LOWER BRIDGE STREET
Prior to the opening of the Grosvenor Bridge in 1832, Lower Bridge Street was the only means of access to the south and west of the River Dee, including North Wales.
The Falcon Inn , on the right, built in 1626 and excellently restored, is a good specimen of very early timber
framing. Architects are much interested in the stone archway, part of the main entrance, which is old and noteworthy.
St. 0lave's Church , a small red sandstone building halfway down on the left, now a school, is an extremely ancient
foundation, dating from before the Norman Conquest.
On the opposite side, a little lower down, stands Ye Olde King's Head Hotel reputed to have been built in 1621
by Randle Holme, the father of the famous Chester antiquary and authority on heraldry.
It contains a seventeenth century dining room.
On the right, near the Bridgegate, stands an exceptionally fine half-timbered building known as the Bear and Billet,
This old inn was built in 1664 and was originally connected with the sergeancy of the Bridgegate and at one time
belonged to the house of Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.
LOWER BRIDGE STREET
Originally the Via Principalis of the Romans leading from the centre of the town to the only exit to the south and Wales, Lower Bridge Street has had a chequered career. The fears of those opposed to the building of a new bridge mentioned above were justified and for 150 years the street gradually slipped down and down, although some of the magnificent houses remaining give some idea of the splendor it once had. The Tudor House, the Talbot, Oddfellows Hall, Gamul House and Shipgate House are only a few of the signs of mediaeval and Georgian prosperity. Gradually the houses became dilapidated, small shops established themselves and the most appalling warrens of slums were built up in the alleys which abounded. Even in this photograph, the pawnbroker, the junk shops and the pubs give some idea of the slide. Notice here the cobbled surface of part of the road to enable the horse traffic to come up the steep incline from the river. Hemingway complained that it was a dangerous street for carriages and he obviously was thankful for a level new road out to Hough Green. At the top of the street on the left is the building which until the widening of Pepper Street was the replacement of Old Lamb Row. Near this point was St. Bridget's Church and a gateway stood here on the line of the original Roman walls. Perhaps the nadir of the street was in the twenty years following World War II, with a building burnt out by incendiary bombs standing as a constant reproach. I well remember as late as the mid 1960s visiting people in the stinking hovels behind these houses. Thank heavens for an enlightened conservation programme which is upgrading the street to a standard it as probably never seen before.
TUDOR HOUSE, LR. BRIDGE STREET
ca. 1895. Joseph Hemingway in 1831 wrote in his History of Chester with some scorn that many people in the town opposed the building of the new Grosvenor Bridge because cutting a new route through to Overleigh would inevitably lessen the value of the property in Lower Bridge Street. That they were right and he was wrong is clearly shown by this photograph of a very dilapidated building, the so-called oldest house in Chester (1603). Obviously no maintenance has been done for very many years, to the extent that under the eaves all the wattle is bare and the major part of the daub in-filling elsewhere has fallen out. The house fortunately was rescued and within 10 years completely restored (see below). It is particularly interesting as a building because it is believed that it incorporates part of the Lower Bridge Street Row, traces of which remain higher up the street. The building has again been thoroughly restored for the owner, Mr. Catherall, as an antique shop by Donald Insall and Associates, the architects, with the help of grants and financial assistance from the City Council.
Victorian & Edwardian Chester By John Tomlinson A Deesider publication
