Anchorite's Cell, Chester

The Anchorite's Cell (or Hermitage) is a small building overlooking The Groves, Chester, Cheshire, England (grid reference ). It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.

History

The structure was built in 1363 as a religious retreat for a monk or a hermit. It belonged to the nearby St John the Baptist's Church until the Reformation. During the 19th century the building was restored and converted into a house. In 1897 the porch of St Martin's Church, which was being demolished, was moved here and made into a north entrance. The building was refurbished in about 1970 as a cottage.

Architecture

The building, which stands on a plinth formed from a sandstone outcrop, is constructed in coursed sandstone ashlar and has a grey slate roof. It is in two storeys with the entrance on the north side. The porch has a segmental arch flanked by colonettes with trefoils in the spandrels, and a triple lancet window on the right side. To the right of the porch is a two-light mullioned casement window, and a projecting stone chimney. In the upper storey, above the porch, is a panel containing a triple lancet window. To the right of this is another lancet window and the voussoirs of a blocked arch. In the east end of the building is a segmental-arched window in the ground floor, a three-light mullioned window with intersecting tracery in the upper floor, and a coped gable. At the west end is a high-level segmental-arched window in the ground floor, a buttress at the southwest corner, and a coped gable with a gabled finial. There are more lancet windows in the south side.

See also

• Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire West and Chester