formerly called _St. Martins of the Ash_, stands at the west end of White Friars and Cuppin-street. It appears to have been an ancient foundation; for it is mentioned in a deed, in the year 1250, wherein Bernard de Trannuille releases to Philip le Clerk a rent of 12d. arising from premises situate “near the Church of St. Martin in Chester.” The old church mentioned in this deed, having fallen into decay, was rebuilt in 1721, as we learn from an inscription on the front of the steeple. The open ground in front of this church bears the name of _Martin’s Ash_, derived in all likelihood from the circumstance of an ash tree having formerly stood on the spot. The parish is now united to that of St. Bridget, and the service in St. Martin’s is discontinued. ST. MARY’S CHURCH, anciently called _Ecclesia Sanctæ Mariæ de Castello_ and _Ecclesia Sanctæ Mariæ super Montem_, but now _St. Mary’s on the Hill_, stands at the upper end of Castle-street, at the extreme verge of the liberties of the city. Although the precise date of the foundation of this church cannot be ascertained, yet it is not improbable that it was one of those founded early in the twelfth century by Lucy, sister of Edwin, Earl of Mercia, and widow of Randle de Meschines, Earl of Chester, a lady remarkable as a benefactress to the “holy church,” even in that church-erecting and endowing age. At all events, St. Mary’s was gifted to the Abbey of St. Werburgh, by Randle Gernons, Earl of Chester, son of the above-named lady, in one of those fits of compunction which usually followed the acts of violence into which his turbulence and ambition frequently led him. Shortly after the dissolution, the Dean and Chapter of St. Werburgh obtained a grant from the Crown of the rectory of St. Mary’s, which was surrendered by Dean Cliffe in 1550, to Sir R. Cotton, by whose agent it was sold for £100 to John Brereton, Esq., of Wettenhall, by whose heirs it was again sold to the Wilbrahams of Dorfold, from whom it passed by marriage to the Hills of Hough, in Wybunbury, from whom it was purchased by the late Marquis of Westminster.