DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0069
chester.
by j. h. markland, esq. f. s. a.
Of the magnificent and extensive Collegiate Church, dedicated to St. John the
Baptist, which once existed upon this spot, that part now used as the Parish Church,
and the venerable ruins adjoining, constitute the whole remains. This edifice is
situated on an elevated bank of the river Dee, without the walls, on the eastern side
°f the city of Chester ; and from the antiquity of its foundation, and the singularity
°f its architecture, claims a priority of interest over all the other ecclesiastical struc-
tures in the neighbourhood. With respect to the legendary history of its erection
by Ethelred, King of Mercia, who (according to Giraldus) was admonished by a
vision to build a church in the place where he should find a white hind, it is scarcely
worthy of repetition ; but of the credibility attached to it in former ages, there can
be little doubt. A sculptured representation of this legend was placed on the west
side of the tower, with an inscription, of which the following copy is preserved on a
tablet in the church.
" This Churches antiquitie, the yeare of grace, six hundred, fouerscore and
nyne, as savth mine author, a Britaine, Giraldus ; King Ethelred minding
most the blisse of heaven, edified a colledge-church, notable and famous, in
the suburbs of Chester, pleasant and beauteous in the honour of God, and
the Baptist St. John, with the help of Bushop Wulfrice."
Bishop Tanner is of opinion, that the founder, or at least the first builder of this
church, was not King Ethelred, but the Earl of Mercia, of that name,* who, with
bis wife Ethelfleda, "the undegenerate daughter of the great Alfred,"f restored
the city of Chester, early in the tenth century, after the ravages it had sustained
from the incursions of the Danes. Not long posterior to that period, here was " a
noted Church, or Monastery, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which was repaired
ln the next century by Earl Leofric, and appears to have been endowed with houses
ar)d lands at the time of the Conquerer's survey. When Peter, Bishop of Litchfield,
* Nrtitia Monastica. Cheshire.
t Pennant's Tour in Wales, vol. i. p. 125.
by j. h. markland, esq. f. s. a.
Of the magnificent and extensive Collegiate Church, dedicated to St. John the
Baptist, which once existed upon this spot, that part now used as the Parish Church,
and the venerable ruins adjoining, constitute the whole remains. This edifice is
situated on an elevated bank of the river Dee, without the walls, on the eastern side
°f the city of Chester ; and from the antiquity of its foundation, and the singularity
°f its architecture, claims a priority of interest over all the other ecclesiastical struc-
tures in the neighbourhood. With respect to the legendary history of its erection
by Ethelred, King of Mercia, who (according to Giraldus) was admonished by a
vision to build a church in the place where he should find a white hind, it is scarcely
worthy of repetition ; but of the credibility attached to it in former ages, there can
be little doubt. A sculptured representation of this legend was placed on the west
side of the tower, with an inscription, of which the following copy is preserved on a
tablet in the church.
" This Churches antiquitie, the yeare of grace, six hundred, fouerscore and
nyne, as savth mine author, a Britaine, Giraldus ; King Ethelred minding
most the blisse of heaven, edified a colledge-church, notable and famous, in
the suburbs of Chester, pleasant and beauteous in the honour of God, and
the Baptist St. John, with the help of Bushop Wulfrice."
Bishop Tanner is of opinion, that the founder, or at least the first builder of this
church, was not King Ethelred, but the Earl of Mercia, of that name,* who, with
bis wife Ethelfleda, "the undegenerate daughter of the great Alfred,"f restored
the city of Chester, early in the tenth century, after the ravages it had sustained
from the incursions of the Danes. Not long posterior to that period, here was " a
noted Church, or Monastery, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which was repaired
ln the next century by Earl Leofric, and appears to have been endowed with houses
ar)d lands at the time of the Conquerer's survey. When Peter, Bishop of Litchfield,
* Nrtitia Monastica. Cheshire.
t Pennant's Tour in Wales, vol. i. p. 125.