St John the Baptist, Chester

St John the Baptist is a Grade I Church of England parish church on Vicars Lane, Chester, in the Diocese of Chester: the finest eleventh- to twelfth-century church architecture in Cheshire, briefly the cathedral of the medieval see before becoming a parish church at the Dissolution.

Overview

Historic England lists a collegiate church that served briefly as a cathedral and then as co-cathedral with Coventry, and from the Dissolution as a parish church. Fabric dates from the late eleventh, late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, with fourteenth-century work. A supposed central tower collapsed about 1470; the north-west tower was damaged in 1572 and 1574 and collapsed in 1881, destroying the north porch. Much of the transepts and presbytery was abandoned in the mid-sixteenth century. R. C. Hussey restored the nave and crossing in 1859–66; John Douglas rebuilt the porch in 1882 and added a north-east belfry tower in 1886. The sandstone church and adjoining ruins indicate a west front planned with twin towers (the south never built), a nave truncated from six bays to four, a crossing with truncated transepts, and a once five-bay aisled chancel with apse, now reduced. The listing notes the upward broadening and horizontal curves of the nave stonework, recorded by W. H. Goodyear in 1914 as intentional. Ruined portions are a scheduled monument.

The church stands beside the Roman amphitheatre and Grosvenor Park.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1375977
• Parish of Chester