On the 13th of July, 1494, Henry VII., with his mother and the Queen, came to Chester with a. great retinue, from whence they proceeded to Hawarden ; the Earl of Derby, and a number of 'Chester gallants' attending.

The summer of the year 1507, was memorable here From the awful visitation of the 'sweating sickness,' which raged for a short time with great. violence. It is recorded that 91 householders were carried off in three days by this distemper ;but it is worthy of remark, that the female sex were generally exempt from the plague, only four having fallen victims to the disease. Cats and women have each nine lives !

In 1517, the sweating sickness again proved fatal to many of the inhabitants ; and the city was also infected with the plague, probably to a more serious extent. It is recorded that ' many died and others fled out of the city, in so much that the streets were full of grass ; and that for want of trading the grass did grow a foot high at the Cross, and in other streets of the city.'

In 1550 the city suffered severely from the sweating sickness, anti to this affliction was added a great scarcity of provisions ; corn selling in Chester at sixteen shillings a bushel.
From the year 1602 to 1605, with few intermissions, the dreadful effects of the plague. were experienced in the city. It is stated to have begun in the month of September, in the former year, at the house of one Glover, in St. John's lane, in whose house alone seven persons died. The contagion was particularly fatal in 1603 and 1604 ; 650 persons died in the former year, and 986 in the latter ; at one period 55 died weekly. -During this dreadful visitation, the fairs of the city were suspended, the court of exchequer was removed to Tarvin, and the county assizes were held at Nantwich. The plague had abated in the month of February 1605

The city suffered severely during the sanguinary period of the Wars of the Roses, and was on one occasion (in 1455) visited by Margaret of Anjou, the warlike queen of Henry VI.

1485 - 1509 Henry VII . Did in his twenty - first year of his reign , grant a very full , favourable , and important charter which has , however , by one of its provisions , caused much animosity in the city . This charter instituted the office of recorder , erected the city into a county by itself, to be governed by a corporation .
In his great charter , reciting how the mayors and citizens of ancient times have held the city of Chester of his progenitors earls of Chester , paying yearly 100 L . and setteth down at large how the city In times past had been notably frequented by strangers , and the concourse both by land and sea had enabled them their former rent for their fee farm ; but that now through the decay of the haven and the river there , by many bursting forth , was become sandy and unpassable , as before , for merchandise . In consideration thereof , , he remitteth 80 L . of the yearly fee farm aforesaid .

Charter of King Henry VII dated April 6th, 1506. ( Chester City R. O. Ref. CH/32 Morris p 524 - 40 )
He was to grant the most extensive privileges to Chester , this Charter exempts and separates the City of Chester from Cheshire , gives legal recognition to its government by a Mayor , two Sheriffs twenty-four Alderman and fort Common Councilman . The Charter has yet to be translated in full , the sections headings are as follows .

( 1 ) Choice of twenty-four Aldermen and Forty Common Councilmen	( 2 ) Recorder
( 3 ) Mayor	( 4 ) Manner of choosing the Mayor and Sheriffs.
5 ) Authority of Escheator and Sheriffs.	( 6 ) Courts .
( 7 ) The Sword .	( 8 ) Coroners .
( 9 ) Muragers .	(10 ) No office of the King's household to intermeddle in the City
( 11 ) Bye-Laws	( 12 ) Cognisance of Pleas .
( 13 ) Except Castle and Gloverstone .	( 14 ) Powers to hold pleas .
( 15 ) No Citizen to be sued or impleaded out of the City .	( 16 ) Northgate Gaol .
( 17 ) Portmote and Crownmote Courts .	( 18 ) Citizens not to serve on Juries out of the City except in concern of the King .
( 19 ) Felons ' Goods	( 20 ) Citizens freed from all customs except wine & iron .
( 21 ) Regulations of the River Dee .	( 22 ) Market .
( 23 ) Justices of Peace whilst Aldermen	( 24 ) Subjects of inquiry .
( 25 ) Fee - Farm £20	( 26 ) Grant of waste ground .

( 3 ) Mayor - and that every Mayor of the said city for this being in his own person be our escheator and the clerk of our market there
( 11 ) Bye - Laws - and more over we have granted for us and our heirs and by this Charter confirm to the afore said Citizens , that if per adventure any customs and ordinances here to obtaing and used within the said City of Chester be in any part of them difficult and defective.. then the Mayor , Alderman and Sheriffs have full power and authority to apply and ordain some new remedy .. and require due obedience to these their ordinances
( 23 ) Except Castle and Gloverstone - ( our castle and our liberty within the boundary commonly called Gloverstone only excepted )
( 22 ) Market - we have also granted for us and our heirs to the aforesaid Mayor , Sheriff , Citizens and Commonalty that henceforth no merchant will in the City afore said sell by wholesale or retail fish or flesh except in the accustomed place assigned by the aforesaid Mayor , Sheriff , Citizens and Commonalty under pain of forfeiting the said fish or flesh and paying a fine at the discretion of the Mayor , and sheriff at the time being
( 24 ) Subjects of inquiry - notwithstanding it is not our mind or intent that on the pretence or by virtue of any grant or ratification by us or our progenitors Earls of Chester as is before mentioned the same Citizens or their successors be in any way restrained of any of their privileges or ancient customs of the same City , but that they the Citizens of our City of Chester aforesaid , keep all their liberties and free customs perfect and inviolate as at any time here to for they have done .

The citizens right to hold a market was confirmed by Henry VII in the great charter of 1506 , which stated that no merchant in the city was to sell by wholesale or retail , fish or flesh , except in the places assigned by the mayor and citizens . The main market place was in Northgate Street where a corn market house was recorded

in 1574 Fish was sold at the ' Kinges Borde ' in Watergate Street where citizens and franchised fishmongers had the first choice . The fish board caused some nuisance to citizens ; Hugh Bromley petitioned for its removal from against his cellar in 1588 .

1509 - 1547 King Henry VIII In an award , on a much more extended cliam it was determined in1509 that " St. Warburge faire , or any other " fayre court , should not thenceforth be kept by the abbot . ( Morris p 123 )
He also removed the sanctuary from Manchester to Chester , on the passing of this act , Hugh Aldersey went up with a petition to the King , and represented to his majesty that Chester being a port - town and situated on the Welsh borders , was an unfit place for a sanctuary , the King acceded and removed the sanctuary to Salford .

1517 The Plague at Chester , a great number fell a sacrifice to this awful scourge and grass was a foot high at the Cross .
The mayor , as clerk of the market , fixed prices , checked weights and measures and made trading regulations . No - one was permitted to sell wares of a trade other than his own , except with a special licence and no ' foreigner ' could sell his wares in the city except a freeman . ' Foreigners ' were prevented from buying goods in the Common Hall and freemen who purchased for ' foreigners ' could be disfranchised . Tolls on transactions were gathered by the city and might be used to provide for the upkeep of the corn market or to pay for the mayor's officials .
Wednesday and Saturday were the Chester market days . when ' foreigners ' were allowed to trade in the city on payment of a toll . Corn was only to be sold in the market after the market bell had been rung .

1533 H. Gee, Mayor who introduced many regulations in his mayoralty procured an order ;
Hit ys orderyd at an assemble holden within the pentice of the Citie of Chester by Henry Gee of the same and by the Shiriffs , Recorder and bretheren Aldermen and Common Cownsell of the same Citie that every maner of personor persons comynge unto this markyt within the said citie with all maner of corne and grayne to be soulde shal not brynge upon a markyt daye no corne to no maner of place within this citie nor the liberties of the same to be soulde but onelye into the markyt place within this citie assignyd and that none of the saide corne brought into the said markyt
to be soulde shall not be shewid ne openyd unto suche tyme as the markyt bel be rounge and that no manar of byre coum into the markyt place to the intent to by anye manar corne or grayne unto such tyme as the saide bell be rounge and then imedyatteley after the saide bell be rounge it shalbe for ther oune proper use to the mayntenaunce of ther housholde to by all manar of corne and grayne so that ther but one byre in the markytr for every household and then after one of the clocke yt shalbe laufll for all maner of bakers inhabyting within the citie to go unto the saide markyt and ther to by ther corne and grayne with every one of them as shallbe for them requiset and then at ii of the clocke it shalbe lawfull to all and every comon peple to com unto the saide markyt and ther to bye at ther liberties till iii of the clocke all manar of corne and grayne as for them and of them shalbe requiset and allso mayster mayre stratelye commandyth that no maner of persons ne persons coming in to this citie apon the markyt dye to sell corne and all manar of grayne shall not goo abrode in the saide markyt to disturbe nor let the same but shall pacyentlye stand by his or there corne and grayne which they have there to sell . Item that no maner of person shal by barly to make maulte of before i of the clocke upon payne for every tyme so offending xii to be levyed to thuse of the Common box or to remayne in warde unto such tyme he or they pay the same . ( Morris Tud & Plan p 397 )
There were two hospitals of medieval foundation : St , Giles , Spital Boughton and St. John the Baptist , outside the Nortgate . The former was founded as a leper hospital , although by the Tudor period , the inmates were mostly able bodied . The hospitals privileges , which included the right to tolls on all food bought for sale in Chester and a fishing boat on the Dee , caused friction with the city authorities , who in 1537 , ordered that admission be confined to the sick of Chester , on penalty of the loss of the market tolls .The hospital of St. John the Baptist , for the sustention of poor and silly persons ' also enjoyed privileges , including freedom from local tolls and taxation and from jury service . ( C.C. C. R.O. Tudor Chester p 27 )
1540 25th January The monastery was dissolved . But in 1541 the King gave the abbey back as a cathedral , the mother church of the newly created Diocese of Chester . At the same time the last Abbot of St. Werburgh's Thomas Clark , became the first Dean of the Cathedral church of Christ and the blessed Virgin Mary .
Some persons were especially active in their own interest . One Thomas Johnson in 1551 , 5 Edward VI. , was indicted " for " ingrossing the market in byinge barlye stondinge in the field " unshorne and growinge . " ( Morris Tud & Plan p 398 )

1545 St. Nicholas Church was converted into a Common Hall , the Expense of altering being defrayed out of the profits of a common bargain in iron . A table of fees was drawn up , payable on the different wares , which included fells , checkers , hardware , Kendall cloth , Manchester goods , hoisery , leather , corn . The wool market , in the mayoralty of Foulk Dutton ( 1548 ) was kept in Northgate Street , ' betwextt the house of Richard grymesdicke aldrman and the house of Thomas Longley ' . But the wool was brought into the Common Hall to be weighed . Any corn not sold during the market was stored at the Common Hall untill the next market day to prevent unlicensed sales .
" Frequent mention is made of the system of " common bargains . " These were cargoes of goods , iron , corn , salt , wine &c . , brought into the port by any non - freemen , which were purchased by certain persons at the direction and in the name of the commonalty , to be distributed amongst the citizens . No one but the burgesses were permitted to buy any portion of these cargoes until the civic authorities had declined to purchase .
An Inquisition of 38 Edwaed III. show that in the times of the Norman Earls the privilege of pre - emption was reserved for the earl and his officers , ten for the barons and others .
So , too , 24 Henry VIII. ,an order was made that of every cargo of iron brought to the city , one half should go to the buyer , the other half should be for a common bargain . " ( Morris Tud & Plan p 390 )
1554 George Marsh burnt at Boughton , for the profession of the Gospel .

In ( Morris Tudor & Plan p 402 ) the following appears
12 Henry VIII
Thirty - four persons from Newtown , Barrow , Upton , Christleton , indicted for buying victuals as they are being brought to the market .
19 Henry VIII
John Cowper , baker is fined 3/4 for buying a bushell of corn in the market for 6 8, to the enhancing of the market ( in exaltione fori ) .
22 Henry VIII
Thomas Barlowe , with nine others , fined 12d for having brought linen cloth and sold it again to foreigners . Roger Seston , and ten others , are fined 6 8 being not free they brought linen cloth of foreigners and sold it again to foreigners . William Ball , of Upton fined 12d for buying , of the neighbours , granomellum outside the Northgate which he sold to foreigners .
33 Henry VIII
" The jury present that thys persones followyng doe hocupye and be not admyttyd to the liberties of the Citie of Chester " -- they are fined in various sums 6/8 , 5/-, 8/- 20d , 4d . Thirty - four for selling " bread and ale " They also present that " the fleshmongers hath ingrossed and forestalled the market " --- Fined 3/4
1556 John Webster
The regulation of the corn market was re - enacted with the addition that " no person not " inhabiting within the city should come to buy before two " o' clock . " ( Morris Tud & Plan p398 )

1558 - 1603 Queen Elizabeth Did by her letters patent , confirm the charter of her Grandfather Henry VII .



In the reign of Elizabeth I. Chester was a town of a modest size , with a population of perhaps four thousand people . Most buildings were contained within the city walls although suburbs had grown up outside the Northgate and the Eastgate and beyond the Dee bridge in Handbridge . The city still had a rural appearance , with large open fields , orchards and gardens inside the walled area . For the most of the Tudor period , the river Dee flowed close to the North western wall and even in 1580s , the Water Tower , built to protect the medieval harbour ' standeth ' in the very River ' . However where large ships had once sailed up to the Watergate , the , '.... now scarce small boates are able to come , The Sandes have so chocked the Chanell . ' South from the Watergate , the recession of the river had left a smooth field the Roodee , which is used for grazing and sporting events .

Many of the medieval public buildings were rebuilt or altered during the sixteenth century . The castle had fallen into ' sore decay ' and major repairs were undertaken in 1511 and again between 1577 and 1582 , when the great hall was reconstructed . Chester 's Common Hall or Moot Hall was originally situated near the present Commonhall Street , but by the early sixteenth century , the Assembly , the city's governing body , was meeting in the former St. Nicholas ' Chapel in Nortgate Street . In 1546 , the Assembly ordered that this ' very great house of stone ' be reconstructed as the new Common Hall . The upper floor became a council chamber and court rooms , whilst the ground floor was used for storage of wool , cloth , corn and other goods to be sold in Chester . The Corn Market house occupied three sites during the reign of Elizabeth I. it was moved from the west side of Northgate Street to a site adjacent to the Bishop 's Palace and in 1576 , to the Nortgate ditch .
Civic buisness was also carried on from the Pentice , a structure built along the south wall of St . Peter's Church , facing the High Cross and the pillory . This highly decorated , two storeyed timber building , with a row of shops mainly used by ironmongers below the civic offices . It was enlarged in 1573 but soon afterwards the Pentice court , presided over the city's sheriffs , was moved to new the Common Hall . The Pentice remained the centre for much of Chester's civic and ceremonial life throughout the Tudor Period .
Most shops and the houses of wealthier people were concentrated along the four main streets and the lanes running of them . Buildings followed medieval property boundaries , being long and narrow with the gable end facing the road . Although houses were generally packed closely together , development of the street frontages was by no means complete and there were still vacant plots between buildings . ( Tudor Chester C. C. R. O. p.7 )
Two fairs were held annually , when non freemen and ' foreigners ' had liberty to trade in all kinds of merchandise . The Midsummer fair had been granted to the abbey , c. 1092, as a three day fair to celebrate the feast of St. Werburgh ( 21 June ) . The ' Great Debate ... by reason of St. Warburge - Fayre and Fayre - Courts ' between abbey and city was finally settled in the city 's favour in 1509 . The Michaelmas fair was already under the city 's control . Horses and cattle were sold at the Chester fairs , supervised by the sheriffs who collected tolls . In the 1560s and 1570s , traders travelled a considerable distance to buy a ' bay nage ' or a blak mare '. In 1575 buyers came from ' wiggen ' , ' gresfort ' , ' denbighe ' and ' nauntwich ' to buy horses from traders from ' manchestr ' , ' canerven ' , ' mongomry ' and
' whicharch ' . ( Tudor Chester C. C. R. O. p.18 )

A recital of the Mayor , Aldermen and sheriffs of the city attributed to c.1573 .
' The buildings are very ancient , and the houses built in such sort : that a man may go dry from one part of the City , to another , and never come in the street , But go , as it were in galleries , which they call ( The Roes ) which have shops , on both sides , and underneath , with dyvers stairs to go up and down , into the streets . which manner of building , I have not heard of , in any place of Christendom .


A Complaint is recorded by Cannon Morris on the 9 October 1564 , that traders did not bring their wares into the Comon Market place , but sold them in places secret to strangers not free , " to the great hinderance , of the City " revenues . " In 1567 , 20 June , it was ordered that no inhabitant of the city should receive any goods into their houses , cellars , sollers , or lofts , to be sold in gross , nor let any part of their houses for such sale
29 oct 37 Eliz And where complaint is now made that wares doe not come to the Comon Hall of this Citie according to the former orders but licensed to be prively laied in men's howses within the said Citie to the greate decaie of the revenewes of this Citie & Contempte of those orders : It is said former orders stande in force & be put in execution in every pointe upon the severall forefectures therin contayned without remission or perdon .
( Morris Tud & Plan p 400 )
1575 In the Handbridge Ward , William Monelye , is reported for " forestalling of the quene's "market . He would not be warned by the constables , but called "them Knaves , and said he would bye in despite of there teth , and " that Mr. Mayor had nothinge to do withe him , with other mis " demeneres . " It happened that he came under punishment in another matter , for " keping of a donge hill in the high strete to " the grete annoyance of his neighboyrs , and to the stopping of the " quene's high waies . "
The butchers were granted a monopoly of the meat trade , in return for swearing to slaughter only ' all suche kind and sorte of victual ' that is good and holsom ' and to ' sell to poor at reasonable prices ' . The butchers privileges were threatened in 1579 , when the entire company was committed to the Northgate gaol for refusing to Kill beef for the market . ' Foreign ' butchers were invited to supply the city and continued to trade after the release of the city butchers .

c 1580 The earliest document to show us what the market square looked like comes from Braun ' s Map . The square had much the same size and shape as it does today , but in the middle of it , opposite the end of Princess Street , were buildings to house the corn and meat markets ( the Shambles )

1581 The citizens obtained from the Queen a grant of the Old Shire Hall it belonged to the county here the forces of the Earls of Chester , or the Sovereign in later times would have summoned to meet and find accomadation for their horse and foot soldiers it was used as a supplement to the resources of the castle . Finding themselves short of a market building the city authorities cast longing eyes at the old building which they considered no longer required for its original purpose . The Mayor opened a correspondence with Lord Burleigh on the subject as to a free grant of the same building as it was for the use of the citizens . The Treasury were not in the mood for to give but would sell for £40 . The Mayor in forwarding the money , with thanks to the Lord Treasurer , said that although the Corporation could not gratify his Lordship as they ought , yet they presumed to send half a dozen cheeses . It was erected in Northgate Street , opposite the Abbey Gate , and mainly used as a shambles by the butchers . ( Gloversone , Chester G. W. Shrubsole, F. G. S. Chester Archaeological Society & Historic Society Chester C. C. Liberia )

1591 The Great Letter Book ( no. 99 ) contains regulations issued by the Maior , William Massey , dealing with the vexed subject of forestalling :---
" Mr Maior of the Citie of Chester myndinge the Comen welthe of the same Citie , And the due and severe execucion of all the statute lawes and leafull orders thereof , tending to the provicion of good and wholesome victuall to be at reasonable prices uttered and should by all inhabitants of this Citie and others that shall repayre to the same without forstallinge , regratinge , fraud , or deceipte , doth admonish and warne all , and all manner of victuallers of what estate or degree so ever they bee , butchers , baker , bruer , fishmonger , Aleseller , hedgebaker , bringers to market of piggie , goose , henne , capen, hicken , will foule of every sorte , that in quite manner in open market they sell the same , And doe observe and keepe the severall pieces and assizes to be appoynted from tyme to tyme uttering all the same of such kynde and sort . ( Morris Tud & Plan p 403 )

1601 Perhaps the most gruesome killing of the period took place during the Michaelmas Fair . When a servant cut a man's throat , then ripped his belly open so that the bowels fell out . The unfortunate victim was able to wrap his bowels in his shirt and lived until he had identified his assailant . ( C. C. R. O. Crime & Punishment p 3 )