CASTLE
Founded by William I in 1070, the castle shortly
afterwards came under the control of the earl of
Chester and thereafter descended with the earldom. (fn. 1)
It was temporarily in royal hands during the
minorities of Earl Hugh II (1153–62) and Earl
Ranulph III (1181–7), and passed permanently to
the Crown with the earldom in 1237. (fn. 2) In 1254 it
was granted to Henry III's son, the Lord Edward. (fn. 3)
Acquired by Simon de Montfort after the battle of
Lewes in 1264, (fn. 4) it was recovered by Edward in
1265 (fn. 5) and remained with the Crown until 1322,
when it was granted to Edward II's favourite, Hugh
Despenser the younger. (fn. 6) With Despenser's fall in
1326 it reverted to the king, and thereafter it
continued Crown property until the Interregnum. (fn. 7)
Although the Crown resumed control at the Restoration, thereafter upkeep of the shire hall and other
county buildings increasingly devolved upon quarter
sessions, and from 1690 became their responsibility
alone. The Crown, however, continued to maintain
the military buildings and fortifications. (fn. 8) Those ad
hoc arrangements were formalized under Acts of
1788 and 1807 which vested new county buildings
occupying roughly the site of the former outer bailey
in the custos rotulorum of Cheshire. (fn. 9) The dual
ownership thus established remained substantially
unchanged in 2000.
Administrative And Military Functions
The castle was both the occasional residence of the
Norman earls and their principal administrative centre,
the base of such officials as the justice and chamberlain
of Chester, their deputies and clerks. (fn. 10) Accounts were
rendered at the exchequer there, and it was the location
of the earl's chief court and prison. (fn. 11) Attached to it
were certain lands. By the later 13th century, probably
under an ancient arrangement, the castle demesne
included 82 a. of land and 3 a. of meadow within the
Earl's Eye, Handbridge, Brewer's Hall, Saltney, and
Marlston cum Lache, all lying south of the Dee. (fn. 12)
After 1237 the castle remained the administrative
centre of the palatinate, at first in the hands of royal
keepers, later directly under the supervision of the
Crown. (fn. 13) Daily administration was by a constable,
first recorded c. 1216, (fn. 14) assisted by a staff generally
including a keeper of the gaol, janitors of the upper and
lower wards, serjeants, watchmen, chaplains, and
clerks. (fn. 15)
An important base for royal operations against the
Welsh, the castle was visited by Henry III in 1241
before he overran north Wales, and again in 1245. (fn. 16) The
Lord Edward also used it as a base during the Welsh
wars of 1256–67. (fn. 17) Its significance is reflected in his
forceful action to recover it from Montfort's officials in
1265, when it was besieged for over 10 weeks by an
army led by James of Audley and Urien of St. Pierre,
and eventually surrendered to Edward in person. (fn. 18) After
Edward's accession in 1272, the castle attained its
greatest importance during the conquest of Wales.
The king stayed there while fruitlessly awaiting
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's response to his summons to
do homage in 1275 and again in 1277, (fn. 19) and in 1276 it
was the supply base of William de Beauchamp, earl of
Warwick. (fn. 20) In the second and third campaigns of 1282–3 and 1294 it was again the king's headquarters and an
important military base. (fn. 21)
Though the castle's military importance declined
after 1300, in the early 14th century it was relatively
well maintained. In Edward I's later years it seems to
have been well supplied with arms and provisions, and
was the base of a craftsman engaged in making
weaponry (attilliator). (fn. 22) Edward II also repaired the
castle and provided it with stores and armour,
though elsewhere his castles suffered from neglect. (fn. 23)
There was still a resident staff of 12 in 1313. (fn. 24) The
king ordered the castle to be put into a state of defence
in 1317, (fn. 25) and after his fall in 1327 custody was granted
to Thomas of Warwick and orders were issued for its
provisioning and repair. (fn. 26) In 1329 a new attilliator was
appointed. (fn. 27) By then, however, the castle seems to have
served primarily as an administrative centre. (fn. 28)
In the last years of Richard II's reign the castle again
became a favoured royal base. In 1396 the office of
master mason, which had lapsed in 1374, was reintroduced, and in 1397 the office of keeper of the king's
artillery in Cheshire and Flintshire first appeared. (fn. 29)
Bolingbroke stayed there twice in 1399, (fn. 30) and in 1400
the castle, then occupied by the chamberlain of
Chester, the county sheriff, and the constable, was
unsuccessfully besieged during the Earls' Rising. (fn. 31)
The rebellion temporarily enhanced the castle's military importance: early in 1400 it was garrisoned by 8
men-at-arms and 35 archers, and even in 1404 it was
still protected by 8 archers. It also contained considerable stores of weapons and supplies. (fn. 32)
The Lancastrians replaced senior officials, including
the constable, but left undisturbed such lesser men as
the keeper of the artillery and the master carpenter. (fn. 33)
The castle became primarily an administrative centre
and a place of storage for the palatinate records, (fn. 34) and
its military and strategic role again declined. Even so,
the charter granted to the mayor and citizens of
Chester in 1506 maintained its independence of the
city. (fn. 35)
The castle became a base of the county justices
introduced in 1536, (fn. 36) and in the later 16th century
remained the seat of the principal palatine officials,
including the vice-chamberlain; it also provided supplies and lodging for soldiers before they embarked for
Ireland, especially during the revolt of 1579–81. (fn. 37)
During the Civil War siege of Chester it was the royalist
headquarters, with a garrison commanded from 1642
by a military governor. It escaped physical damage and
in 1646 was surrendered with all its arms, ordnance,
and ammunition intact, to become the headquarters of
a parliamentary garrison under a new military governor. (fn. 38) During the Interregnum it remained a supply
base for parliamentary troops in Ireland, (fn. 39) and the
location of monthly courts held by the county sheriff
in the shire hall. (fn. 40) In 1659 it was put into a state of
defence during the rising of Sir George Booth, and
shots were exchanged with the royalists who had
entered the city. (fn. 41)
The Cromwellian governor, Robert Venables, was
removed in 1660. (fn. 42) Thereafter there seems to have been
no garrison until 1662, when Sir Theophilus Gilbey
was granted a warrant to enlist, arm, and keep under
array c. 60 foot soldiers. The castle, whose strategic
importance on the route to north Wales and Ireland
continued to be recognized, was then felt to be in need
of defence against sedition aroused by dispossessed
nonconformist ministers. Late in 1662 Sir Evan Lloyd
was appointed governor and shortly afterwards Gilbey
asked for provisions, weaponry, and soldiers; (fn. 43) a garrison was then thought necessary to safeguard against
the great numbers of Presbyterians in and around
Cheshire. (fn. 44) After the 1660s, however, royal interest
seems to have waned, though Chester remained one
of the army's principal strongholds, under the command of a governor and much visited by dignitaries
travelling to and from Ireland. (fn. 45)
In 1680 the governor, Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, was
ordered to disband the foot company garrisoning the
castle, and by 1681 there remained only three gunners. (fn. 46)
At the time of the duke of Monmouth's visit in 1682 its
undefended state caused the government alarm. New
commissions to act as governor were issued to Shakerley and then to his son Peter, and a new garrison was
installed. (fn. 47)
The castle retained its large garrison in James II's
reign with men quartered in public houses and private
dwellings; (fn. 48) a Roman Catholic chaplain was appointed,
and in 1687 the king worshipped there. (fn. 49) Just before the
fall of James, it housed eight companies of soldiers
from Ireland, (fn. 50) together with arms and ammunition,
maintained by a newly appointed 'furbisher' and
supplied to troops travelling through Chester. (fn. 51)
Peter Shakerley was replaced as governor in 1689 by
Sir John Morgan, Bt. Alarmed about the security of the
numerous Irish prisoners because of Roman Catholic
infiltration of the soldiery, he requested two new
companies of 100 men, and by 1690 was involved in
transporting troops to Ireland to repress Jacobites
there. (fn. 52) Under his successor, however, the castle
seems to have been less heavily manned, and in 1694
a company of c. 90 invalids was drawn from Chelsea
hospital to form the garrison. (fn. 53) In 1696 the castle
became one of five provincial centres to receive a
mint for the recoinage. Staffed by a deputy comptroller
(the astronomer Edmund Halley), a warden, master,
assayer, and five other officials, it followed the processes used in London, issuing half-crowns, shillings,
and sixpences, but functioned only until 1698. (fn. 54)
In the 18th century the castle's military significance
declined. In the reign of George I military stores and
ordnance, dating perhaps from the Civil War, were
removed to the Tower of London. By 1728, though still
commanded by a governor with two companies of
invalid soldiers, the castle was described as 'destitute of
arms almost for common defence'. (fn. 55) In 1745 an attack
by the Jacobites was feared and attempts were made to
remedy the situation, but in the event the castle saw no
action. (fn. 56) The two companies of invalids remained until
1801, when they were disbanded, (fn. 57) but the castle was
still notionally a garrison until 1843, commanded by a
high-ranking governor and lieutenant-governor. (fn. 58) The
rebuildings of the early 19th century had included
barracks for 120 men and an armoury capable of
storing 30,000 stand of arms. (fn. 59)
By the 1860s the castle was garrisoned by a company
from a regiment stationed in Manchester and there was
no barrack master. It was thus relatively unguarded,
and in 1867 the Liverpool Fenians planned an attack.
The plot was discovered and the garrison of 65 soldiers
and 27 militiamen was reinforced by three additional
companies from Manchester, local Volunteers, and,
eventually, several hundred men from London and
Aldershot (Hants). Although over 1,300 suspects
were believed to have gathered in the city, and arms
and ammunition were discovered in the suburbs, no
attack took place. (fn. 60)
In 1873 the castle became the depot for the 22nd
(Cheshire) Regiment. (fn. 61) The former exchequer court,
housed in a block designed as barracks until its abolition in 1836, was transferred to the War Department in
1892. (fn. 62) Part of the block was made into the regimental
museum in 1972. (fn. 63) In 2000 the castle remained the
home of the regiment and of the Crown courts, for
which a new building was provided in 1993. A new
magistrates' court, designed by the county architect,
was opened in Grosvenor Street in 1992. (fn. 64)
Figure 118:
Castle, plan in 1745
Buildings
The complex no longer looks like a castle: the medieval
remains are fragmentary and the site is dominated by
buildings erected in the late 18th and the early 19th
century. From the late 11th century there survives only
the castle mound, part of a motte and bailey whose
outer ward was probably co-extensive with the later
inner ward. The earliest buildings, presumably of
wood, were from the 12th century replaced in stone.
There was building while the castle was in royal hands,
and particularly heavy expenditure in 1159–60, when
£102 was spent on works and fortifications and £20 on
the castle bridge. There is, however, no reason to
suppose that such activity was confined to periods of
royal guardianship; it is especially likely that there was
building under Earl Ranulph III, who also established a
new castle at Beeston in the 1220s. (fn. 65) The new defences,
which incorporated an earlier keep and enclosed what
became the inner ward, almost certainly consisted of a
stone wall with square towers characterized by flat
corner buttresses. (fn. 66) Two of the towers survived in
2000: the Flag Tower on the site of the early keep,
and the Agricola Tower, built c. 1210 as the gatehouse
and chapel. (fn. 67) Either may have been the 'keep'
approached by a bridge mentioned in 1238. (fn. 68) The
chapel in the Agricola Tower, the capitals and vaulting
of which are closely related to those in the east chapel
in the north transept of Chester abbey, was adorned
with paintings soon after its completion. Not long
afterwards, perhaps in the early years of Henry III's
reign, they were replaced by a second decorative
scheme, of very high quality and focused upon the
Virgin. (fn. 69)
Figure 119:
Chester castle from outer ward, 1777: great hall (left), inner ward (background), well house (right)
Before the mid 13th century the castle was greatly
enlarged by the addition north-west of the inner ward
of a spacious outer bailey fortified by wooden palisading; (fn. 70) both enclosures seem to have contained halls
from an early date. (fn. 71) From the early 12th century
there was also a garden in the castle ditch, later reputed
to contain Earl Ranulph III's 'resting-tree'. (fn. 72)
Royal ownership conferred a new importance on
the castle, reflected in improvements to the fabric. In
1241 Henry III's first visit occasioned the construction
of an 'oriel' before the doorway of the king's chapel, (fn. 73)
and in 1245 the king's apartments were repaired, the
paintings in the queen's chamber were renewed, and a
bridge was made from the castle into the orchard to
enable the king and queen to take exercise. (fn. 74) More
significant was a series of major works in the later
1240s and early 1250s, which marked the beginning of
the removal of the principal apartments to the outer
bailey. Between 1246 and 1248 a chamber over a cellar
was erected at the considerable cost of nearly £220
and the wooden palisade of the outer bailey was
replaced by a stone wall; in 1249 the hall in the
outer bailey was demolished and a new one, which
was to cost over £350, was begun. (fn. 75) Though the work
was still unfinished in 1253, (fn. 76) probably by then much
had been achieved; early to mid 13th-century features
long survived in the south-west gable of the hall
and inside the adjacent building, later known as the
parliament chamber and originally perhaps a chapel. (fn. 77)
Thereafter, the structure in the outer ward was
designated the great hall and that in the inner ward
the lesser hall. (fn. 78)
Under Edward I the royal accommodation was
further improved and enlarged. Repairs were undertaken in 1275, and in 1276 the 'king's houses' in the
outer bailey were renovated for the earl of Warwick
and given a new chapel. (fn. 79) In 1283 Edward I's visit
necessitated further repairs to the hall and royal
apartments, and to towers and domestic buildings in
both wards. (fn. 80) New domestic buildings were begun in
1284, and between then and 1291 over £1,400 was
spent. The major works, under the supervision of a
Master William, included repairs to the king's houses,
new chambers for the king and queen, and a stable, all
probably in the outer bailey north and east of the great
hall. (fn. 81) Further work in 1292–3 included a new gatehouse to the outer ward which cost over £318 and
eventually comprised twin drum towers, a vaulted
passageway with two portcullises, and extensive accommodation, including a prison. The master of works was
William of Marlow, presumably the mason engaged at
the castle in 1284–91. (fn. 82) Either then or a little earlier, a
new inner gatehouse was built west of the Agricola
Tower, which was blocked and given a new staircase,
presumably in preparation for the conversion of its
chapel into a treasury in 1301. (fn. 83) The decorative scheme
in the tower chapel was then covered with limewash,
removed only in the 1990s. (fn. 84)
By 1294 the castle comprised an inner bailey with
hall, chapel, and apartments, and an outer bailey with
great hall, exchequer, and further apartments for the
king and queen, including separate chapels. (fn. 85) The
decoration of the chapels and living quarters continued
into the 14th century. Ten ceiling corbels in the king's
great chamber were coloured c. 1299, and shortly
afterwards William of Northampton adorned the
'lesser chapel near the great hall' with a depiction of
the murder of Thomas Becket. By then, too, glass
windows had been installed in the 'greater' and
'lesser' chapels. (fn. 86)
All such work was under the control of Richard the
engineer, perhaps as early as the 1270s and certainly by
1300. A royal architect much involved in the construction of the Welsh castles and a local man of
substance, he retained the post of engineer until his
death in 1315. After 1325 the office was discontinued
and work was in the hands of master carpenters and
masons, assisted by a small permanent staff. (fn. 87)
The castle's principal officials resided in the inner
ward, where in 1328 the justice of Chester's deputy had
his hall, chamber, and a new kitchen, and where
Damory's Tower contained the former chamber of
the justice himself. The constable also then had his
lodgings in the inner ward. (fn. 88) The main administrative
buildings, the shire hall and exchequer, were for long in
the outer bailey, but in 1310 the shire hall was removed
to a new position just outside the main gate. (fn. 89) A new
exchequer was built within the castle in 1355, but in
1401 it too was moved outside to a building adjoining
the shire hall. (fn. 90)
Although large sums were spent on repairs in the
early years of Edward II's reign, especially to the outer
gatehouse, (fn. 91) after 1329 the fabric suffered long periods
of neglect, punctuated by occasional, often inadequate,
refurbishments. In 1337, when over 100 yd. of wall had
to be rebuilt, repairs were needed to the constable's hall
and other buildings in the inner ward, and to the
bridges leading to the two gatehouses. (fn. 92) By 1347 the
Gonkes Tower, Chapel Tower, and Damory's Tower,
the great chapel, the great chamber at the east end of
the hall, the earl's smaller chamber and its chapel, and
the great hall itself were all in disrepair. (fn. 93) Large sums
were spent on the inner ward in the mid 1350s, (fn. 94) and
further repairs were ordered by Richard II in the
1390s. (fn. 95) In Henry VI's reign expenditure on maintenance was generous, averaging £25 a year. (fn. 96) Work
continued under the control of a master mason and
master carpenter, of whom the latter at least had a
house within the castle. Under the Yorkists, however,
the office of master mason lapsed. (fn. 97)
Henry VII, who appointed a master mason in 1495,
continued to spend c. £25 a year on maintenance,
higher than average for such buildings but still inadequate. (fn. 98) In 1511 repairs costing over £272 were
made to the great hall, the gatehouses, and the shire
hall outside the gate. (fn. 99) The Half Moon Tower in the
inner ward may also have been built then. (fn. 100) By the
1530s, however, the great hall was in ruins, and
between 1577 and 1582 it was almost completely
rebuilt at a cost of £650 to house the shire court. (fn. 101)
At the same time the 'parliament chamber', immediately south of the great hall, was reconditioned to
accommodate the exchequer court. (fn. 102) No other repairs
were made, and by the early 17th century the whole
castle, including the prison, was in very poor condition. (fn. 103) Despite the expenditure of 500 marks in 1613,
a survey undertaken in 1624 for the county justices,
on whom the cost of maintenance increasingly
devolved, found much of the castle in a bad state.
The shire hall was very ruinous, the bridge into the
castle so dangerous as to be unusable, and the castle
chapel 'much more ruinous than heretofore'; other
dilapidated buildings included the judges' and
constable's lodgings, the protonotary's office, and the
gatehouse prison. Although the royal earl's representatives felt that costs should be borne by the county
authorities, they themselves reluctantly paid for
repairs in 1627–8, including a new bridge. (fn. 104) The
results were probably not entirely satisfactory:
though earlier described as 'habitable', in 1636 the
castle was condemned as 'old and ruinous'. (fn. 105)
Although the castle suffered no damage during the
Civil War siege, (fn. 106) after the Restoration the fabric was
far out of repair. Early in 1661 much of the outer
gatehouse fell down, and the county surveyor, John
Shaw, estimated the cost of restoring it and other
buildings as at least £860. (fn. 107) Shaw began repairs, but
work was delayed by his failure to obtain adequate
authorization. In 1662, after a further survey, the cost
of repairs was put at £5,000. In the event, between 1660
and 1664 only just over £546 was spent on repairs to
the grand jury's chamber, the constable's lodgings, and
the protonotary's office. Shaw himself was paid only
with reluctance in 1663. (fn. 108)
In 1666 fears of a rising of disaffected parliamentarians stimulated further action. The king ordered that
the proceeds of the local mize, a county-wide tax, be
paid to the governor, but seems to have overestimated
the money available and work on the fabric proceeded
very slowly. (fn. 109) In 1687 the castle received a new armoury
in the west range of the inner ward, and an armourer's
workshop, the Frobisher's Shop, behind the Half Moon
Tower. (fn. 110) New fortifications, including a gun platform,
were built in 1689, and further work was carried out on
the armoury and barracks in 1691. (fn. 111) The county
buildings, however, remained ruinous, the roof of the
exchequer court and much of the protonotary's office
having collapsed. They were repaired in 1685 and
1690, when £420 paid to the master masons Thomas
and Peter Whitley proved to be the Crown's final
expenditure upon them. (fn. 112)
The mint of 1696 was housed in the new extension
to the Half Moon Tower. (fn. 113) Its installation involved the
construction of mint ovens and chimneys and other
alterations to the Frobisher's Shop, and after its closure
in 1698 an estimate was ordered for the cost of
restoring the shop to its former condition. (fn. 114) In 1699
the London mint paid £2,000 to the governor for the
use of buildings within the castle. (fn. 115)
In 1745, with the rebellion of the Young Pretender,
the lord lieutenant, George, earl of Cholmondeley, was
zealous in putting Chester in a state of defence. He
repaired the castle's decayed fortifications and added
raised batteries in the inner and outer wards and a
platform with a parapet south-east of the great hall.
The military architect Alexander de Lavaux was
engaged to draw up a plan to strengthen the fortifications, but his scheme, which consisted of four bastions
joined by outworks flanking the ancient defences, was
never carried out. (fn. 116)
Thereafter the castle was so neglected that in the
1760s a large portion of the curtain wall of the inner
ward behind the armoury fell down. The breach was
probably repaired in the 1770s, and further work was
done in 1786, when Lord Cholmondeley's battery was
reconstructed or refaced. Then or later the front of the
curtain wall was cut back and the Flag Tower stripped
of its external buttresses. (fn. 117)
When in 1785 quarter sessions ordered the rebuilding of the county gaol, a competition was held and
won by Thomas Harrison, whose plans also involved
the demolition and replacement of many buildings in
the outer bailey, including the exchequer, grand jury
room, protonotary's office, and eventually the shire
hall. (fn. 118) In 1788 an Act of Parliament was obtained
authorizing the scheme and setting up commissioners
drawn from local gentry, clergy, and J.P.s to supervise
its execution. (fn. 119) Harrison's early designs comprised a
single block with a recessed portico and wings housing
the shire hall, a room to serve both as grand jury
room and exchequer, and other offices; (fn. 120) behind was
the prison. (fn. 121) The main buildings, in the neo-classical
style of which the architect was a master, were faced
with Manley stone, while Runcorn stone and local red
sandstone were used inside and in the foundations. (fn. 122)
Harrison began in 1788 by demolishing the exchequer
and the constable's house, and then moved on to
build the prison and the southern parts of the main
block. (fn. 123) As work proceeded he and the commissioners
grew more ambitious. In 1789 a passage with a new
gateway was opened into the upper ward, and the
consent of the Board of Ordnance was obtained for
the removal of the outer gatehouse, to be replaced by
a new arch and guard rooms. (fn. 124) By 1791 the exchequer
and grand jury room, the protonotary's office, and the
prisoners' wards had all been finished, and the
commissioners were anxious to proceed with the
new shire hall. Harrison, however, submitted his
plans only in 1792. (fn. 125) He continued to revise the
scheme as late as 1793, some time after the demolition
of the old shire hall; the portico seems to have caused
him especial trouble, and went through several phases
before achieving the imposing final design, with its
double row of giant Doric columns. (fn. 126) Further difficulties arose from the discovery in 1794 that William
Bell, the superintendent of works since 1788, had
wasted stone and embezzled funds and materials. Bell
was dismissed, and Harrison, who seems to have been
responsible for his exposure, replaced him as surveyor. (fn. 127) Examination of the work supervised by Bell
revealed that the pillars in the prison chapel would
not support the planned superstructure and there
were additional delays while the foundations were
relaid. (fn. 128) A new contractor, William Cole the elder,
was appointed in 1797. By then the shire hall was
substantially complete, except for the roof, finished in
1799: a 'magnificent hall of justice', it comprised a
large semi-circular, semi-domed court room ringed
with an Ionic colonnade. The main block seems to
have been completed shortly after, for in 1800 the
finishing touches were put to the portico and prison
chapel. (fn. 129) In the form finally executed it had a facade of
19 bays, with a projecting portico of ashlar and
rusticated wings on either side.
Figure 120:
Chester castle: Harrison's completed scheme for outer ward
From 1795 the commissioners had been anxious to
buy adjoining land to permit the enlargement of the
castle yard and provide a suitable setting for the new
buildings, and in 1803 they purchased all the buildings
in Gloverstone. (fn. 130) Plans to enlarge the castle yard and
build a new armoury, uniform with the main block,
received the consent of the Board of Ordnance in 1804;
the new building, which necessitated the demolition of
the inner gatehouse, the Square Tower, and part of the
curtain wall of the inner ward, was paid for partly by
the Crown and partly by the county, which was
responsible for the end walls and the front of nine
bays with its attached Ionic half-columns. (fn. 131) A corresponding block, housing the barracks, military cells, and
exchequer court, was begun in 1806 north of the outer
ward, on the site of the old cells and barracks, after
similar arrangements to share the cost had been agreed
between the county and the Barrack Master General. (fn. 132)
Such major departures from the original plan required
a new Act of Parliament, obtained in 1807. (fn. 133)
In 1810, though the barrack block was probably still
incomplete, the final phase of the rebuilding began. A
ditch faced with a stone wall was constructed round
the castle yard and a new entrance was planned.
Harrison's original scheme for a Doric gateway was
altered in 1811 and made more elaborate in 1813,
when four columns were added to the west side of the
entrance. The completed 'propylaeum' comprised two
pedimented lodges with east-facing porticoes and a
central entrance block with columns projecting to the
west, (fn. 134) the first use of the primitive Doric order in
England. (fn. 135)
Harrison was perhaps also responsible for alterations
to the inner bailey, including rebuilding the front wall
of the armoury and refacing and refenestrating the old
mint building and the Half Moon Tower. (fn. 136) His pupil,
William Cole the younger, continued to work at the
castle, and designed the military hospital, a plain brick
building erected in 1826 in Castle Street. (fn. 137)
Further changes, begun in 1831, involved the demolition of the officers' barracks and judges' lodgings
in the south-east range of the inner ward, to make way
for a new armoury, and the conversion of the old
armoury, Harrison's southern wing, into accommodation for officers and judges. The new works cost a little
under £7,000, of which £1,000 was provided by the
county. Among those who were then paid substantial
sums was the Chester architect James Harrison, and it
is possible therefore that he was responsible for the
design of the new armoury, a plain rectangular freestanding building faced in local stone. (fn. 138) With the
completion of the work in 1836 all that remained of
the ancient castle was the Agricola Tower and the much
altered Half Moon and Flag Towers.
Figure 121:
County gaol from east (left centre)
There were important alterations to the south-west
corner of Harrison's main block in the lower ward in
the late 19th century. In 1875–7 a new nisi prius (civil)
court was built, to designs by T. M. Lockwood, and in
1891 the protonotary's office was converted into a
council chamber for the new county council. (fn. 139) The
interior of the shire hall was rearranged c. 1881 and
in 1895–6. (fn. 140) Harrison's barrack block was restored in
1922. (fn. 141)
After 1892 the site of the prison became a drill
ground for the local Volunteer artillery. It was eventually occupied by a new county hall built between
1939 and 1957. (fn. 142) A new militia barracks for the
permanent staff of the 1st Regiment of the Royal
Cheshire Militia was built by the county authorities
outside the castle precinct in Nuns' Gardens to designs
by T. M. Penson in 1858–9. In an extravagant 13thcentury castellated style with many towers and turrets
and a gateway with a portcullis, it was sold to the War
Department in 1874 and after 1882 housed married
non-commissioned officers of the regimental depot.
The building was repurchased by the county council in
1963 and demolished in 1964. (fn. 143)
County gaol
The castle was used as a gaol by 1241, when Welsh
hostages were confined there. (fn. 144) Under Edward I prisoners included local notables, (fn. 145) hostages taken from Prince
Llywelyn in 1277, (fn. 146) and Llywelyn's brother Dafydd with
five of his squires in 1283. (fn. 147) In 1294–5, when the gaol
probably occupied the rebuilt outer gatehouse, it again
received many Welsh hostages, (fn. 148) a few of whom were
detained until c. 1300 and the last until the 1330s. (fn. 149)
Besides the Welsh there were also six Scots, taken at
Dunbar in 1296, and in 1301–2 still at the castle, which
by then contained four prisons. (fn. 150) The castle was again
briefly filled with hostages taken from the citizens at
the time of Edward II's murder (fn. 151) and from the Welsh
during Glyn Dwr's revolt. (fn. 152)
By the 16th century the county gaol was situated in
the outer gatehouse and the adjoining former exchequer. (fn. 153) It became a detention centre for recusants
in the 1580s and 1590s, its importance enhanced by its
position on the Irish route. (fn. 154) In 1648 it was refurbished
and restored to use after the discovery of a royalist plot
to recover castle and city. (fn. 155) The castle was again full of
prisoners after the royalist defeat at the battle of
Worcester in 1651, and was later the scene of the
trial of notables. (fn. 156) It still contained prisoners, including
a number of Scotsmen, in 1653. (fn. 157) The numbers
detained rose again after the repression of Booth's
rebellion in 1659. (fn. 158)
By 1681 the prison was in great decay. Although the
Crown met the heavy costs of renovation, thereafter its
maintenance was left to the county authorities, who by
the 1690s were raising levies for further repairs. (fn. 159) In
1715, after the government's victory at Preston, c. 500
Jacobite prisoners were brought to the castle. Because of
a quarrel between the governor and Chester corporation
they were held there until 1717 in crowded conditions,
and disease spread from them to the soldiers. (fn. 160)
By the 1770s the prison in the north-east corner of
the castle was clearly unsatisfactory; cramped and
airless, it was compared by the reformer John
Howard to the Black Hole of Calcutta, (fn. 161) and in 1784
it was presented at the assizes as out of repair and
insufficient. (fn. 162) In 1785 the Cheshire quarter sessions
ordered its rebuilding. (fn. 163) Thomas Harrison's new
prison, opened in 1793, was designed according to
the enlightened principles advocated by Howard.
Although planned before the publication of Jeremy
Bentham's Panopticon, it was 'panoptic' in the sense
that, as in Bentham's scheme, the gaoler's house overlooked the felons' yards. (fn. 164)
The prison, which had been found inadequate by the
visiting justices in 1865, was transferred from county
control to the Crown in 1877 and closed to civil
prisoners in 1884, though there continued to be a
small military prison in the castle until 1893. The gaol
buildings were purchased by the county council in
1894 and demolished in 1900–2, (fn. 165) the site being used
later for a new county hall.