Later medieval Chester 1230-1550: Economy and society, 1230-1350

Economy and society, 1230-1350

By the 1230s Chester was a prosperous trading centre with a market of regional importance, two fairs, and a port. Its economy continued to expand, stimulated by royal interest and its role as a supply centre for royal enterprises in Wales, which more than compensated for the resultant temporary interruptions to the Welsh trade. (fn. 1) The late 13th and early 14th century probably saw the peak of the city's prosperity in the Middle Ages.

The city and its hinterland

One pillar of Chester's economy remained its dominance over an extensive, if relatively impoverished hinterland. Its twice-weekly market was without serious rival between north-east Wales and the Marches to the west, Derby to the east, Shrewsbury to the south, and Lancaster and perhaps beyond to the north. (fn. 2) Marketing was concentrated in the two open spaces by St. Peter's church and the abbey gate, but also spread into the main streets. (fn. 3) The main commodities were agricultural. Cattle were kept by the citizens on the town fields and on Saltney marsh (Flints.) and were brought into Chester from the Dee valley, Wirral, and north Wales; pigs were driven to market from forests as far distant as Ewloe (Flints.) and Delamere. (fn. 4) Livestock entered the city at the Eastgate and the Bridgegate, the beast market probably being located (as later) near the latter, while dairy produce and meat were sold at or near the Cross. (fn. 5) War undoubtedly stimulated the local market; besides the large quantities of victuals brought into the city by royal order to supply the army, the merchants of Chester were expected to find further provisions themselves. (fn. 6)

The fish market served a wide area including the Welsh Marches. (fn. 7) Salmon, lampreys, and eels were taken from the earl's fishery by the Dee Bridge, (fn. 8) while sea fish such as herring, cod, flatfish, and sparling, and shellfish such as oysters, mussels, and whelks were caught locally or imported from Ireland and the Isle of Man. (fn. 9) Herring from the Irish Sea was especially important. (fn. 10) By the earlier 14th century tolls were taken on fish at all the main gates, especially the Watergate and the Northgate, the point of entry for sea fish and shellfish landed at the outports in the Dee estuary. (fn. 11)

Corn was much less abundant. Though there was a corn market in Eastgate Street by the 1270s, and though some corn was undoubtedly grown in the county and by the citizens themselves in the town fields, considerable quantities of wheat and barley had to be brought in from further afield, principally Ireland. (fn. 12) The grain was not simply for home consumption: the city also acted as a centre for distribution throughout its region. Although trade with the native Welsh was suspended during Edward I's campaigns, such disruption was more than counterbalanced by the citizens' provisioning of the English armies, (fn. 13) and with the establishment of peace Chester resumed its wider distributive role. (fn. 14) The extremely high farm of the Dee Mills throughout the 13th and earlier 14th century perhaps reflected toll income resulting from Chester's role as an entrepôt for wheat, oats, barley, and malt. (fn. 15)

Pre-eminent among raw materials marketed in the city was salt, brought there from the Cheshire wiches and sold as far afield as Dublin and Ruthin (Denb.). (fn. 16) Additional commodities included coal, mined at Ewloe and Buckley (Flints.) by the early 14th century and carried to Chester by both land and water. (fn. 17) Lead mined at Holywell, and iron mined at Ewloe and smelted in Hopedale (all Flints.) were also conveyed to the city, especially for use in the royal castles of Chester and Beeston. (fn. 18) In 1311 the lead mines of Englefield were leased to the important merchant William (III) of Doncaster, whose home was in Chester. (fn. 19)

Chester and its environs were plentifully supplied with timber and brushwood, used for making weapons for the royal army in Wales and for fuel. The main sources of supply were the woods of the abbey and the earl. Citizens were licensed to take timber from and make charcoal in certain of the earl's woods and also obtained fuel from his park at Shotwick, which in the mid 14th century supplied a Chester baker with 10,000 faggots. (fn. 20) Bark was also brought from local woods and further afield for use in the tanning industry. (fn. 21)

The city's importance as a regional market was reinforced by its role as the capital of the earldom. The fact that the castle was the seat of the justice of Chester or his representative, of the chamberlain and clerks of the exchequer, and of a county court which did not itinerate and which acknowledged no superior jurisdiction, entailed the permanent presence of important officials and encouraged the attendance of the local gentry as doomsmen and suitors. (fn. 22) The grand stone house which the Thorntons inherited from Peter the clerk, (fn. 23) and the stone chamber built by Ranulph of Oxford, chamberlain of Chester, (fn. 24) were a measure of their impact on the city. Local gentlemen were also involved in city life as serjeants of the principal gates; the Raby family, for example, as heirs of Philip the clerk held the Bridgegate, together with land in the city and Claverton, and the manor of Raby in Wirral. (fn. 25) In addition rich merchants from a wide area were attracted to Chester to register bonds enforcing agreements under Statute Merchant. (fn. 26) The presence of such people encouraged a market in expensive domestic articles, including fine pottery, bronze bowls and cauldrons, ecclesiastical and secular plate, and jewellery. (fn. 27)

Chester's continuing importance as an ecclesiastical centre provided further economic stimulus. St. Werburgh's remained the richest abbey in the North-West, with far-flung possessions and a wide range of influential contacts. The maintenance of its forty monks and its considerable hospitality to visitors, especially grandees travelling to Ireland and north Wales, required a wide range of commodities. (fn. 28) St. John's also retained importance as the seat of the archdeacon of Chester and his court. (fn. 29) Though its canons were often nonresident, well-to-do 'masters' (magistri, perhaps ecclesiastical lawyers) maintained property in its environs and elsewhere within the city. (fn. 30)

By the 13th century Chester's Midsummer fair lasted a month and the Michaelmas fair a fortnight. (fn. 31) The significance of the Midsummer fair is attested by the citizens' largely successful struggle in the late 13th century to wrest control from the abbot of St. Werburgh's. (fn. 32) Commodities included salt, coal, horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, sacks of wool, pelts, and copper or bronze pots and bowls. (fn. 33) Cloth was also important. (fn. 34)

The growing commercial importance of the fairs is suggested by arrangements made c. 1260, whereby Wymark, widow of John the tailor, divided her property with Hugh the tailor, presumably her son, and agreed to take down the wall which separated her holding from his during fair time, thus giving Hugh extra space which he presumably required at a busy time. (fn. 35) The impact of the fairs upon the region as a whole is indicated by the fact that policing fell in part upon landholders living as far away as Crewe (in Coppenhall), (fn. 36) and by the existence within the county of rural serjeants of passage who protected routeways to Chester during fair time. (fn. 37)

There was perhaps a sequence of local small-scale summer fairs in the environs of Chester, linked with the main one in the city. Thus the dates of Bromborough fair, established in 1278, were timed to dovetail exactly with the opening of Chester's Midsummer fair. (fn. 38)

The port and long-distance trade

The port and its anchorages, which extended from Portpool at the edge of the liberty along the western shore of Wirral to Redbank in Thurstaston, (fn. 39) were the focus of longshore trade with north Wales, involving not only fish, timber, bark, and coal, but also slate and millstones from as far afield as Ogwen (Caern.) and Anglesey. In the other direction, there was traffic with Cheshire ports such as Frodsham and Runcorn. (fn. 40) There was also long-distance trade, above all with Ireland, which by 1237 was a major source of foodstuffs. (fn. 41) The province sent large quantities of victuals to Chester whenever the king visited the city or made an expedition into north Wales. Irish corn was Chester's speciality; (fn. 42) for wine Bristol and Boston (Lincs.) were much more important. (fn. 43)

The Irish trade continued under Edward I, (fn. 44) and was promoted by the abbot of Vale Royal and his Chester agent, Robert le Barn. (fn. 45) It rose to a peak during the campaign of 1282-3, when foodstuffs, including peas, beans, wine, salmon, cheese, and salted meat as well as corn, flowed through Chester in quantities which far exceeded those from any other province apart from Ponthieu. (fn. 46) The extraordinary demands imposed by Edward left the city itself starved of supplies. (fn. 47) The 1290s, and especially Edward's third campaign, saw renewed activity, with Dublin still the main point of contact, (fn. 48) although there were also more casual links with other ports in south-east Ireland, including Wexford and Waterford. (fn. 49) William (III) of Doncaster and other leading Chester merchants continued to supply Irish victuals to the king's castles in Wales, (fn. 50) and occasionally to the royal armies until the 1320s, (fn. 51) but thereafter the trade seems to have declined in importance, reviving only at the end of the century. (fn. 52)

Besides corn and other foodstuffs Ireland was also a source of cloth, (fn. 53) and more importantly of furs and hides. Furs were evidently a significant and characteristic element in Chester's trade in the mid 13th century, (fn. 54) and pelts were still being sold at the fairs in the earlier 14th. (fn. 55) Hides and lambskins were sold in the city itself and occasionally exported in small quantities. (fn. 56) The presence of tawyers in Chester by the 1290s (fn. 57) indicates a trade in light fine skins, which probably came largely from Ireland. (fn. 58)

Chester's exports to Ireland are less certain. They included pottery, mainly tableware, floor tiles, and roof tiles, (fn. 59) small quantities of wool and hides, (fn. 60) and occasionally live animals from the royal parks and forests. (fn. 61) As later, the Irish also undoubtedly imported salt, (fn. 62) and by the earlier 14th century Chester may also have been one of the ports through which they obtained fine cloth from London and the Midlands. (fn. 63)

Other important overseas contacts were with Gascony, particularly noted as the source of wine, shipped from Bordeaux. The prestige attached to the trade is evident from the high status of Chester's vintners, at least two of whom were sheriffs of the city in the 13th century, (fn. 64) and from the fact that in 1237 the burgesses offered two tuns of wine for the rent of one of the Dee Mills. (fn. 65) There is, however, no evidence of a prise (customs duty) being exacted on wine in the earlier 13th century, and it is uncertain whether what was on sale had been imported directly from abroad or represented the castle's surplus from purchases elsewhere in England. (fn. 66)

By the mid 13th century royal activity was stimulating demand in the Chester market. As early as 1241 the justice, John le Strange, purchased wine there to be sent to Shrewsbury and Rhuddlan. (fn. 67) The quantities obtainable in Chester were, however, insufficient for the king's needs. Wine was bought at Boston fair in 1238, 1245, and 1258, at Bristol in 1245 and 1260, and from Ireland in 1241. (fn. 68) By c. 1260 it was also imported directly from Bordeaux. (fn. 69) Besides the king, who stored wine in the castle, (fn. 70) importers and purchasers included in the 1270s the abbot of Vale Royal, (fn. 71) and in 1304 William (III) of Doncaster, acting partly on behalf of Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln. (fn. 72) In 1322 William was also involved, with seven other leading Chester merchants, in shipping merchandise including 105 tuns of wine from Bordeaux to Chester, but the vessel which they chartered was attacked by armed men off Anglesey and its cargo was lost or damaged. (fn. 73) The trade remained an exotic feature of Chester's economy throughout the earlier 14th century. Yet despite the involvement of many important local men, among whom at least five citizens owned ships which made the journey to Bordeaux, the amounts of wine imported appear to have been very small in comparison with the trade of London and Bristol, a reflection of Chester's underpopulated and underdeveloped hinterland. (fn. 74)

Pottery, especially the mottled green and polychrome jugs of Saintonge, came with the wine. Similar wares found at castles and monasteries in north Wales perhaps also arrived with wine imported at Chester. Their disappearance from the city and elsewhere after the mid 14th century was the result of economic decline, or at least of the disruption of trade with the onset of the Hundred Years' War. (fn. 75) Small quantities of English pottery contemporaneous with that from Saintonge included Ham Green wares, the Bristol provenance of which may also indicate an association with the wine trade. (fn. 76) There were also small amounts of pottery from northern France, and Stamford or 'Midlands' ware. (fn. 77)

Hampered by the slender resources of its hinterland, Chester participated in only a modest way in the wool trade. Its merchants obtained small quantities of wool for export or to supply the local gentry mainly from monasteries in north Wales. (fn. 78) Sacks of wool were also sold at the Chester fairs. (fn. 79) International trade was hindered by Chester's lack of integration into the national customs system; although collectors of customs were appointed from time to time, the city was never included among the staple towns and never received the cocket seal, the royal authorization for the export of wool, wool fells, and hides. (fn. 80) Hence a rich local merchant such as Doncaster exported wool from east-coast ports. (fn. 81)

The city thus played only a limited role in the king's efforts to raise revenue through the vast wool purchases of the late 1330s. By 1338 the four leading merchants of Chester who had been appointed takers and buyers of wool in Cheshire and Flintshire had purchased only 200 sacks, a fraction of what was obtained in adjacent counties. (fn. 82) Similarly, only three of Chester's merchants were among those lending to the king in 1338-9. The modest sums involved were to be repaid by a reduction of the wool custom for which the lenders were liable, and for all three Cestrians the port at which the allowance was made was London; like William of Doncaster before them, Chester merchants who participated in the wool trade in the 1330s did so through the capital. (fn. 83) Such activity as there was in their home town was largely illicit; in 1343 Chester was named as a place to which wool bought below the fixed price was taken to evade customs. (fn. 84)

Chester's participation in the cloth trade was also modest. Some cloth was made locally, for there were fulling mills on the south bank of the Dee by the mid 14th century, (fn. 85) but the material was probably limited in both quality and quantity. In 1245, indeed, Henry III had to buy cloth at Boston to meet his needs at Chester, (fn. 86) and although by the 1270s merchants of the city were supplying the royal garrisons at Chester and Beeston, they were probably importing material for that purpose. (fn. 87) In the late 13th and early 14th century one source of supply was Ireland. (fn. 88) Others included London and Coventry, which sent good quality cloth to Chester for export and presumably also for local use. (fn. 89) By 1300 a wide variety of cloth was marketed in Chester, including green worsted, bluet, and linen from Normandy, (fn. 90) an important means of distribution being the fairs. (fn. 91)

Tolls, customs, and prises

Tolls were taken at the city's gates by the late 13th century and probably long before. (fn. 92) In the reign of Edward II (1307-27), when they were recorded in detail, they were levied on the goods of 'foreign' merchants as they entered and left the city, the citizens themselves being exempt. At the Eastgate, the principal entry for landborne traffic and the only gate at which tolls could be paid in cash, there was a tariff for wool, salt, coal, timber, 'long boards', bark for tanning, turf, knives, cups, dishes, and tankards. Merchandise produced within Cheshire, including corn, malt, lead, iron, steel, and livestock, was exempt. (fn. 93) At the Northgate the serjeant took toll on a wide variety of sea fish and shellfish, ale, fruit, sheep, timber, shingles, coal, firewood, and turf. At the Bridgegate tolls were taken on cattle brought in from Wales, fish and shellfish of various kinds, hops, nuts, firewood, turf, coal, timber, shingles, laths, bark for tanning, knives, cups, and dishes. Levies were presumably also made at the two adjacent gates, the Shipgate and the Horsegate, for which the serjeant of the Bridgegate was also responsible. The commodities which passed through the Watergate were similar, and included barley, various kinds of fish, coal, cups, dishes, and knives. (fn. 94)

In the late 13th century the tolls levied at the gates were disputed. In 1290, for example, the citizens challenged the serjeant Hugh of Raby's rights at the Bridgegate, and in 1293 the serjeant of the Eastgate, Robert of Bradford, was charged with taking unauthorized customs. (fn. 95) Others charged with taking illegal tolls included the abbot of Chester, who was extracting levies (vadia) from traffic on the road from Portpool to the Northgate, (fn. 96) and one of the serjeants of the city, who had taken prises from dealers and fishermen bringing fish into Chester by water. (fn. 97) The problem remained unresolved in the early 14th century, (fn. 98) and in 1314 the keepers of all four gates were found guilty of abusing their position, in particular of taking unauthorized custom on commodities produced in the shire and from fishing boats coming to the anchorage at Portpool and to the harbour proper. (fn. 99) Even so, in 1349 the serjeant of the Eastgate was still maintaining his right to tolls on many items declared exempt in 1314. (fn. 100)

All that is known of the port customs between the mid 11th and late 13th century is that 'due prises' existed. By the 1270s, however, it is clear that wine was among the items on which prisage was taken. (fn. 101) In the 1280s or early 1290s a collector was appointed, an eminent Chester merchant, (fn. 102) and in the early 14th century the money so raised was treated as revenue of the earldom. Prisage, which was also levied on timber, bark, and coal as well as wine, (fn. 103) was distinguished from custom, in theory levied upon alien merchants, but apparently not collected until the 1380s, presumably because alien merchants did not import wine through Chester in the earlier 14th century. (fn. 104)

In other respects Chester's relationship to the national customs system is obscure. Although not included in the custom on wool, wool fells, and hides, inaugurated in 1275, (fn. 105) it was mentioned in the new custom of 1303, when two former mayors were appointed collectors in the city and the Welsh ports as far south as Haverfordwest (Pemb.). (fn. 106) Despite a trickle of royal instructions thereafter, (fn. 107) custom on wool, wool fells, and hides was levied only in that year, when local merchants paid duty amounting to just over £19 to the chamberlain of Chester. (fn. 108) Thereafter no further payment was recorded and from 1320 the chamberlain noted that custom was not taken at Chester because the cocket seal had not been issued to the port. (fn. 109) In 1343 the city was expressly excluded from the national customs system and closed to the export of wool. (fn. 110) It was again excluded from collection when the custom on cloth was extended to native merchants in 1347. (fn. 111)

Tolls were also levied by the citizens themselves. Indeed, in the later 1270s a 'custom of boats' and minor tolls were included with the revenues of the city. (fn. 112) Such customs had probably been regulated from the mid 13th century by the guild merchant, which certainly by 1319 exacted payment from alien merchants for the sale of merchandise including herring, salmon, and eels. (fn. 113)

Further taxes levied on merchandise by the citizens included murage and pavage for repairing the walls and paving the streets. Murage was the subject of a royal grant to the citizens from the mid 13th century, but usually there is no indication of how the money was raised. In 1279, however, the mayor and citizens were granted a three-year pavage of ½d. on every cartload of firewood or coals brought into the city. (fn. 114) Later, the leavelookers, as the wardens of the guild merchant became known, made a fixed levy on all merchandise sold by aliens within the city whenever a murage was granted. (fn. 115)

Trades and industries

Agriculture was of prime importance. Besides the rich and successful who bought rural manors, (fn. 116) many Cestrians had holdings in the town fields, which lay all round the city, both within the liberties (fn. 117) and just outside, in the townships of Bache, (fn. 118) Claverton, (fn. 119) and Newton by Chester. (fn. 120) They were divided into strips and in some areas, such as Newbold and the Gorse Stacks, included both arable and non-arable land. (fn. 121) In addition, the citizens had common rights of pasture on Hoole heath and on the meadows situated beside the Dee in Saltney, both lying outside the liberties. (fn. 122) They also kept cattle on private pastures north of the city. (fn. 123)

The most productive fishery remained that by the Dee Bridge, which belonged to the earl and from the 1270s was leased to the farmers of the Dee Mills for the large annual rent of £50. (fn. 124) In addition, St. Werburgh's and other local religious houses had their own 'free' boats on the Dee, and by c. 1300 the privilege had been extended to several prominent citizens, including Sir Peter Thornton, Geoffrey of Meols, Richard the clerk, Robert the chamberlain, and Hugh the mercer. (fn. 125) Others owned or leased stalls and nets in the river, (fn. 126) or had rights in more distant fisheries off Wirral. (fn. 127)

The mills, which retained their monopoly over grinding and their remarkable profitability, were probably also used, as later, by inhabitants of nearby areas outside the liberties. Throughout the period they produced huge amounts of malt and flour; (fn. 128) the scale of operations at their peak is indicated by the fact that in 1283 the king reduced the farm by only a fourth to compensate for the grinding of 1,752 quarters of wheat for his men during seven months in the previous year. (fn. 129)

The earl's millers enforced their rights vigorously, (fn. 130) and their impact on city life was considerable. In the 1260s and 1270s they witnessed numerous grants of property within the liberties, (fn. 131) and held land and rents in Castle Lane and Lower Bridge Street. (fn. 132) By the 1290s there were at least five millers, serving as judgers, jurymen, and pledgers in the city sessions of the county court. (fn. 133) Some operated at the Dee Mills, (fn. 134) others probably at the abbot's mill at Bache. (fn. 135) Among the latter, David the miller was especially notable: sheriff at least twice in the 1280s and 1290s, (fn. 136) and a frequent witness to enrolments in the portmote, (fn. 137) he owned property in Northgate Street and Bache and a malt kiln in or near the corn market, and was tenant of all the abbot's holdings in Bridge Street, for which he returned a doomsman to the portmote. (fn. 138) After 1300, although still apparently numerous, millers became less prominent in city life. (fn. 139)

The city's role as a regional capital, a stopping place on the routes to Ireland and Wales, and a centre for the production and sale of malt, ensured that brewing remained important. By 1306 there were at least 19 brewers, but many had additional occupations; among those involved were such notable personages as William (III) of Doncaster, and Hugh, agent of the abbot of Vale Royal, whose Chester tenants included several brewers. Others were of much humbler status, including a cook and two women amerced 'for defect of hops'. (fn. 140)

Retailing was a major activity within the city from the earlier 13th century, taking place not only at the stalls set up at markets and fairs, but in permanent premises already called 'shops' (shopae). The shops were generally small, sometimes little more than a lock-up 3 metres by 2 metres, (fn. 141) and at most the size of the ground floor of a modest plot, say 8.5 metres by 2.5 metres. (fn. 142) By the earlier 14th century such structures were found not just in the four main streets, but in many of the lesser ones, including Castle Street, Pepper Street, Parsons Lane (later Princess Street), Fleshmongers Lane (later Newgate Street), and St. John's Lane. (fn. 143) They were especially numerous outside the Eastgate in Foregate Street, where by the mid 14th century the bishop of Lichfield held 15 shops with gardens. (fn. 144) Initially, however, the main concentration was in the centre of the city around St. Peter's. At least four abutted the church itself by 1220, and from the mid 13th century shops also stood next to it in Northgate and Watergate Streets, and opposite it in Eastgate and Bridge Streets. (fn. 145) By the late 13th century in the main streets they were on two levels, in the arrangement already known as the Rows. (fn. 146)

From the first, shops were often grouped by trade. In the city centre Rows were devoted to butchers, bakers, cooks, ironmongers, and cobblers by the early 14th century, and in Foregate Street there were jewellers. (fn. 147) Similar groupings of traders also occurred in the selds, which in Chester, as elsewhere, are most plausibly viewed as 'private bazaars' into which were gathered a number of stalls selling a particular form of merchandise, such as skins or woollen cloth, perhaps under specially privileged regulations. (fn. 148) The Chester selds, which were almost invariably in the ownership of prominent civic families, were concentrated on the west side of Bridge Street in front of the common hall and northwards to the Cross. Their heyday was the later 13th century, when commercial pressures were such that they were being subdivided (fn. 149) and occasionally enlarged at the expense of private accommodation. The Tailors' seld, for example, appears to have originated as a large house near the common hall which was progressively given over to trade in the 1260s and 1270s, and at least in part retained the same functions in 1315, when it belonged to the Erneys family. (fn. 150) By the mid 14th century the selds were in decline; their multiplicity of owners was reflected in physical subdivision into sections, some at least of which were vacant and unlettable. (fn. 151)

Especially prominent among the retailers were the purveyors of victuals. The butchers, who profited from the demand created by the garrisons of the royal castles, (fn. 152) were numerous and well organized and seem to have enjoyed comparatively high status, making frequent appearances in city suits and pleas. (fn. 153) By the mid 14th century they had evolved common codes of practice which from time to time brought them into conflict with the city authorities; they were by then being required to reduce the nuisance which they caused in the city centre by obstructing the highway and hanging carcasses above their tabulae, possibly stallboards in front of Fleshers' Row. (fn. 154) By 1349 they were subject to competition from country butchers, who were allowed to trade in the city on Mondays. (fn. 155)

Other victuallers located near the Cross included the fishmongers, whose fishboards were at the east end of Watergate Street. (fn. 156) On the other side of the Cross, in Eastgate Street, were the bakers, whose premises were in Bakers' Row, conveniently close to the corn market and to St. Giles's bakehouse, which by the 14th century they rented from the Doncasters, who leased it from St. Giles's hospital. (fn. 157) Other bakehouses in which prominent merchants held shares were presumably near by. (fn. 158) Numbering about 16 in 1300, the bakers formed a prominent group in the city, acting as pledgers and assessors in the county court; (fn. 159) they served a wide area, and were prosperous enough to be fined heavily for offences against the assize of bread. (fn. 160)

Of even higher status were the spicers and vintners. In the later 13th century members of both groups served as sheriffs, doomsmen, jurors, and witnesses to land grants enrolled in the portmote. (fn. 161) Some were clearly men of property. (fn. 162) As a luxury trade, wine in particular attracted rich merchants who dealt with a wide variety of expensive merchandise, men such as Hugh of Brickhill, William (III) of Doncaster, and Richard Russell. (fn. 163)

Lower down the social scale, the cooks, (fn. 164) saucemakers, (fn. 165) water carriers, (fn. 166) and taverners (fn. 167) rarely if ever achieved civic office. The cooks, who appear to have been especially numerous, were sufficiently well organized by the earlier 14th century to be concentrated in a Row, (fn. 168) but the taverners were more scattered, operating throughout the main streets from undercrofts beneath the Rows. (fn. 169)

Among the city's most numerous and important traders were those involved in the preparation and sale of furs and leather: skinners, tanners, cordwainers or corvisers, cobblers, tawyers, saddlers, and glovers. The skinners were especially prominent in the earlier 13th century, when one of their number was a doomsman of the portmote who witnessed numerous local charters and held land in Bridge Street, probably within the prime commercial area of the selds. (fn. 170) In the later 13th century other members of the craft were active in the abbot's manor court and sold land to William (III) of Doncaster in the 1290s. (fn. 171) After 1300, however, they seem to have been less prominent in civic life.

The tanners were much less grand, (fn. 172) and because of the noisome nature of their trade were located outside the walls, especially in St. John's Lane. (fn. 173) They probably always held themselves apart from the tawyers, cordwainers, and cobblers who were particularly numerous in Chester, (fn. 174) with premises in Foregate Street, Pepper Street, and especially Corvisers' Row in front of the selds in Bridge Street. (fn. 175) By the mid 14th century the terms cordwainer, corviser, and cobbler seem to have become interchangeable, and those so designated formed a single powerful group, the shoemakers (sutores), one of the first to distinguish itself as a separate craft. By 1351 they were embarked upon an ultimately successful challenge to the tanners' longestablished monopoly over the preparation of leather. (fn. 176)

The saddlers and glovers apparently formed separate groups. (fn. 177) The saddlers were established in a Row in Bridge Street by the 1340s and perhaps by the 1290s, when the Erneys family owned three shops 'among the saddlers', perhaps associated with their seld. (fn. 178) Glovers were established in Eastgate Street and Foregate Street in the earlier 13th century, (fn. 179) and perhaps dressed their leather at features known as glover stones, located near the castle, the Eastgate, and the churches of St. Peter and St. Michael. (fn. 180)

Cloth had probably been sold in the selds from the mid 13th century, (fn. 181) presumably by the mercers who by then constituted an important element in the civic élite, serving as mayors and sheriffs, county escheators, and collectors of local prises and customs. (fn. 182) As elsewhere, they probably dealt primarily in fine textiles, (fn. 183) though in Chester their concerns extended beyond a single commodity. In the late 13th and early 14th century, for example, Robert le Prudemercer (d. 1295) and his son and grandson not only traded in cloth but had a boat on the Dee and shops and other property in the Rows, Watergate Street, Fleshmongers Lane, the Crofts, and elsewhere. (fn. 184)

The tailors were of more varied status. Apparently numerous, they often witnessed property transactions and were occasionally doomsmen, pledgers, and the owners of selds. (fn. 185) They seem to have developed a sense of corporate identity relatively early for Chester: by the early 14th century they apparently met annually at an exclusive feast, (fn. 186) and if accused of bad workmanship put themselves upon the protection of their fellows. (fn. 187) Such solidarity seems to have given them an advantage over the drapers, who were said to be losing ground to them in the mid 14th century. (fn. 188)

Clothworkers were a late and relatively junior group within the city. Nevertheless, by the 1290s Chester contained a number of fullers or walkers, presumably employed at the mills at the Handbridge end of the weir. (fn. 189) The presence of dyers, (fn. 190) chaloners, (fn. 191) and shearmen (fn. 192) suggests that the main activity was finishing rather than making cloth. (fn. 193)

Pottery, made from local boulder clays, was a significant industry throughout the period, much of it produced by the city's religious communities. (fn. 194) There were kilns within the precincts of St. Werburgh's, the nunnery, and at least one of the friaries, and also on an extramural site north of Foregate Street and east of Frodsham Street. (fn. 195) Products included tableware and tiles, especially line-impressed floor tiles bearing distinctive and consistent patterns. From the late 13th century such tiles were installed in highquality and elaborate assemblages in the religious houses which produced them, (fn. 196) and were also sold to local merchants for use in their own dwellings and for export, especially to Ireland. (fn. 197) Their number and quality were such that their designs were widely copied in and around Dublin. (fn. 198) Similar wares were also produced in north Wales, perhaps because in the late 13th century potters were sent from the city to work alongside Edward I's English builders. (fn. 199)

Goldsmiths played an important part in city life from an early date, serving as doomsmen in the portmote and jurors at local inquisitions. (fn. 200) Concentrated in Eastgate Street and Foregate Street, (fn. 201) they were clearly relatively numerous; at least seven may be identified, for example, in the decade 1292-1302. (fn. 202) Other metalworkers included bellfounders, cutlers, and smiths, working in forges in Lower Bridge Street and Foregate Street. (fn. 203) More distinctive were the quite numerous craftsmen involved in making and maintaining armour and weaponry in the late 13th and early 14th century, including bowyers, fletchers, and furbishers. (fn. 204) The castle was a centre of expertise in those trades and contained officials such as an artillery maker, who serviced weaponry in Flint and Rhuddlan. (fn. 205)

The castle presumably formed an important base for the building trades in the late 13th and early 14th century. Although masons occurred only rarely in the records, (fn. 206) the city was the home of Richard the engineer and his son Amaury, and Robert the mason rented the Northgate in 1303-4. (fn. 207) Carpenters were more prominent, and seem to have been located especially in Castle Lane and Bridge Street. (fn. 208) Other workers in wood included numerous turners (fn. 209) and coopers. (fn. 210)

Leading merchants and citizens

At the peak of Chester's commercial community stood a small group of merchants, often interrelated and dealing with a wide range of commodities, mostly of high value and distributed through long-distance or overseas trade. They had few if any foreign rivals. (fn. 211) Such men belonged to families which had led the guild merchant since the early 13th century and had obtained an increasing grip on the principal civic offices, including the shrievalty, as the century progressed. (fn. 212) Their activities are well illustrated by the operation of the wine trade. By the late 13th century the shipping of wine was in the hands of men like Hugh of Brickhill, whose ship the Nicolase was sent to Gascony in 1283 stocked with hides and armour for the king's knights, and was commissioned to return with wine and other victuals for the royal army in Wales. (fn. 213) By the early 14th century William (III) of Doncaster had become a leading shipper. (fn. 214) Such men were also involved in retail and distribution; William of Doncaster and Roger Blund, for example, stored wine in their cellars before selling it to customers who included the royal earl. (fn. 215) They were not, however, specialist wine merchants. Even a merchant like Richard Spillering, who bought wine for the abbot of Vale Royal in 1279 and supplied the royal earl in the early 14th century, purchased goods other than wine on his trips overseas. (fn. 216)

For a brief period in the late 13th and early 14th century, when Chester was probably at the height of its medieval prosperity, the city was the home of figures of national significance, such as Richard the engineer and William of Doncaster, both of whom served as mayor. Richard followed his profession locally, supervising projects at Chester abbey (fn. 217) and royal works throughout Cheshire, (fn. 218) and was also heavily involved in quite different trades as farmer of the Dee Mills and fishery from the 1270s until his death in 1315. (fn. 219) He was active in farming, especially cattle, (fn. 220) and also held much property in the city, including a mansion next to St. Olave's church in Lower Bridge Street and other houses in Bridge Street and Watergate Street. (fn. 221) Mayor in 1305-6, (fn. 222) his influence on Chester was clearly considerable. (fn. 223)

Richard's career illustrates the scale on which rich Cestrians might invest in land in the environs of the city. By the 1290s he already owned three messuages and 50 acres of land in Hoole. (fn. 224) His most important acquisitions, however, lay south of the city. From 1284 he was buying land in Eccleston and Pulford, and in 1294 he settled the manor of Eaton on his daughter when she married. (fn. 225) He continued to deal in land in the area and eventually assembled a large estate focused on Belgrave (in Eaton), a manor house whose elaborate moat he may well have constructed himself. (fn. 226) The family ceased to reside in Chester in 1321, when the house in Lower Bridge Street was sold, presumably because Richard's sons preferred to establish themselves as country gentlemen at Belgrave and elsewhere. (fn. 227)

The Doncasters, who provide an even more striking instance of wide-ranging commercial activity and the accumulation of multifarious assets, continued to live in Chester for at least a century (c. 1250-1350). The earliest known member of the family, William, prior of St. Werburgh's, died in 1259. (fn. 228) A second William was buying land near St. Peter's in the 1270s, (fn. 229) and by 1300 he and his relatives had acquired land all over Chester. (fn. 230) Their principal residence was in Watergate Street, a large mansion associated with shops and undercrofts, for which a doomsman was returned to the portmote and which was decorated with paintings in 1297. (fn. 231) Their holdings were especially concentrated upon the commercially valuable land at the city centre, where they included Row properties with shops and undercrofts in Watergate and Northgate Streets, a bakehouse in Eastgate Street, and a seld in Bridge Street, (fn. 232) but they also had extensive holdings in the town fields, a mill, at least two messuages, 50 acres of arable, and 6 acres of meadow in Upton and Newton, and c. 36 selions and 4 acres of meadow in Bache. (fn. 233)

Further afield, the Doncasters held land in Wirral, (fn. 234) and by 1300 were acquiring land and offices in Flint, Maelor Saesneg, Rhuddlan, and Anglesey. (fn. 235) Two especially important grants were the keepership of the royal manor of Mostyn (Flints.) in 1309, initially for a term of years and later for life, (fn. 236) and the lease of the lead mines of Englefield in 1311. (fn. 237) Much of their enrichment was the work of William (III). Active in the portmote and in royal service by 1295, (fn. 238) mayor for a part term in 1301 and for two full terms and another part thereafter, (fn. 239) his success was founded on the provision of victuals and raw materials for the royal army and garrisons in north Wales. (fn. 240) He had especially strong contacts with Ireland, (fn. 241) from which his ship, the Mariota of Chester, transported goods to north Wales in the 1290s. (fn. 242) His influence at court was apparent in a variety of royal appointments in the early 14th century, including collector of customs and searcher of money in the ports of Chester and north Wales, and in the retaliatory orders made in response to his complaints about the seizure of his goods and money at Antwerp in 1301. (fn. 243)

William survived until 1330 or later, and although much of his commercial activity was not conducted from Chester, the city remained his principal base and, at least in his later years, his home. (fn. 244) After the deposition of Edward II in 1327, however, he seems to have fallen from favour, together with other prominent Cestrians. In 1328 he was found to have debts to the late king totalling £166 13s. 4d., among which was included a fine of £30 for an unspecified misdemeanour. (fn. 245) Thereafter he and his family retired from the national stage.

In Chester and north Wales, however, the Doncaster family remained important. William (III)'s son William (IV), sheriff in 1313-14, (fn. 246) purchased the serjeanty of the Watergate and other lands and rents from the Stanlow family in 1325, (fn. 247) and in 1330 received from his father at least six tenements in Eastgate Street, together with the family holdings in Mold (Flints.). (fn. 248) By the 1340s the family's main Chester properties were held by William (V), sheriff in 1343-4. (fn. 249) At his death the direct line came to an end, his holdings passing by marriage to the Hope family. (fn. 250) Although others bearing the name of Doncaster still had property in the city, after 1344 none held civic office. (fn. 251)

Another family which remained firmly identified with the city while investing in land in the surrounding countryside was the Brickhills. They presumably came from the earl of Chester's estate at Brickhill (Bucks.), (fn. 252) and first emerged as leading citizens in the 1280s, when Hugh (d. 1292) became sheriff and perhaps mayor. (fn. 253) A second Hugh was mayor 15 times between 1293 and 1314. The family had a house in Bridge Street, property in Bakers' Row, Watergate Street, and Fleshmongers Lane, and owned a ship, the Nicolase. (fn. 254) By the 1280s they were sufficiently rich for one of the Hughs to become, albeit briefly, a partner with Richard the engineer in farming the Dee Mills, (fn. 255) and in the 1290s they were also buying land in the town fields. (fn. 256) They also acquired offices: Hugh (II), the mayor, was appointed collector of customs in the ports of Chester and north Wales in 1303, and probably became chamberlain of Chester c. 1312. (fn. 257)

Other prominent members of the family included William Brickhill (or Birchills), dean of St. John's and rector of Mold in the 1290s, (fn. 258) John Brickhill, mayor 1320-2, (fn. 259) and William, son of Peter Brickhill, a royal clerk, who was sheriff three times and mayor five times between 1306 and 1332, (fn. 260) and who married Cecily, heiress of the manor of Thurstaston in Wirral. (fn. 261)

Other leading merchant families, such as the Russells, Hurrells, Payns, and Dunfouls, also combined the ownership of commercial property in the city with civic and royal office-holding and investment in agricultural land. (fn. 262) Most remained resident in the city, but occasionally they made the transition to country gentlemen while retaining their urban links. An outstanding example was the Blund family, which rose to prominence under John, mayor 1316-17, who bought the manor of Little Neston and Hargrave shortly before his death in 1317. (fn. 263) His descendant, another John, who was mayor 14 times between 1334 and 1360, evidently adopted the life of a country gentleman, hunting with greyhounds at Little Neston. (fn. 264) In other instances members of local gentry families rose to prominence in city life. In particular, the Bruyn family of Bruen Stapleford produced a mayor, Richard le Bruyn, in the early 14th century. (fn. 265)

In the late 13th and early 14th century, the activities of the interrelated group of merchant families who dominated Chester produced a very active market in land, and property seems to have changed hands rapidly. (fn. 266) Holdings were assembled by purchase, or through leases and rents, and the sources of wealth were similarly diverse, including both trade in luxury goods and royal patronage. The leading men of Chester appear to have been assimilated into the local gentry, with whom they intermarried and who in turn rose to high office in the city. Such developments, which imply considerable prosperity, reached their high point in the early 14th century. After the 1330s, however, Chester's citizens seem to have bought and sold land less frequently.

The leading men of Chester lived in style. The townhouses of those who remained resident were quite ostentatious, combining first-floor living quarters, which included large halls and solars, with commercial premises comprising undercrofts and groups of as many as five Row-level shops. They were often located at corner sites, probably because they afforded better access and extra window space, and usually fronted the main streets. The best surviving examples are nos. 48-52 Bridge Street and 38-42 Watergate Street, perhaps the home of the Doncasters. (fn. 267) Others are known only from contemporary descriptions. They include the mansion of Richard the engineer in Lower Bridge Street, which not only had a stone tower but was intimately linked with St. Olave's church, perhaps once its chapel, (fn. 268) and the Black Hall, the house of the mayoral family of the Daresburys, which stood in Pepper Street and contained stone and painted chambers as well as stables. (fn. 269)