St John the Baptist's Church, Chester

The church was reputedly founded by King Aethelred in AD 689. In 973, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that, after his coronation at Bath, King Edgar of England, came to Chester where he held his court in a palace in a place now known as Edgar's field near the old Dee bridge in Handbridge. Taking the helm of a barge, he was rowed the short distance up the River Dee from Edgar's field to St John the Baptist's Church by six (the monk Henry Bradshaw records he was rowed by eight kings) tributary kings where a royal council was held. During the 11th century, Earl Leofric was a "great benefactor" of the church. In 1075 Peter, Bishop of Lichfield moved the seat of his see to Chester, making St John's his cathedral. Peter's successor moved his seat to Coventry in 1095, In 1468 the central tower collapsed. After the dissolution of the monasteries, much of the east end of the church was demolished and some of it remains as ruins to the east of the present church. Since the Dissolution, it has been a parish church. In 1645, during the siege of Chester when the Royalists held the city for Charles I, the Parliamentary forces besieging the city used the church as a garrison and gun platform from which they bombarded the city and its walls. Between 1859–66 and 1886–87, a Victorian restoration of the church was undertaken by R. C. Hussey. While the northwest tower was being repaired in 1881 it collapsed again, this time destroying the north porch. The porch was rebuilt in 1881–82 by John Douglas who also built the northeast belfry tower in 1886. In 1925 the chapel at the south east corner, then the Warburton chapel, was extended to form a Lady Chapel. ==Architecture==

Exterior The church is built in sandstone. At the west end is the ruined first stage of the northwest tower. The plan of the body of the church consists of a four-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles and a north porch, a crossing with north and south transepts each of one bay, a five-bay chancel with aisles, and chapels at the north and south. The north chapel lies beneath the 1886 belfry tower and is now used as a vestry; the south chapel is the Lady Chapel. To the south of the Lady Chapel is a room known as the Chapter House. The organ case dated 1895 is by Thomas M. Lockwood. A memorial to Lockwood is in the north aisle. The stained glass in the east window dated 1863 was designed by T. M. Penson and made by Clayton and Bell. The west window was designed by Edward Frampton and is dated 1887–1890. In the north aisle is a barely visible wall painting of St John the Baptist. The church contains nine memorial boards by members of the Randle Holme family. Also inside the church are fragments of late Anglo-Saxon stone crosses that are thought to have been originally in the churchyard. The parish registers begin in 1559. ==Gallery==

File:S03 06 01 009 image 1135.jpg File:S03 06 01 009 image 1137.jpg File:S03 06 01 009 image 1138.jpg File:S03 06 01 009 image 1139.jpg File:S03 04 01 002 image 69.jpg File:S03 04 01 002 image 65.jpg File:S03 04 01 002 image 64.jpg File:St John The Baptist Church.jpg|Nave looking east File:East window of St John's Church, Chester.jpg|The east window, depicting the wedding feast at Cana File:West window of St John's Church, Chester.jpg|The west window, depicting the history of Chester ==External features==

Outside the church to the east are ruined remains including parts of former chapels, The exterior of the church contains a few tombstones that remain in their original positions. The vast majority of the gravestones have now been repositioned and laid to the ground forming the footpaths immediately in front of the church. In 2009 a research project recorded the inscriptions on the remaining tombs and gravestones. The nearby Anchorite's Cell, Chester was originally associated with the church. ==See also==