The Water Tower (originally known as the New Tower) is a 14th-century tower in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

, England, which is attached by a spur wall to

Bonewaldesthorne's Tower Bonewaldesthorne's Tower is a medieval structure on the northwest corner of the city walls of Chester, Cheshire, England; it is attached by a spur wall to the Water Tower. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated ...

on the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

. The tower, together with its spur wall, is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The original name of the tower was New Tower but in the 17th century it became known as the Water Tower, although the City Assembly tried to insist on the usage of its correct name.

History

The tower was built between 1322 and 1325, at which time it stood in the River Dee. It is attached to Bonewaldesthorne's Tower by a spur wall. The architect was John (de) Helpston who had also designed castles for King Edward II in North Wales. Its prime purpose was to defend the port of Chester, and it was also used to monitor the movements of shipping and to ensure that the custom dues were paid. The cost of the tower and the spur wall was £100 (equivalent to £ as of ). By the end of the 16th century the river had

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel whe ...

ed up and the tower was landlocked. In 1639 the tower was renovated at the city's expense and during the following decade

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...

s in the spur wall were made into gun ports. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

the tower was attacked and damaged. From 1671 it was leased as a storehouse but in 1728 it was described as "useless and neglected". The Chester Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1835. The Institution wished to open a museum to show its artifacts and the city council leased the Water Tower and Bonewaldesthorne's Tower at a nominal rent for this purpose. The museum opened in 1838. The Institution closed in 1876 and the exhibits came into the possession of the city council. Although it was recognised that the tower was not suitable as a museum, there was at the time nowhere else to show all the exhibits. The tower closed as a museum in 1901–02 while the city walls were rebuilt, and re-opened in 1903, attracting 12,000 visitors that season. The towers were closed to the public in 1916 and in the 1920s they were let for non-museum use. In 1954 they were bought by the

Grosvenor Museum Grosvenor Museum is a museum in Chester, Cheshire, in the United Kingdom. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. Its full title is The Grosvenor Museum of Natural History and Archa ...

which reopened them to the public in 1962. The tower is now some inland from the river, and is probably the least-altered of Chester's medieval towers. The Water Tower and the adjacent

have housed a museum of the history of medicine, 'Sick to Death', since August 2016.

Architecture

The tower and spur wall are built in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

. The tower is about high, and the wall is long, just over wide and about high. An archway in the city walls leads to 44 stone steps on the way down to the tower. The wall is

crenellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

; this may be the only surviving example of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

crenellation on the city walls. The tower is circular at its base with a square turret above, in two stages containing octagonal chambers, one above the other. A pointed archway leads from the wall into the lower chamber. In the angle between the tower and the wall was a small

latrine A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground ( pit latrine), or ...

. Five stone steps lead down from the archway through the wall (about thick) to the lower chamber. Formerly in its walls were

s, but these have been blocked and are only visible from the exterior. A circular staircase of 23 steps leads to the upper chamber, which has four embrasures in its walls. Above this is a raised

fighting platform A fighting platform or terraceKaufmann, J.E. and Kaufmann, H.W (2001). ''The Medieval Fortress'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, Da Capo, p. 29. . is the uppermost defensive platform of an ancient or medieval gateway, tower (such as the fighting platfor ...

overlooking the entrance to the tower. The top of the tower is crenellated.

References

{{Chester city walls Buildings and structures completed in 1325 Towers completed in the 14th century

Water Tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conjun ...

Grade I listed buildings in Chester Grade I listed towers Towers in Cheshire

History

Architecture

See also

References