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The Grosvenor-Laing Precinct was opened
in
1971,
an
outstanding
example
of
the
brutalist
architecture
of
the
period. Here we see it in its early stages of construction, viewed from the city walls just south of the Eastgate. The road running away from us is St. Michael's Street. At its end is the back of Brown's department store and the thin building with the semi-circular window is the former rear wall of St. Michael's Arcade which now continues into the modern pedestrian ways within the precinct.
In the left background may be seen the tower of St Michael's Church,
which became Britain's first Heritage Centre. It houses many of Chester's rare archives and records- and some very helpful staff- and is well worth a visit.
The distant people in the modern photograph below are standing in approximately the same position on the city walls as the viewpoint above...
 Excavation
of
the
three
and
a half
acre
site
in
preparation
for
the
construction
of
the
precinct
at
the
end
of
the
1960s
revealed
the
remains
of
barrack
blocks,
a gymnasium
and
a vast
bath
house
"with
walls
up
to
two
hundred
feet
long,
standing
to
twelve
feet
in
height"
surviving
from
the
Roman
fortress-
but
hardly
a scrap
of
any
of
them
was
preserved
in
situ.
Dennis
Petch,
Curator
of
the
Grosvenor
Museum
throughout
the
1960s,
recalled
bitterly
that,
"The
developer
refused
to
give
permission
for
any
formal
excavation
once
his
work
on
the
site
had
begun...with
customary
efficiency
Laing's
immediately
commenced
the
earthworks
for
underground
storage
and
delivery
bays
for
shops
to
be
built
in
the
precinct
above...
it
was
soon
clear
that
the
great
colonnaded
hall
hall
under
the
arcade
formed
part
of
the
same
complex
and
was
in
all
probability
one
of
the
earliest
of
the
covered
palaestrae
of
the
north-western
provinces
of
the
Roman
Empire.
Even
after
the
great
size
and
high
degree
of
preservation
of
the
building
had
been
clearly
demonstrated,
and
protests
against
its
impending
destruction
were
made
at
local
and
national
level,
commercial
considerations
prevailed,
effectively
limiting
our
gathering
of
site
data
to
piecemeal
observation
and
recording
at
the
pleasure
of
the
contractor,
supplemented
by
very
little
formal
excavation.
This
was
not
a very
satisfactory
way
of
proceeding
in
the
case
of
such
an
important
building
which
had
apparently
begun
its
life
in
the
early
years
of
the
fortress
and
was
still
in
use
in
the
third
century.
This
debacle
attracted
a great
deal
of
public
attention
and
criticism,
and
the
upshot
was
a general
conviction
that
such
vandalism
should
not
be
allowed
to
recur".
If
only
that
had
proved
to
be
the
case.
The (now defunct)
Cheshire
Observer
of
5th
September
1969
quoted
the
Oxford
Professor
of
the
Architecture
of
the
Roman
Empire,
Prof
S S
Frere,
then
on
a visit
to
Chester,
as
saying,
"It is absolutely disgraceful that modern businesses cannot see the value of
the history of the town where they have their businesses and which they are
expoiting"
What
a great
pity
it
is,
then,
that,
thirty
years
on,
Prof.
Frere's
words
have
still
not
sunk
into
the
thick
skulls
of
today's
councillors
and
developers,
as
illustrated
by
the
contemporary,
shabby
story
of
Chester's
Roman
amphitheatre - let alone the vast new shopping development planned for the area behing the Town Hall, the so-called Northgate Development...
During
demolition
and
site
clearance
work,
the
rear
of
St. Michael's
Arcade
was
sealed
off
from
the
public
by
a wooden
hoarding,
into
which
was
thoughtfully
inserted
a number
of
windows
through
which
the people of Chester
could,
in
the
words
of
archaeologist
Dr.
David
Mason,
"watch
their
precious
Roman
heritage
being
smashed
up
and
carted
away
on
the
backs
of
lorries"
(Roman
Chester:
City
of
the
Eagles,
p.20).
Visit the Newgate chapter of our guide, Chester: a Virtual Stroll Rround the Walls to learn more about this part of the city...
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