Pembertons Parlour
PEMBERTONS PARLOUR, CITY WALLS
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1376131
- Date first listed:
- 28-Jul-1955
- List Entry Name:
- Pembertons Parlour
- Statutory Address:
- PEMBERTONS PARLOUR, CITY WALLS
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-10-02
- Reference:
- IOE01/09358/03
- Rights:
- © Ms Naomi J. Hughes. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1376131
- Date first listed:
- 28-Jul-1955
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 06-Aug-1998
- List Entry Name:
- Pembertons Parlour
- Statutory Address 1:
- PEMBERTONS PARLOUR, CITY WALLS
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- PEMBERTONS PARLOUR, CITY WALLS
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Cheshire West and Chester (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SJ 40153 66590
Details
CHESTER CITY (IM)
SJ4066NW CITY WALLS 595-1/1/103 Pemberton's Parlour 28/07/55 (Formerly Listed as: City Walls & Towers incl. foundations of SE angle Roman Fortress wall & tower)
GV I
Also known as: Goblin Tower. Gazebo on site of former medieval drum tower taken down 1702-8 which was twice as high as the present structure, and again largely rebuilt 1894. Red sandstone coursed rockfaced and tooled rubble below wall walk level, ashlar above it. The north, outer, side has 3 cross-loops to the gazebo chamber and a corbelled feebly crenellated parapet; 2 stone water-chutes. The south side to the wall walk has a wider basket archway to the semicircular chamber, 3 chamfered embrasures to the cross-loops, a flat ceiling, stone corbels; cast-iron railing and double gates in archway. Above the archway the Royal arms west and Chester City arms east flank a yellow sandstone panel inscribed ..OF THE GLORIOUS.. WHERE LARGE BREACHES IN THESE WALLS WERE REBUILT AND OTHER DECAYS THEREIN WERE REPAIRED, TWO THOUSAND YARDS OF THE FACE WERE NEW FLAGGED OR PAVED, AND THE WHOLE IMPROVED REGULATED AND ADORNED AT THE EXPENSE OF ONE
THOUSAND POUNDS AND UPWARD: THOMAS HAND ESQ MAYOR 1701; THE
RIGHT HONBLE WILLIAM EARL OF DERBY MAYOR 1792; 1792 MICHAEL JOHNSON, 1703 MATTHEW ANDERSON; 1704 EDW. PARTINGTON; 1705 EDWARD PULESTON; 1706 PULEST PARTINGTON; 1707 HUMPHREY PAGE; 1708 JAMES MAINWARING, MAYORS: ROBERT COMBERBACH ESQ. RECORDER; WILLIAM WILSON ALDN; PETER BENNETT ALDN AND UPON THE DEATH OF THE SAID WILLIAM WILSON EDW. PARTINGTON JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, MURENGERS. Above the panel a moulded cornice has a crenellated parapet inscribed GOBLIN TOWER: REBUILT 1894 The south face of the wall has a shallow triangular projection, indicating the position of the inner side of the former drum tower which had a through walk, 2 storeys and a fighting platform. HISTORICAL NOTE: the gazebo is named after John Pemberton, mayor of Chester, who stood in it to supervise work at his adjacent rope-walk. (Collins J: Cheshire Sites and Monuments Record: RECORD NO.3007.2/4; Bartholomew City Guides: Harris B: Chester: Edinburgh: 1979-: 93-4; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Hubbard E: Cheshire: 1971-: 155).
Listing NGR: SJ4015366590
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 470121
- 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), 93-4
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 04-Jun-2026 at 09:13:25.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2026. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry