All about Chester

We are living in NW England in the county of Cheshire. Chester is one of the largest cities in Cheshire and certainly one of the most beautiful and historical cities I have seen. I have been out and about a bit in Chester and this is what I’ve seen and learned about the city.

The Walls
Chester is also called the Walled City as it has the most complete circuit of city walls in the country. The city started out as a Roman fortress 2,000 years ago. The Normans extended the original circuit, building freestanding walls and adding towers, gates and a ditch.

A walk along the walls is a great way to see Chester - the full circuit measuring about 3km. Amongst other things, you will see the cathedral, the castle, the river and the racecourse. The racecourse is the oldest racecourse in the country and was once the site of a massive Roman harbour

This is a picture of part of the race course, also showing some of the wall (ok, I'm not a great photographer... yet)

The Cathedral
There has been a place of worship on the site of the present cathedral for more than 1000 years. In the Dark Ages the Saxons built a wooden church on the site. In 1057 the church was rebuilt and later refounded as a Benedictine monastery. It was made a cathedral when Henry VIII dissolved the monastery in 1540.

Because of its history, the cathedral has architectural styles from almost every century since the 10th - from norman arches to gothic columns, amazing medieval woodcarvings to spectacular stained glass.





Chester Castle
Chester Castle isn’t as you’d imagine an old majestic castle to be. Apparently is was once very different to how it now looks. William the Conqueror built the original structure in 1070 - basically an earth mound with a timber tower and an enclosure defended by a ditch. The tower was later rebuilt in stone with much of the work completed in the Middle Ages. After Cromwell’s success in the civil war, he decided to make the castle ‘uninhabitable’, and most of the medieval structure was destroyed. In the 18th century the ruins of the old castle were removed and a new outer wall was built to a design by Thomas Harrison. A massive gateway in the Greek Doric order was later added. Harrison's new-look castle was described as 'one of the most powerful monuments of the Greek revival in the whole of England'. The castle was used as a garrison, prison, exchequer and county court into the 19th century and the present County Hall was later built on the site of the prison.


The Rows Shopping Galleries
Shopping in the city centre is quite something. Besides enjoying walking down pedestrian-only, cobbled streets with shops on either side, many are housed in the 700 year old Rows shopping galleries. These are a unique medieval system of covered walkways with shops on two levels. The shops on the ground level are often lower than the street, so its like walking into a crypt or vault. All very old and interesting – and covered! Those folks from the middle ages knew how how make a good shopping system. There is also a shopping centre called ‘Grosvenor Shopping Centre’.

The following pictures are of the Rows - trying to give you an idea of how it looks.

This one is of a 2nd level walkway - with shops on the right and a sloping shelf to the railings.










The Architecture
Much of the architecture of central Chester looks medieval and some of it is, but by far the greatest part of it, including most of the black-and-white buildings, is Victorian. The black and white revival began in the 1850s. Architects were encouraged to use the 'rich and lively facades' of the Stuarts as a template for restoring buildings.

There are also genuine, half-timbered buildings from the Jacobean Renaissance. A good example of one of these is the pub called Bear and Billet Inn. This was the town house of the Earls of Shrewsbury and once stood in its own grounds – built around 1664.

This is a picture of the Bear and Billet Inn