demolished to make way for the extension, and paid for a large window containing the arms of himself and his wife. (fn. 470) The work, to which further bequests were made in 1535–6, was probably completed in 1539. (fn. 471)

In the later 16th century repairs were made by the city authorities, and in 1579–80 over 50 ft. of the spire was rebuilt. (fn. 472) Between 1637 and 1640 further major rebuilding took place. The east end and the south side were reconstructed, the aisles were flagged, and work was done on the roof and battlements. It was then too that galleries, the first in Chester, were introduced; by 1651 there was a gallery under the clock loft, a 'long gallery', and two others. (fn. 473)

In 1669 the spire was again rebuilt, at the parishioners' expense. (fn. 474) With the aid of a brief, further repairs were made to the south side and east end between 1713 and 1717, when new fittings were also installed. (fn. 475) The spire was taken down in 1780 after being struck by lightning, (fn. 476) and in 1803 the south side of the church was rebuilt after the removal of the Pentice. (fn. 477)

Figure 90: St. Peter's from south, before 1669

A north gallery inserted in 1769 was enlarged during restoration in 1848–9, when a south gallery was added at private expense. (fn. 478) Plans by the vestry to demolish the church were rejected by the corporation in 1879, (fn. 479) and in 1886 a thoroughgoing restoration was effected, during which new tracery was inserted in the windows of the south aisle, the west gallery was removed, and new fittings were provided. (fn. 480) Further restoration work was carried out in 1909 and 1957. (fn. 481)

Footnotes