Chester is an attractive historic city which lies in the mid north-western area of England, close to the border with Wales. It is renowned in England for being known as ‘the medieval walled city’, due to being home to the most complete original city walls of any town in the U.K. and one of the best preserved medieval cities!! Chester is the county town of Cheshire and home to approximately 80,000 people, and famous for its large number of Tudor buildings, its unique ‘Rows” shopping area, the huge Roman amphitheatre and the Eastgate Clock (built 1897), reputably the second most photographed clock in the world after Big Ben!!
Built on the banks of the River Dee, Chester began life as the major Roman military camp of Deva, named for the goddess of the river and meaning ‘holy place’. For almost 200 years it was the base of the famous 20th Legion, the Valeria Victrix. For centuries after the Romans withdrew, the river was important to the city, as its wealth was made from river traffic and, until the Dee silted up, Chester was one of the country’s leading ports. The river, crossed by the old Dee Bridge (built 1387), has always been a centre of life in the city, from the early construction of the old weir assisting millers, to the construction of the canal system which connected to the river and helped trade and commerce, moving produce from England to Wales.
The best way to get a feel for the city is to walk the two miles of the city walls, which are the most complete in England and incredibly well preserved. They date from Roman times, although they were extended and repaired many times during the medieval period. They are studded with gates and towers of various periods, some of which contain small museums. Within the walls, Chester’s star attraction is ‘the Rows’, the two storey shopping streets. They date back to at least the 13th century and are quite unique, as there is no record anywhere else in England of anything similar. The centre of town is marked by the ancient Cross, and the streets around are lined with half-timbered buildings in black and white, which although they look Tudor are mostly Victorian reconstructions. The most famous of these buildings is the ‘God’s Providence House’ in Watergate Street, dated 1652, but rebuilt in 1862. Another fine 17th century building, restored by the Victorians, is Bishop Lloyd’s House, also in Watergate Street, with its carved panels depicting biblical scenes. Chester Cathedral too, though Norman, was so thoroughly restored in the 19th century that it is more Victorian than of any other era. It is famous for its beautiful choir stalls with their carved canopies and bench ends and unusual in its detached, modern bell-tower, built in 1974. All that remains of Chester’s medieval castle is its former outer bailey and the 12th century Agricola Tower of the inner bailey. Most of the castle was demolished in the 19th century to make way for the Crown court and County Council building. Outside the walls, by Newgate, is one of the largest Roman amphitheatres yet discovered in the country, with seating for 7000 spectators, and the Roodee Racecourse was once the site of the Roman harbour.
Other sites, in the city, worthy of mention:
King Charles’ Tower, from where Charles I watched the disastrous defeat of the Royalist army at the hands of the Parliamentarians at the battle of Rowton Moor in 1645. An exhibition of the period is housed in the tower.
Grosvenor Museum, with the theme of life in Deva at the time of the Valeria Victrix.
Chester Heritage Centre, in the former church of St Michael and the first of its kind in the country, covers the city’s story from the Romans to the dawn of the railways.
The Eastgate, the principal gate into the city from Roman times to the present, surmounted by the Jubilee Clock presented to the city at the time of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 by a citizen and freeman of Chester, Edward Evans-Lloyd.
Other places of interest within 30 kilometres:
Tatton Park, a National Trust property near Knutsford, is a complete historic estate with mansions, grand garden, deer park, farm and Tudor old hall.
The Wirral Peninsula, with its long stretches of sandy coastline and holiday resorts.
Daresbury, the birthplace of Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland. The church has a red, blue and gold stained-glass window commemorating Alice, the Mad Hatter and other characters from the book.
Delamere Forest, where walks can be taken by visitors through bracken and dense foliage and past areas of water such as Oak Mere and Hatch Mere.
Did you know that – ‘God’s Providence House’ was called such when it became the only house in Watergate Street to be untouched by a 17th century plague? Although if you check the dates, it doesn’t quite work out!!
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