Chester Castle Chester Castle is in the city of Chester , Cheshire , England . It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls . The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the River Dee . In the castle complex are the remaining parts of the medieval castle together with the neoclassical buildings designed by Thomas Harrison which were built between 1788 and 1813 . Parts of the neoclassical buildings are used today as Crown Courts and as a military museum . The museum and the medieval remains are a tourist attraction . History . The castle was built in 1070 by Hugh Lupus , the first Earl of Chester . It is possible that it was built on the site of an earlier Saxon fortification but this has not been confirmed . The original structure would have been a motte - and - bailey castle with a wooden tower . In the 12th century the wooden tower was replaced by a square stone tower , the Flag Tower . During the same century the stone gateway to the inner bailey was built . This is now known as the Agricola Tower and on its first floor is the chapel of St Mary de Castro . The chapel contains items of Norman architecture . In the 13th century , during the reign of Henry III , the walls of an outer bailey were built , the gateway in the Agricola Tower was blocked up and residential accommodation , including a Great Hall , was built along the south wall of the inner bailey . Later in the century , during the reign of Edward I , a new gateway to the outer bailey was built . This was flanked by two half - drum towers and had a drawbridge over a moat deep . Further additions to the castle at this time included individual chambers for the King and Queen , a new chapel and stables . Prominent people held as prisoners in the crypt of the Agricola Tower were Richard II and Eleanor Cobham , wife of Humphrey , Duke of Gloucester , and Andrew de Moray , hero of the Battle of Stirling Bridge . During the Wars of the Roses , Yorkist John Neville , 1st Marquess of Montagu was captured and imprisoned at the castle by Lancastrians following the Battle of Blore Heath , near the town of Market Drayton , Shropshire , in 1459 . He was released from captivity following the Yorkist victory at Northampton in 1460 . Outside the outer bailey gate was an area known as the Gloverstone where criminals waiting for execution were handed over to the city authorities . The Great Hall was rebuilt in the late 1570s . During the Civil War Chester was held by the Royalists . The castle was assaulted by Parliamentary forces in July 1643 , and in January and April 1645 . Together with the rest of the city , it was besieged between September 1645 and February 1646 . Following the civil war the castle was used as a prison , a court and a tax office . In 1687 James II attended Mass in the chapel of St Mary de Castro . In 1696 Chester mint was established and was managed by Edmund Halley in a building adjacent to the Half Moon tower . During the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion a gun emplacement was built on the wall overlooking the river . By the later part of the 18th century much of the fabric of the castle had deteriorated and John Howard , the prison reformer , was particularly critical of the conditions in the prison . Thomas Harrison was commissioned to design a new prison . This was completed in 1792 and praised as one of the best constructed prisons in the country . Harrison then went on to rebuild the medieval Shire Hall in neoclassical style . He also built two new wings , one to act as barracks , the other as an armoury , and designed a massive new entrance to the castle site , styled the Propylaeum . The buildings , which were all in neoclassical style , were built between 1788 and 1822 . The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner comments that Harrison ' s work constitutes " one of the most powerful monuments of the Greek Revival in the whole of England " . In 1925 , after being used for 200 years as a warehouse and ammunition store , the crypt and chapel in the Agricola Tower were reconsecrated by the Bishop of Chester for the use of the Cheshire Regiment . In 1939 the chapel was refurnished . Present day . The complex is entered from Grosvenor Road through the Propylaeum , a Grade I listed building . This consists of a massive entablature supported on widely - spaced ( " areostyle " ) Doric columns , flanked by temple - like lodges . Directly ahead is the former Shire Hall ( also listed Grade I ) which now houses the Crown Court s . Its façade has 19 bays , the central seven bays of which project forward and constitute a Doric portico . To the left is the former barracks block which is now the home of the Cheshire Military Museum . To the right is the block which was originally an armoury and later an officers ' mess . Both blocks are in neoclassical style and are listed Grade I . Further to the right are the remains of the Norman castle . The Agricola Tower is a Grade I listed building . It is built in sandstone ashlar with a metal roof in three storeys . The ground floor has a blocked gateway and to the right of the gateway is a slightly projecting stair turret . Internally , the ground floor consists of a crypt , and the first floor contains the chapel of St Mary Castro . The Agricola Tower is also a scheduled monument . The chapel is still consecrated as the regimental chapel of the Cheshire Regiment . Its ceiling is covered with frescos dating from the early part of the 13th century which depict the Visitation and miracle s performed by the Virgin Mary which were revealed during conservation work in the 1990s . To the south and the west , the curtain walls , which include the Halfmoon Tower , the Flag Tower and the gun emplacement , are listed Grade I . Other walls within the castle complex are listed Grade II . These are the retaining walls and the railing of the forecourt designed by Thomas Harrison , and two other areas of the medieval curtain walls . In the castle courtyard is a statue of Queen Victoria dated 1903 by Pomeroy . The inner bailey is managed by Cheshire West and Chester Council on behalf of English Heritage . References . Citations Sources