which, being in a very dilapidated state, was removed as a nuisance in
1770. An outwork, in connection with this gate, was raised previous to
the siege of Chester in 1643. This outwork, consisting of a mud wall,
fortified with mounts and bastions, joined the City Wall at the New
Tower, from whence it stretched out to the north-east so far as to take
in Upper Northgate-street; then running eastward, encompassed all the
suburbs on the north of Foregate-street, until it approached Boughton,
when it turned southward, and proceeded in that direction across
Foregate-street at the Bars Gate, down Dee-lane, at the bottom of which
its course was terminated by the river. This outwork withstood a violent
assault by the Puritans under Sir William Brereton, on the 18th July,
1643, wherein the assailants were forced to retire with great loss; but
on the 19th of September, 1645, it was surprised and carried by a night
assault of the enemy, under the command of General Louthian, and was
afterwards occupied by the Puritans as a circumvallation, while
prosecuting the siege of the city.
“In perusing the foregoing sketch of our Walls, with the incidental
notices of contiguous objects, it is presumed, that individuals most
conversant with the localities of the city, will meet with several
particulars, either to gratify their curiosity or add to their
information. And it may also be hoped, that should the account be
read by those who are strangers to our ancient fortifications, and
the peculiar attractions of Chester, it may excite a commendable
inquisitiveness for a personal survey, at the same time that it may
assist as a directory to their inquiries. In whatever point of view
these old ramparts are considered, they possess an imposing interest,
and confer incalculable benefits. To the invalid, the sedentary
student, or the man of business, occupied during the day in his shop
or counting-house; to the habitually indolent, who require excitement
to necessary exercise—to all these, the promenade on Chester Walls
has most inviting attractions, where they may breathe all the
salubrious winds of heaven in a morning or an evening walk. Here the
enthusiastic antiquarian, who would climb mountains, ford rivers,
explore the bowels of the earth, and, regardless of toil and the
claims of nature, exhaust his strength in search of a piece of rusty
cankered brass, or a scrap of Roman earthenware, can scarcely advance
a dozen paces but the pavement on which he treads, or some contiguous
object, forces upon his observation the relics of times of earliest
date. Nor can the philosophic moralist encompass our venerable walls
without having his mind, comparing the splendid and gigantic works of
antiquity with their present condition, strongly impressed with the
mutations produced by the lapse of ages, and the perishing nature of
all mundane greatness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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