The elevated tower on the Canal bank belongs to the extensive Shot and
White Lead Manufactory of Messrs. Walker, Parker, and Co., and forms a
prominent object in the different approaches to the City.
The lofty tower which stands at the angle is called
THE PHŒNIX TOWER,
which was formerly used by some of the companies of the city, whose arms
were placed upon it, as a chamber for business. Of these the _Phœnix_,
the crest of the Painters’ and Stationers’ Company, which was put up in
1613, now only remains.
From the summit of this tower, King Charles I. had the mortification to
see his army, under the generalship of Sir Marmaduke Langdale, defeated
by the Parliamentary forces, which were led by General Pointz, at the
battle of Rowton Moor, on the 27th September, 1645. From its elevation
and command of view over the township of Newton, it was formerly called
_Newton’s Tower_. Linked as it is with that eventful battle during one
of the most significant epochs of our national history, it is not
surprising that it is always regarded with intense curiosity, as a
suggestive memorial of most interesting occurrences. The mind is
involuntarily carried back to the period when our country was involved in
the discord, strife, and bloodshed of civil war; and, perhaps, as
involuntarily reflects on the genial and happy change which the progress
of knowledge, freedom, and religion has accomplished in the minds and
institutions of the people. We can now occupy the very spot on which the
hapless monarch beheld the discomfiture of his hopes and power; but can
gaze upon a prospect very different from that which greeted his vision,
and with emotions more grateful than those which then distracted the
monarch’s breast. His Majesty remained that night in Chester, and on the
following day marched with 500 horse into Wales.
Beneath the walls here, deeply cut in the solid rock, is the Ellesmere
and Chester Canal.
Between the Eastgate and Phœnix Tower the remains of the Roman Walls are
conspicuous in the lower courses. At the distance of about seven feet
from the top of the parapet, the Roman portion is terminated by a
cornice, which extends in broken lengths for at least 100 yards.
[Picture: King Charles’ Tower, City Walls, Chester]
In the time of the great Rebellion, a ditch surrounded the Walls, from
the Eastgate to the Water Tower. The view which is obtained from the
elevation of this part of the Walls is very extensive and beautiful. As
you approach the North from the Eastgate, the ranges of Peckforton Hills,
Beeston Castle, and the Forest of Delamere, form the background of the
landscape, marked on the foreground with Waverton and Christleton
churches; and, still nearer, the commodious Railway Station.
Next we arrive at
THE NORTHGATE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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