Description

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

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Pemberton's Parlour at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7161869

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

• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy