England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Chester St Olave

The Parish

The city of Chester is one of the ancient places of England, supposedly pre-Roman in origin it was developed as a Roman settlement to hold the northwest and as a base for expeditions into northern Wales. The city is located in the west of the county of Cheshire and it forms part of the county border with neighbouring Flintshire. Chester sits at the junction of several major roads, it is roughly 17 miles south of the port of Liverpool and 36 miles southwest of the industrial city of Manchester. Chester is one of England's walled cities and those walls are still a feature of the city and a tourist attraction in themselves. Chester is the county capital of Cheshire and grew as a port and market centre for the region, it is sited at the end of navigation of the River Dee which flows through its heart, although problems of silting lent the necessity to canalise and the Ellesmere canal connects Chester with the Mersey and Liverpool. Chester is divided into 10 parishes of which St Olave was the smaller of the city's parishes and least populous supporting a population of around 450parishioners. St Olaveparish covers the south of the city bordering the River Dee on its southern side, the parish was really rather small covering only a couple of blocks in either direction. Today Chester is a bustling city and a tourist attraction for its history and architecture, the galleried rows being a major attraction. In Domesday times the city was shared between the Bishop of Chester, Earl Hugh of Chester and the King himself, whilst the book does not identify the individual assets this was a wealthy and prosperous place even then.

The Church

St Olave is now deconsecrated and no longer used for worship, it sits on the eastern side of Lower Bridge Street at its junction with St Olaves Street, a narrow cobbled lane. Whilst there is documentary evidence for a church from the 11th century, the present building has its origins in the early 17th century. A simple chapel with nave and chancel in one with a bellcote at the western end. The church shows a few signs of the mediaeval but has been much restored notably in 1859. The building is clearly of little architectural interest as Pevsner's account is short, merely a couple of lines. Since the church's closure it has had many uses notably as an exhibition space, a recent campaign based upon its dedication to St Olave (or Olaf) sought to turn it into a Viking themed space. The church sits just tucked away into St Olave's Street and is hemmed in by nearby commercial properties making for a tricky photographic exercise.