The common gaol of the city was in the North Gate, and the prisoners
there confined must have had very close quarters. A similar use of the
North Gate was made at Canterbury (where the building still remains),
and possibly in other places. Just outside the North Gate is the
Hospital of St. John, and here in later years the prisoners attended
divine service. A memorial of this is to be seen in the little bridge
which crossed the fosse, now the Canal, and which has been sometimes
called “The Bridge of Sighs.” Not far from here westward is Morgan’s
Mount, with a lower chamber and an upper platform from which a fine
view may be obtained. During the siege of the city a very important
battery was planted here, and the site may well arouse memories of
anxious and troublous times. Still further west is Pemberton’s Parlour,
so called from the fact that in 1700 John Pemberton established a
rope walk here within the walls, and probably from this spot watched
at times the operations of his workmen, or rested here after his own
labours. Though now semi-circular in shape, it may once have been
circular, with a passage through it. It also bore other names, as
“Dille’s Tower,” or “The Goblin’s Tower,” the latter suggestive of
a ghost story connected with it. An inscription on the city side
records the repair of this portion of the Walls 200 years ago, and
reminds us of those civic functionaries, the murengers, who had
charge of the Walls. The north-west angle of the Walls is marked by
Bonewaldesthorne’s Tower, and connected with it by a battlemented
curtain wall is the New or Water Tower. When the latter was built in
1323 it was washed by the waters of the Dee, and not long since the
rings attached to it for the mooring of vessels might have been seen.
At the present day the Tower rises out of gardens, and the river is
at some little distance away. Continuing our walk southwards we come
to the Roodeye. Formerly, as its name implies, this was an island
surrounded at high tide by the waters of the estuary, but it gradually
silted up. In 1609 Mr. W. Lester, mercer, who was then Mayor, founded,
chiefly at his own cost, the St. George’s Race, which was to be run on
St. George’s Day. This was the origin of the Chester Races, which take
place ordinarily in the first week in May, which would correspond with
old St. George’s Day. On its first foundation the race was introduced
by a stately procession, in which certain emblematical characters took
part, as well as the Mayor and Corporation “in their best apparell and
in scarlet,” and it was followed by a civic banquet at the Pentice. We
may call up such scenes as these as we look over the Racecourse, and
not content ourselves with imagining what things are like, when that
busy throng comes to the Chester Races nowadays. Here, too, were at
times presented the Miracle Plays and city Pageants, and Triumphs and
other games, including that of football, promoted by the Company of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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