Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066NE CITY WALLS
595-1/2/110 Phoenix Tower
28/07/55
(Formerly Listed as:
City Walls & Towers incl.
foundations of SE angle Roman
Fortress wall & tower)

GV I

Also known as: King Charles' Tower.
North-east corner tower on City Walls. Probably of C13 origin,
altered 1613, damaged 1644-6 during the Civil War, largely
rebuilt 1658 and during C18; repaired C19 and C20. Red coursed
sandstone with pyramidal grey slate roof.
EXTERIOR: 4 stages, the lower 2, of 14 and 12 courses refaced
in tooled sandstone, are beneath the level of the wall walk
and have a diminishing batter, solid or with no access to the
interior. The upper stages are of eroded coursed rubble with a
coved string above each stage. The third stage has a
round-arched boarded door to the wall-walk, loops and an
external iron-gated stone stair of 3 winders and 13
rectangular steps carried on a corbelled half-arch projecting
beyond the plane of the wall. Above the doorway to the lower
chamber the carved phoenix dated 1613 is the emblem of the
City Guild of Painters, Glaziers, Embroiderers and Stationers
who occupied the tower as a meeting place. The fourth stage
has a boarded door and four 3-light casements leaded with
octagonal and lozenge panes. A plaque above the door states
that King Charles stood on the tower on 24th September 1645 to
see his army defeated at Rowton Moor. The roof has leaded hips
and an ornate weather-vane.
INTERIOR: the lower chamber is octagonal with cornice and
radial ribs to vaulted ceiling. The upper chamber has exposed
roof structure.
The north-east tower of the legionary fortress underlies the
present tower.
(Cheshire Sites and Monuments Record: Collens J: Chester City:
3000/1/12 & /2/7).

Listing NGR: SJ4061066712

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Phoenix Tower, Chester at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7187009

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

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)