Watergate Street Row North
Now you see it, now you don’t. This Row is home to one of the brashest exhibitions of Georgian wealth in the city. Yet, you’ll find other parts of this Row are so shy and retiring they’ve completely disappeared from view…
How to use this route
This route is available to listen to as you walk by using the player above or you can follow it using the written guide available below. On the map below you will see a trail made up of numbered points. From the starting point (Number 1), follow along the marked route, making sure to stop and view the points along the way. There are blue map pins indicating points of interest, you can tap or click on these to find out more. When you come to the end of the route, you will see a blue map pin – tap or click on this to reveal more information about the next leg of the tour, and click again to go to the next leg’s route.
Want to find out more?
To delve deeper into The Rows, browse the local history publications in the Visitor Information Centre and public reference library in Storyhouse, both on Northgate Street. Guided tours are available with the Guild of Chester Tour Guides and Roman Tours. For informaton about disabled access, see AccessAble.
Key Trail Information
Duration
10 - 30 Minutes
Start Point
3 Trinity Street, Chester, CH1 2BA, United Kingdom
End Point
1 Northgate Street, Chester, CH1 2HA, United Kingdom
Directions
If you’re confused about why this leg of our trail begins at the junction of Watergate and Trinity Streets and not up on a Row, walk east towards the High Cross to find out more. Observe the shops and houses on your left – notice how they all have flights of stairs leading to their front doors? That’s because the entrances are at Row level. It seems we’ve been locked out of the Row at this point because it has been enclosed.
Once you reach Crook Street, you can join the Row. The steps up to the Row are steep and you’ll emerge beneath one of the lowest ceilings in the network – there’s even a sign urging caution to avoid hitting your head. Consequently, the arches here are more of a peephole on the street beyond.
Walk forward to pass through the front of Booth Mansion (nos 28-34). Its span is identifiable by the two medieval arches, a recessed porch, and a huge, deep stallboard – the large slabs of wood tile or stone between the balustrade and the passageway – in which are embedded two supporting columns. Handsome Booth Mansion was built in 1700 for George Booth of Dunham, 2nd Earl of Warrington, and later became a meeting place for local high society.
Continue on the Row and, just past the bridge, pause to admire Leche House and, further along, God’s Providence House opposite. You can explore these buildings on the Watergate Street Row South leg of our tour. And take time, too, to admire one of the undercrofts at street level, which provide atmospheric venues for shops bars and restaurants.
The Row ends by St Peter’s church. But don’t be tempted to descend the steps. Dip back to the alley directly off the Row signposted for St Peter’s Churchyard.
This cut-through emerges in a courtyard that now doubles as a beer garden for a couple of pubs. Long before this became a final resting place, it was where Roman soldiers would gather to receive their orders and pay. Now head down either of the alleys that lead to Northgate Street and head to the southern end of the colonnade, the starting point for the next part of our circular journey through the Chester Rows.
Download your map of the rows
Artist and illustrator Helen Cann has created a gorgeous, historically-inspired map to help you explore Chester's Rows.
Download the map