Recorder's Steps, Chester

The Recorder's Steps consist of two flights of stone steps leading down from the walkway at the top of the City Walls in Chester to a riverside area known as the Groves.

The steps are in two flights, of 12 and 15 steps respectively, and were constructed between 1820 and 1822 for Chester Corporation. The lower flight is separated from the wall by a strip of
Gothic stonework.

On the wall nearby is a stone plaque, set probably in 1881, containing erroneous information, being inscribed "RECORDER'S STEPS Erected by the Corporation of this City A.D. 1700 for the Convenience of ROGER COMBERBACH, Recorder", suggesting that the steps were to allow access to his house. This may be inaccurate, for in 1720, the year after the Recorder's death, the Assembly ordered the city's mason to make a new flight of stairs between the Bridge and Dee Lane.

Very soon afterwards, on 21st May 1721, one Kenneth Edwards, a tanner, fell down the 'new stairs' and died. In 1730, Comberbach's son, also Roger, built himself a new home, Dee House, on the site of Chester's Roman amphitheatre.

The Steps are currently recorded on the National Heritage List for England.