Old Photographs & Drawings of Chester & Liverpool

The Chester Canal Area part 1


Shropshire Union Canal, Chester in the 1950s...

...and in a photograph by the author in 1996-
many further changes have come about since this photograph was taken.

bove are a couple of photographs, separated by forty years, of the view from the top of the Water Tower in Boughton looking west along the Shropshire Union Canal towards Chester city centre.

In the top picture, smoke emanating from the chimneys of the numerous industrial premises operating in the area at this time has produced a noxious smog shocking to the modern eye.
The tall chimneys on the right belonged to the Chester Leadworks. These have now disappeared, with the exception of the fatter one- the 51 metre high Shot Tower- which was built in 1799 or 1800 and is now listed. It remains the tallest structure in Chester.
Lead has been brought from the mines of North Wales and exported from the Port of Chester since Roman times. With the improvement in transportation brought about by the building of the Shropshire Union Canal during the 1770s, this became an ideal location for Walkers, Parker and Co to build their new lead processing works.

A century earlier, Britiish forces had been issued with lead shot for their muskets but, because of imperfections in manufacture, much of it suffered from pockmarks on the surface, making it inefficient and even dangerous. Then, in 1783, one William Watts of Bristol took out a patent for his new technique, a process "for making smallshot perfectly globular in form and without dimples, notches and imperfections which other shot hereto manufactured usually have on their surface".
Watt's technique, as carried out here in Chester, was to allow molten lead- to which the deadly poison arsenic was added- to be poured from the top of the tower, passing through a griddle to separate it into tiny pellets before landing in a wooden vat of water below.
On the right you can see a contemporary photograph by your guide of the Shot Tower, which also shows the lift shaft which was added in 1971 to make it easier for workers to reach the top- formerly they were forced to labour up an internal spiral staircase.

This was one of only three such towers built to manufacture musket shot for the Napoleonic Wars and might, therefore, have been instrumental in the deaths of many French soldiers. The works beside the tower did, however, produce other articles beside munitions. By 1812, a rolling mill and pipe making machine had been installed and later the works produced 8mm leadshot for adding to molten steel for the lead alloy process. Although machine-made shot became available in the 1960s, the tower shot made at Chester remained commercially viable for a few more years.

But then, at the end of 2001, work ceased for good and proprietors Calder Industries prepared, after around 230 years in Chester, to move to much larger new premises on the edge of town near the Deva football stadium. We learned that the leadworks buildings- with the exception of the protected tower- were to be demolished to make way for a large new housing development by Bellway Homes. This is to comprise around 225 apartments as well as a hotel, restaurant and cafe-bar.

Right: Reader Allen Rimmer of Victoria, Australia kindly sent us this photograph of the lead works laboratory staff taken sometime in the 1950s. He tells us, "My father has made a row by himself seated second from the front. The only other person I can identify is the Chief Chemist, Harold Slack, the gentleman with glasses, centre, back row. Michael Hoddinott (author of the history of the lead works, unpublished) was also a member of the team at this time. My father spoke of him many times but I don’t recall ever meeting him".
 
An archaeological evaluation of the site carried out as a result of the planned development in January 2001 revealed numerous traces of the now-demolished buildings which had been erected at the same time as the Shot Tower. These included brick walls, concrete and stone-slab flooring and pottery from vessels used in the process of extracting white lead from its ore and also for the production of small lead ingots. These specialised vessels had been produced from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries at the Buckley potteries in North Wales.

There have been sightings of two different ghosts at Chester Leadworks!
The first is recorded by Michael Hoddinott in his unpublished history of the works. In the winter of 1988/9, after the works had shut for the day, the security man and his daughter spotted an old lady carrying a long, heavy bag near the paint shed. Attempting to follow the figure through the yard, they could find no trace of her. The guard later mentioned his experience to some of the older workers who, by his description, recognised a Mrs Cox, who, years before, had worked in the shot department and each day had brought cigarettes for the men in her long bag, following the same route along which she had been followed by the guard.
Then in January 2002, the local press reported that Alan Evans, the manager of a scrap metal company, while clearing a shed for demolition, spotted the figure of a man dressed in old-fashioned dark blue overalls in the corner which proceeded to walk across the room. After a crane at the back of the warehouse started operating on its own, the manager beat a hasty retreat. "I saw him in the old pipe mill, which is more than 200 years old. It would make a great movie set as it was very atmospheric. The hairs went up on the back of my neck- I knew there was somebody behind me but it was all locked up, there was no way anybody could get in. I never used to believe in ghosts, I'm not the type to even contemplate something like this.."
It seems that the overalled ghost is well known to staff at the Leadworks and been sighted many times over the years. A security guard, Evo Littler, said "I saw him at the bottom of the pipe mill, wearing a donkey jacket, pottering about. He was there for about two minutes".
One story has it that the mysterious figure was a worker who was killed on the nearby railway after leaving the pub.

Chester's oldest public clock (left), made by Whitehurst of Derby in 1803- 200 years ago, it was formerly installed in the wall of one of the sheds at the Leadworks.
Unfortunately, sometime during the handover from Calder's to new owners Bellway Homes, the clock was stolen. The three-foot diameter face was removed from the wall and the works from inside the building, with no sign of a break-in, and it has been conjectured by the new owners that someone connected with the various contractors who had access to the site at the time may have been involved. They appealed for the clock's return as it was planned for it to be restored as part of the refurbishment of the historic building.
But then, at the end of March, the clock was indeed, in the words of the local press, "handed back", to the reported relief of the pupils of Boughton St. Paul's Infant School, just across the canal, whose school logo features an image of the clock and regard it as "their treasure"....

Returning to the the old picture at the top of the page, many of the group of buildings in the bottom right-hand corner survive today, including the lock-keeper's cottage, John Douglas' little church- which has recently been sensitively converted for residential use- and the Lock Vaults pub. The locks themselves and the bridge carrying Hoole Lane over the canal are also still very much in use.

Right: This pencil drawing by Thomas Bailey shows the canal as it appeared in 1837, the leadworks, judging from the hedgerow on the left, located in what was still a rural environment. No bridge crosses the canal here at this time as City Road was yet to be built. Notice the sailing barges moored alongside the leadworks.

The entire area to the right of the photograph- not to mention local house prices and road congestion- were radically transformed by the building of the Capital Bank (now Bank of Scotland) HQ and its associated huge car park. The bank is planning to embark upon further major developments between their existing buildings and the old leadworks site in the near future, as you can learn here.

In November 2003 we received some intriguing emails from Jill Statton in Sturt, South Australia, which may be summarised as follows:
"Congratulations on a great website. So much to read, I shall have to revisit soon. However, where is the info about the memorial over Euphrates' grave at the Shot Tower, Chester Leadworks? Did I miss this in my haste? If not already included, perhaps you might consider adding it to your site?
My interest in Euphrates- John Mytton's (of whom more below) beloved horse- is that my ancestor, William Webb, painted Euphrates and exhibited the painting at the Royal Academy in 1825. William is the subject of a book I am writing on the family. Hence I would love a photo of the memorial or some further information about it. Has it been moved? or is it still there- where?
My information for Euphrates came from Judy Egerton's book, "British sporting and animal paintings 1655-1867" (London, 1978). In it she states (page 235):
“Euphrates, a chestnut colt by Quiz out of Persepolis, was bred by Lord Rous and foaled in 1816. He won numerous races and, after several changes of ownership, was purchased by John Mytton, squire of Halston near Shrewsbury, a famous and eccentric sportsman, for whom he continued to win trophies, including the Gold Cup at Lichfield in 1825- a victory commemorated in this painting [by my ancestor, William Webb]. He continued to race until he was thirteen years old. By then Mytton was heavily in debt... everything was sold except Euphrates. Mytton entrusted him to a friend, requesting that the horse should be shot rather than end his career by being "put to the drudgery of drawing a coach, or any other ignoble purpose". He was duly shot in June 1832 and a memorial over his grave near the Shot Tower at Chester Lead Works commemorates his achievements".
I searched the net for references to Chester Leadworks and came upon your site. I did wonder about Chester, but assumed that the Mytton family had some connection with the Leadworks. He came from Halston, Shropshire- not far down the road as the crow flies, at least to we in Oz.
Perhaps Lord Rous was from Chester? Are there any old famous studs or racing stables nearby? Further clues to his connection with Chester may be the jockey, Thomas Whitehurst, and trainer, W. Dilly.
Hope this helps- there must be a clue here somewhere as to why Chester.”

A little about ‘Mad Jack’ Mytton...
John "Jack" Mytton was born 1796 to a family of Shropshire squires. Many of his ancestors had been in the parliament and John Mytton served in the Hussars. From his father he inherited a family seat at Halston Hall near Shrewsbury, £60.000 and annual income of £10,000.
Mytton would go hunting in any kind of weather. His usual winter gear was light jacket, thin shoes, linen rousers and silk stockings- but in the thrill of the chase he could strip down and continue the chase naked. He also had numerous pets in his manor.
Another thrill for him was reckless driving of carriages. He could drive his gig at high speed in an obstacle like a rabbit hole only to see if it would turn over. Once he tested if a horse pulling a carriage could jump over a tollgate . It could not. He managed to survive these self-made accidents without serious injuries.
Contemporary society considered his behavior scandalous. He once picked a fight with a miner who disturbed his hunt and lasted 20 rounds before the miner gave up. He once arrived in a dinner party riding a bear and when he tried to make it go faster, the beast bit into his calf.
Mytton was also a drinking man and could drink eight bottles of port wine a day with a helping of brandy . He managed to kill one of his horses, Sportsman, by making it drink a bottle of port.
Mytton was spendthrift and cared little about warnings that his money was running out. He could drop bank notes in his estate and gave his servants lots of spending money. Once he lost his racetrack winnings- several thousand- in Doncaster races when the wind blew them off. His workmen and tenants regarded him as a generous man. Over fifteen years he managed to spend his inheritance and then fell into deep debt. In 1830 he fled to France to avoid his creditors. During his stay he tried to cure his hiccups by setting his shirt in fire. It apparently did work but only the intervention of his friends spared him of more serious injuries.
After couple of years he decided to return to England and ended up in debtor's prison. He died there in 1834.

Well, we’ve talked to the local record office, a city council archaeologist, a member of the company responsible for the archaeological watching brief on the site and a clutch of local historians- without a result. Nobody has a clue. If you have any ideas regarding the puzzle of Euphrate’s grave at the Shot Tower, both Jill (jill_statton@yahoo.com.au) and ourselves would love to know!

• You can learn a little of yet another local curiousity involving a dead horse- the once-famous 'skelly 'orse' in Princess Street- here...

Left: new apartments on the site of the old Chester Leadworks

Looking further up the canal, the church whose steeple may just be seen through the murk on the right hand side of the canal- the Methodist Central Hall- was demolished in the 1970s and the site is now occupied by a car park next to two modern blocks of flats. These may be seen in the modern photograph together with the tower blocks which sprang up next to the Inner Ring Road at the end of the 1960s. Parts of the old church may still be seen adhering to the side of the road.
(Also visible in the distance on the left of the newer picture are Chester Cathedral and, beyond it, the tower of the Victorian Gothic Town Hall)

The tall square tower on the left of the canal, however, is very much still with us, belonging as it does to the Steam Mill Business Centre- an excellent restoration and adoption of a superb industrial building to serve as offices, studios and a restaurant and pub.
The canal towpath appears to be in a poor condition and full of potholes- a situation which continued until just a couple of years ago when a new cycletrack and footpath were laid, which today provides Chester's citizens with a superb car-free route into the city centre and beyond.
You can see some dramatic 'before and after' pictures here... and modern view of the canal and the tower from where this photograph was taken may be seen here. In addition, a dramatic view from the very top of the Leadworks Shot Tower is here...

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