Water tower

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Stitching wall leading to the water tower

The Water Tower (originally known as the New Tower ) is a 14th century tower in Chester , Cheshire , England that is connected by a stone wall to Bonewaldesthorne's Tower on the Chester city walls . The tower and this section of the wall is a Grade I listed architectural monument . The tower was originally called the New Tower , but was referred to as the Water Tower from the 17th century , although the city assembly tried to keep the correct name. On July 28, 1955, it was classified as Grade I as an architectural monument.

history

The tower was built between 1322 and 1325 and was then in the River Dee . It is connected to Bonewaldesthorne's Tower by a wall of the city wall. The builder was John (de) Helpston, who had also built castles for King Edward II in North Wales. The primary purpose of the structure was to defend the port of Chester, and it was also used to monitor shipping and ensure that related duties and taxes were paid. The construction costs of the tower and the piercing wall amounted to 100  pounds sterling (adjusted for inflation in today's prices 40,000 pounds sterling) By the end of the 16th century the river was silted up and the tower was on dry land. In 1639 the tower was renovated with the city's financial resources, and in the following decade the loopholes in the wall were enlarged to make them usable for cannons. The tower was attacked and damaged in the English Civil War . From 1671 it was rented out as a warehouse and in 1728 was described as "useless and neglected".

The Chester Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1835. She wanted to set up a museum in the tower to display her artifacts. The city council rented the tower and neighboring Bonewaldesthorne's Tower to the association for a symbolic price, and in 1838 the museum opened. The association was dissolved in 1876 and the exhibits came into the possession of the city administration. Although it was clear at the time that the tower was unsuitable as a museum, the objects remained there because there was no other place to display them at the time. In the years 1901–1902 the museum was closed because the city walls were being rebuilt. It reopened in 1903 and that year came 12,000 visitors. The towers were closed to the public in 1916 and rented out for another use in 1920. In 1954 the Grosvenor Museum bought the structures and reopened them to the public in 1962. Today the tower stands about 180 m from the river bank and is arguably the least modified medieval tower in Chester.

architecture

The tower and the stone wall leading to it are made of sandstone rubble. The tower is around 29 m high, the connecting wall is 29.5 m long, 3.3 m wide and about 7.3 m high. An archway in the city wall leads to the 44 steps that lead down to the tower. The wall has battlements and is believed to be the only remaining section of the city's medieval battlements. The tower is round at its base with a square platform on it. It contains two octagonal rooms, one on each floor. A pointed arched doorway gives access from the wall to the lower room. A small latrine is fitted into the corner between the tower and the wall . Five stone steps lead down from the entrance to the level of the lower chamber. The walls of the tower are more than 3.6 m thick here. Originally the walls had loopholes , but these were later walled up and their location can only be seen from the outside. A circular staircase with 23 steps leads up to the upper chamber, in whose walls four loopholes are distributed. Above is a platform that overlooks the entrance to the tower.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Images of England: Spur Wall and Water Tower, Chester ( English ) English Heritage . Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  2. ↑ a b c A. T. Thacker, Lewis, CP (Ed.): Major buildings: City walls and gates ( English ) In: A History of the County of Chester: The City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions . Pp. 213-225. 2005. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  3. ↑ a b c Simon Ward: Chester: A History ( English ). Phillimore, Chichester 2009, ISBN 978-1-86077-499-7 , p. 38.
  4. ^ A b c Nikolaus Pevsner , Edward Hubbard [1971]: The Buildings of England: Cheshire ( English ). Yale University Press , New Haven and London 2003, ISBN 0-300-09588-0 , pp. 155-156.
  5. ^ Water Tower . Chester City Council language = English. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  6. ^ AT Thacker, Lewis, CP (Ed.): Leisure and culture: Museums ( English ) In: A History of the County of Chester: The City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions . Pp. 294-297. 2005. Retrieved August 20, 2009.
  7. ^ Richard Morriss: The Buildings of Chester ( English ). Alan Sutton, Dover 1993, ISBN 0-7509-0255-8 , p. 48.

Coordinates: 53 ° 11 ′ 33.4 "  N , 2 ° 53 ′ 58.2"  W.