Eastgate, Chester

The present gateway dates from 1768 and is a three-arched sandstone structure which carries the walkway forming part of Chester city walls.

In 1899 a clock was added to the top of the gateway to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria two years earlier.

It is carried on openwork iron pylons, has a clock face on all four sides, and a copper ogee cupola.

It is thought that outside the fortress this road was lined by timber buildings that were used as shops or for other kinds of commercial activities.

[2] From about AD 100 the defences of the fortress were reinforced by a sandstone wall and at this time the gates and their towers were rebuilt in stone.

[6] By the 18th century the city walls were no longer needed for defensive purposes and so, rather than being pulled down, they were converted into walkways.

On this side of the gateway is a frieze-band with an inscription reading "THIS GATE BEGUN MDCCLXVIII JOHN KELSAL ESQ.

[1] The walkway that forms part of the circuit of the city walls crosses the top of Eastgate,[8] which is surmounted by the Victorian clock.

In 1872 Hugh Grosvenor, who was at that time the 3rd Marquess of Westminster, asked the local architect John Douglas to prepare a number of designs.

The Marquess offered to pay half the cost of the project but the Chester Improvement Committee would not allow any council funds for it, and the scheme came to nothing.

At this time the 1st Duke of Westminster suggested that the city should support Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute of Nurses.

[9] A committee was set up and, despite early support for the Queen's Institute and for general festivities, it was finally decided to erect a memorial tower and clock on Eastgate.

In October 1897 a meeting of the subscribers to the fund (who had by that time raised nearly £651 (equivalent to £93,000 in 2023)[10] carried a motion to erect a light iron-work structure containing a clock.

Over the clock is a copper ogee cupola which is surmounted by a weather vane with lions rampant or on gules background.