Chester - St John the Baptist

"CHESTER; The city comprises the parishes of St. Bridget, St. John the Baptist, Little St. John, St. Martin, St. Michael, St. Olave, and St. Peter; and part of the parishes of St. Mary on the Hill, St. Oswald, and the Holy Trinity, and the precinct of the Cathedral Close; all in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester. 

The living of St. John the Baptist's is a vicarage not in charge, endowed with £200 royal bounty, and £2000 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Earl Grosvenor: the church, formerly collegiate, and, on the removal of the see of Lichfield to Chester by Bishop Peter, used as the cathedral, consists of the nave and portions of the transepts of the ancient cruciform structure, of which the eastern part has been long since destroyed; the nave has massive Norman piers with a triforium and clerestory of the early English character; the north porch, in the same style, is very beautiful; and the tower, a fine composition, though greatly mutilated, is detached from the church by the shortening of the western part of the nave." 

[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) ©Mel Lockie]