Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SW WATERGATE STREET AND ROW 595-1/3/419 (North side) 28/07/55 Guildhall (Formerly Listed as: WATERGATE STREET Guildhall)

GV II

Formerly known as: Holy Trinity Church WATERGATE STREET. Church, now Guildhall. 1865-9, rebuilt on the site of one of the City's 9 medieval parish churches to the design of James Harrison but completed after his death by Kelly and Edwards of Chester, in Geometrical Decorated style; converted to Guildhall early 1960s. Red sandstone; grey slate roofs. PLAN: continuous nave and chancel, west porch, detached south spire and porch, south priest's vestry. EXTERIOR: west window of 7 lights above gabled porch has Geometrical tracery; south aisle has traceried windows of 3 lights, and to east of 4 lights; 7-light east window has tracery similar to west window; the north aisle windows, blocked C20 to the nave, of 3 lights with tracery to the chancel and of 4 lights to east end; the clerestory has 2-light windows to the nave, paired lancets to the chancel. The spire has a 3-stage tower with oak-boarded double doors to east having blank tracery panels above with relief sculpture of Christ enthroned, under a gable moulding; a traceried 2-light window in the south wall. The second stage has a lancet and a clock face to the east and south; the third stage has traceried 2-light bell-openings; corner buttresses; pierced parapet; recessed octagonal stone spire with 3 lucarnes to each cardinal face, the lowest ones containing 2-light traceried windows. INTERIOR: stripped of most fittings and with inserted timber partitions east of the porch in the south aisle and in the chancel and its north aisle, has arcades of 6 nave bays and 2 chancel bays, with octagonal piers and corbelled clerestory shafts supporting arch-braced trusses; the chancel is differentiated only by a heavier truss on paired shafts. The glass in the east window depicts God, major Old Testament figures and saints, some associated with the diocese to Lichfield and Chester; the western window in the south aisle depicts Christ, Isiah and David; the former chancel screen is behind the partition of the east chamber; the reredos is concealed behind lightweight cladding beneath the east window. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Hubbard E: Cheshire:

Harmondsworth: 1971-; Bartholomew City Guides: Harris B: Chester: Edinburgh: 1979-: 103).

Listing NGR: SJ4031966246

External Links

• Guildhall, Chester at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5615872

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)