Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SW WATERGATE STREET AND ROW
595-1/3/392 (South side)
28/07/55 No.37 Street & No.45 Row (St
Ursula's)
(Formerly Listed as:
WATERGATE STREET
No 37 Street & No 45 Row)

GV I

Undercroft and town house now undercroft shop with newspaper
printer at Row level and above. Probably c1180 to c1280; C16
or C17; largely rebuilt from Row level upward and refronted at
street level late C19; altered C20. Sandstone at street and
Row levels, timber frame with plaster panels above; slate
roof.
EXTERIOR: 4 storeys, one bay. Street level has half-glazed
shaped double doors with shaped window to each side, under 3
low arches separated by C13-style half columns. The Row front
has sandstone end piers, each with corbel to front and carved
bracket of long reach to inner side, ending in a pendant; the
sandstone balustrade has 3 panels, each with 4 arched
openings; modern shopfront. Each upper storey has a tripartite
window of 2;4;2 lights; the central portion projects to form a
2-storey square oriel carried on the Row bressumer, with small
pentice roof to each side; the third storey has a transom. The
ends of posts of the small framing are carved as Ionic
pilasters. The hipped roof has a gablet over the oriel, with
herringbone struts, plain bargeboards and a truncated
bargepost. A modern extension conceals the rear.
INTERIOR: the undercroft is of 5 and a half bays; the first
half bay is an encroachment on the street; the next 3 bays
have oak beams; the rear 2 bays have a quadripartite vault,
late C13 or possibly earlier, with chamfered ribs; the rear
doorway with a round, continuously chamfered arch suggests
that it and the undercroft walls are late C12, the earliest
features yet dated in the structure of Chester Row
undercrofts; the early masonry continues under the Row, but
not under the stallboard. A few panels of C16 or C17
small-framing are visible in the west wall at the stairwell to
the third storey; a king-post rooftruss over the fourth
storey, probably C19, contains some reused C17 timbers.
Included as Grade I in recognition of the special interest of
the undercroft.
(Chester Rows Research Project: Brown AN, Grenville JC &
Turner RC: Watergate Street: Chester: 1988-: 11-16, 23).

Listing NGR: SJ4041466232

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Ursula's, Chester at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7595595

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings