Chester Cathedral - Consistory Court
The Bishop’s Consistory Court dates from 1636 and is beneath the south west tower. It is now a unique survival in England, hearing its last case, that of an attempted suicide of a priest, in the 1930s.
Chester Cathedral dates from between 1093 and the early 16th century, and had many alterations in the intervening period. The site had been used for Christian worship since Roman times. There was a Saxon abbey here from the mid-10th century, but this was razed to the ground in around 1090. In 1093 a Benedictine monastery was established here, and in 1541 this became a cathedral of the Church of England, following the dissolution of the monastries by King Henry VIII.
The abbey church, beginning with the Lady Chapel at the eastern end, was extensively rebuilt in Gothic style during the 13th and 14th centuries. At the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, the cloister, the central tower, a new south transept, the large west window and a new entrance porch to the south had just been built in the Perpendicular style, and the southwest tower of the façade had been begun. The west front was given a Tudor entrance, but the tower was never completed.
Chester Cathedral - Consistory Court
The Bishop’s Consistory Court dates from 1636 and is beneath the south west tower. It is now a unique survival in England, hearing its last case, that of an attempted suicide of a priest, in the 1930s.
Chester Cathedral dates from between 1093 and the early 16th century, and had many alterations in the intervening period. The site had been used for Christian worship since Roman times. There was a Saxon abbey here from the mid-10th century, but this was razed to the ground in around 1090. In 1093 a Benedictine monastery was established here, and in 1541 this became a cathedral of the Church of England, following the dissolution of the monastries by King Henry VIII.
The abbey church, beginning with the Lady Chapel at the eastern end, was extensively rebuilt in Gothic style during the 13th and 14th centuries. At the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, the cloister, the central tower, a new south transept, the large west window and a new entrance porch to the south had just been built in the Perpendicular style, and the southwest tower of the façade had been begun. The west front was given a Tudor entrance, but the tower was never completed.