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

• Historic England Listing
• 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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)