There are 3 parts to this virtual cache. You will need to complete each part in order to claim the find.
The website Vanished Pubs of Chester (https://chesterwalls.info/oldpubs.html) lists 52 pubs that have disappeared from Bridge Street over the years and is the source of most of the information in this listing. This virtual cache will take you to 4 of the vanished pubs at 3 locations. It's a short distance between them and you do need to visit all of them to claim the find.
The listed coordinates will take you to the first lost pub or at least a possible location for it. The Rising Sun was probably at 8 Bridge Street Rows above what is now Rohan. The original brick building was demolished in the 19th century and rebuilt into what you see today. In July 1863, the Cheshire Observer referred to it, stating that it was formerly the Blue Posts Inn, and was the scene of the following important event:
In 1558 Dr Henry Cole, Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, was sent by Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary) with a commission to the Council of Ireland, instigating the persecution of the English Protestants. The doctor stopped one night in Chester en route for Dublin, staying at the Blue Posts, then run by a Mrs Mottershead. While there, he was visited by the Mayor, to whom he told of his errand. Pointing to the leather box containing the commission, the doctor said, "Here is what will lash the heretics of Ireland!" The Landlady, overhearing this- and having a brother in Ireland- when the room was empty removed the documents and replaced them with a pack of cards, the Jack of Clubs on top. The deception was not discovered until the doctor opened the box in front of the Lord Deputy and Privy Council at Dublin Castle. Dr Cole was immediately sent back to London to obtain proof of the commission but before he arrived, Queen Mary died and was succeeded by the protestant Elizabeth I. Mrs Mottershead was rewarded for her actions by the Queen with a pension of £40 per year.
Legend of the Blue Posts Inn, Chester, 1558 by Martha Hodkinson (1864)
At this location, take a photo of yourself or a sign with your geocaching name on it- you don't have to have your face in the picture but take it with the cross in the background- looking back up Bridge Street.
Now, walk further down Upper Bridge Street to Commonhall Street and the waypoint there. On the right of Commonhall Street is where the Ye Old Vaults also known as Barlow's, after George Barlow, who was landlord in the first half of the last century. The pub closed in 2002. Established in 1789 and refurbished in 1900, Barlow's was unusual in being on two levels, one bar on the street and the other on the row above. The upstairs bar was apparantly known as “the passion parlour" in World War II as it was a favourite, intimate rendezvous for servicemen and their lady friends.
On the left of Commonhall Street was The Grotto Hotel, which was formerly the The Harp & Crown. The Harp & Crown was one of a number of properties in Chester to be subject to the Execution Rent. Execution Rent tenants were bound to keep watch for the city on three nights in the year, namely on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and 26th December and they were bound to mount guard over and conduct felons and robbers as far as the gallows. For their services these tenants were "exempt from attendance on all inquisitions, juries and assizes, except when held before the Lord, the Prince and the Earl of Chester".
The Harp & Crown (left) and Ye Old Vaults (right)
At this location, send me how many steps are on the winding stairs to the rows on the left of the bridge (not the straight staircase) including the step to the row level?
Now, walk down into Lower Bridge Street and cross the road and go to the last waypoint. Next to the early 17th century Tudor House, is a narrow passageway called Hawarden Castle Entry which formerly led to an area of squalid court dwellings. On the other side used to be The Hawarden Castle Inn. In the 1870s a linking bridge over Hawarden Castle Entry was built from the pub, that used the upper parts of Tudor House as an annex for paying guests. You can see a painting of the entry and bridge below.
The Bridge over Hawarden Castle Entry, painting by Louise Rayner
The Hawarden Castle on the right
At this location, send me the last word in the green circle on the ground in the passageway?
Please upload the picture and send me the two answers within one week of logging to avoid the chance of your log being deleted.
Supplemental information from https://chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Bridge_Street#Numbers_2-8
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.