Bonewaldesthorne Tower

Details

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066NE CITY WALLS 595-1/1/100 Bonewaldesthorne tower 28/07/55 (Formerly Listed as: City Walls & Towers incl. foundations of SE angle Roman Fortress wall & tower)

GV I

INTRODUCTION The following items numbered 100 to 132 incorporate elements of the walls and towers of the Roman fortress of Deva, the rebuilding and extension to enclose a larger area with walls and towers by Norman Earls of Chester late C11 and early C12; later medieval improvements; some C17 alterations; damage during the Civil War 1644-6; conversion to a raised promenade 1701-8; alteration and stripping of fortified gateways and most other defensive features C18 and early C19 and breaching with enlarged or additional archways C20. Roman masonry is of purple-grey Bunter sandstone, medieval and later masonry of softer red sandstone. The earliest defences were Flavian, late C1, of which parts of the base of the earth rampart survive beneath the stone walls. Roman masonry of the outer face of the north and east walls and the foundation of the south-east tower of the legionary fortress are probably Hadrianic, early C2 but probably altered and repaired up to C4. The medieval walls incorporate masonry of the north and east faces of the Roman walls, but are in part set back from the face and built upon the Roman turf rampart. They were extended late C11 and early C12 by the Norman Earls of Chester west and southward to their present position, possibly on a line set out by Aethelfled in 907 when she had refortified the burh. The walls were strengthened 1160-61. Of the surviving medieval towers Bonewaldesthorne's Tower is probably 1249, the Water Tower, commanding the site of the medieval port is 1322-6 and Thimbleby's Tower is undated. The wall and its towers are described clockwise from Bonewaldesthorne Tower at the north-west corner, each item assessed separately for grading. The gates are described under the streets which they bridge. The circuit of the City Walls is nearly 2 miles, and the wall walk approximately at its medieval level except where lowered and realigned between Bridgegate and Grosvenor Road.

BONEWALDESTHORNE TOWER EXTERIOR: wall tower. Documented since 1249-61 but rebuilt or altered 1322-6 after which it formed the gatehouse to the Water Tower (qv). Red sandstone coursed rubble, eroded. Tall plinth, with 3 weathered caps to north and one to south, a blank storey now filled, a storey 7 stone steps up from Row walk, and battlements on eroded string course. Entrance with chamfered jambs and arch of 2 stones has oak boarded door. Doorway on opposite side leads to spur to the Water Tower. INTERIOR: has a fireplace; stair, now closed, to battlements; loops. HISTORICAL NOTE: the masonry of the south-west quadrant of the tower suggests that the tower was originally a drum, but that in 1322 it was squared off, north, to the line of the spur wall to the Water Tower and rebuilt to a square plan with a canted south-west corner above wall-walk level. (Bartholomew City Guides: Harris B: Chester: Edinburgh: 1979-: 94-95; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Hubbard E: Cheshire: Harmondsworth: 1971-: 155; Cheshire Sites and Monuments Record: Collens J: Chester City: 3007/2/3).



Listing NGR: SJ4003866552

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

470118

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Hubbard, E, The Buildings of England: Cheshire, (1971), 155
Harris, B, Bartholomew City Guides in Chester, (1979), 94-95

End of official list entry

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