Chester Rows
[1][2][3][a] Dating from the medieval era, the Rows may have been built on top of rubble remaining from the ruins of Roman buildings, but their origin is still subject to speculation.
The premises on the street and Row levels are used for a variety of purposes; most are shops, but there are also offices, restaurants, cafés, and meeting rooms.
On the first floor level are more shops and other premises, set back from the street, in front of which is a continuous walkway.
On the street side of the walkways are railings and an area which was used as shelves or stalls for the display of goods.
[7] Rows were built in the four main streets leading from Chester Cross,[8] each of which originated during the settlement's early development.
It was joined at what is now Chester Cross by the main road from the south, present-day Bridge Street.
[12] It has been suggested that following this fire, the owners were ordered to make their ground floors fireproof, leading to the stone-lined undercrofts.
[13][14] From this, the suggestion has been made that there was "a general undertaking by the citizens of Chester ... to improve the commercial potential of their property by providing two-level access for customers".
[14] Daniel Defoe, writing around 1724 in A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, describes the Rows of Chester as “long galleries, up one pair of stairs, which run along the side of the streets, before all the houses, though joined to them, and is pretended, they are to keep the people dry in walking along.
These rows, which you ascend by stairs up narrow passages, were originally built for the security of the wares of the principal merchants against the Welsh.
Should the mountaineers break into the town, as they frequently did, they might rifle some of the common shops, where their booty would be slight, but those which contained the most costly articles would be beyond their reach; for at the first alarm the doors of the passages, up which the stairs led, would be closed, and all access to the upper streets cut off, from the open arches of which missiles of all kinds, kept ready for such occasions, could be discharged upon the intruders, who would soon be glad to beat a retreat."
In time, the properties were improved and possibly during the 13th century, cellars or undercrofts were excavated in the debris beneath them.
Stalls or shelves were added on the street side of the walkway for the display of goods, and so the system of Rows was developed.
[17] However, in 1643, during the Civil War siege of Chester, Sir Richard Grosvenor moved his family there from his country estate at Eaton Hall.
[18] In 1699 John Mather, a lawyer, gained permission to build a new house at 51 Lower Bridge Street, which also resulted in the loss of part of the Row.
[3] During the Georgian era, more sections of the Rows were blocked, especially by commercial development on the north side of Watergate Street.
In 1808, Thomas Harrison designed the Commercial Coffee Room in Northgate Street in neoclassical style, with an arcade at the ground-floor level, rather than continuing the Row on the first floor.
[37] The National Heritage List for England records the uses made by the premises at street level and in the Rows.
[40] The former St Michael's Church, which is now a heritage centre, includes part of Bridge Street Row in the lowest stage of its tower.
[44][45] On 7 July 2010 it was announced that Chester Rows were being considered as an applicant for the new United Kingdom Tentative List for World Heritage status by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
