from Dover through London to Chester.  It was destroyed in 1768, and the present gate erected by Earl Grosvenor.  The custody of the Water-gate belonged to the Earls of Derby.  It also was destroyed, and the present arch erected in 1788.  A new North Gate was built in 1809 by Robert, Earl Grosvenor.  The principal postern-gates were Cale Yard Gate, made by the abbot and convent in the reign of Edward I as a passage to their kitchen garden; New-gate, formerly Woolfield or Wolf-gate, repaired in 1608, also called Pepper-gate;[7] and Ship-gate, or Hole-in-the-wall, which alone retains its Roman arch, and leads to a ferry across the Dee.

[7] The Chester folk have a proverb, “When the daughter is stolen, shut Pepper-gate”—­referring to the well-known story of a daughter of a Mayor of Chester having made her escape with her lover through this gate, which he ordered to be closed, but too late to prevent the fugitives.

The walls are strengthened by round towers so placed as not to be beyond bowshot of each other, in order that their arrows might reach the enemy who should attempt to scale the walls in the intervals.  At the north-east corner is Newton’s Tower, better known as the Phoenix from a sculptured figure, the ensign of one of the city guilds, appearing over its door.  From this tower Charles I saw the battle of Rowton Heath and the defeat of his troops during the famous siege of Chester.  This was one of the most prolonged and deadly in the whole history of the Civil War.  It would take many pages to describe the varied fortunes of the gallant Chester men, who were at length constrained to feed on horses, dogs, and cats.  There is much in the city to delight the antiquary and the artist—­the famous rows, the three-gabled old timber mansion of the Stanleys with its massive staircase, oaken floors, and panelled walls, built in 1591, Bishop Lloyd’s house in Water-gate with its timber front sculptured with Scripture subjects, and God’s Providence House with its motto “God’s Providence is mine inheritance,” the inhabitants of which are said to have escaped one of the terrible plagues that used to rage frequently in old Chester.

[Illustration:  Detail of Half-timbered House in High Street, Shrewsbury]

Journeying southwards we come to Shrewsbury, another walled town, abounding with delightful half-timbered houses, less spoiled than any town we know.  It was never a Roman town, though six miles away, at Uriconium, the Romans had a flourishing city with a great basilica, baths, shops, and villas, and the usual accessories of luxury.  Tradition says that its earliest Celtic name was Pengwern, where a British prince had his palace; but the town Scrobbesbyrig came into existence under Offa’s rule in Mercia, and with the Normans came Roger de Montgomery, Shrewsbury’s first Earl, and a castle and the stately abbey of SS.  Peter and Paul.  A little later the town took to itself walls, which were abundantly necessary on account of the constant inroads of the wild Welsh.