Places: Chester, St Peter

CHESTER, St PETER

This was one of the nine parishes of the city of Chester. The church building is situated at a central crossroads and the parish always lay entirely within the walls. The remains of the high cross are to be found outside the south door, and the ‘parson’s house’ was situated above the door.

The church building, of red sandstone, is almost square, and underwent a succession of alterations over the centuries, including the removal of the spire. It was originally constructed on the site of the Roman Praetorium and some stone from this was used in the church walls. From the thirteenth century wooden structures adjoined the church on the south side, with shops on the ground floor and the Pentice above. The Pentice building was where the sheriffs’ court met, this had regulated the town’s markets in the medieval period, but its importance had declined by the sixteenth century and the volume of business decreased.

The black and white image of the church in the late seventeenth century is said to be from a drawing by one of the Cheshire antiquarians named Randle Holmes and appears in Ormerod’s History of Cheshire (volume 1, p. 324). It is reproduced courtesy of Hathi Trust. In the image the wooden buildings attached to the church can be clearly seen. The spire was taken down about 1780.

The advowson was owned by Chester Abbey and subsequently by the dean and chapter of the cathedral following the dissolution of the abbey. The living was never appropriated, but it was not a wealthy one. The rectors tended to be absentees in the sixteenth century and paid a succession of curates.

The parish developed a reputation for Puritanism during the reign of Elizabeth, with the establishment of sermons or lectures twice weekly, partly funded by the city corporation.

Sources

George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, 3 vols, London: George Routledge & Sons, 1882), vol 1, pp. 323-327.

Raymond Richards, Old Cheshire Churches (Revised and enlarged edition, Didsbury, 1973).

J S Barrow, J D Herson, A H Lawes, P J Riden and M V J Seaborne, ‘Local government and public services: Law courts’, in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 2, the City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions, ed. A T Thacker and C P Lewis (London, 2005), pp. 20-28. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt2/pp20-28 [accessed 1 January 2023].

J S Barrow, J D Herson, A H Lawes, P J Riden and M V J Seaborne, ‘Churches and religious bodies: Medieval parish churches’, in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 2, the City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions, ed. A T Thacker and C P Lewis (London, 2005), pp. 133-156. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt2/pp133-156 [accessed 1 January 2023].