Discover Medieval Chester

Clothworkers,

80 clothworkers were involved in an affray at the High Cross in 1399.

The centre of Chester wasn’t always a place of harmony and civic co-operation. Sometimes, trouble could break out amongst the city’s tradespeople. On the 29^th of May, 1399, more than 80 clothworkers were involved in a great affray here, a disturbance which saw the master craftsmen attacking their journeymen with pole-axes, daggers and iron-pointed staves.