Curtain Wall To West And South West Of Inner Bailey

The curtain wall, dating largely from after 1246, forms part of Chester Castle’s Inner Bailey. It incorporates additions and alterations from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries and is constructed of Bunter sandstone ashlar. The wall defines the western side of a rectangular enclosure with a rounded corner to the southwest, built upon a Saxon defensive mound at the west end.

The western front features a semicircular, half-moon tower at the extreme left, with a battered lower level and 19th-century sash windows to the north and east. A battlemented parapet sits above. A low wall connects to the rear of B Block. The curtain wall then proceeds with a battlemented parapet and two early 19th-century horizontal gun slits. At the south-western corner, a series of three buttresses are set back, with an offset. A blocked doorway is situated at ground floor level between the second and third buttress from the left. A tower projects to the right, diminishing in height via an offset before the wall descends with the earth mound. An arched doorway provides access to a sallyport, approached by a 20th-century concrete stairway. A southern curtain wall of 1786 adjoins the right side.

At the rear, an arched sallyport stairway is located to the left, with a stairway leading up to the ramparts immediately to its right. A brick inner face of the wall is visible, along with a stone walkway to the ramparts with 20th-century iron railings. A flag tower projects at the center, built of Bunter sandstone, with a central ground-floor doorway and two openings to the first floor—the left one arched, the right one with a cement lintel. To the right is a projecting early 19th-century house built on the site of Frobisher’s workshop and abutting the rear of the half-moon tower. This house is now of three bays, though it originally extended further left and is rendered with stucco on the front. It has horned sash windows to the first floor with stone cills and lateral ground-floor doors, along with a central bowed oriel of four-by-four horned sash panes. A jagged wall at the left suggests recent demolition.