G & J away from home

Wednesday, 6 July 2016

Today we completed our walk around the walls of Chester.  The walls are not as uniform as they sound, though apparently are some of the best preserved in the UK.  Sometimes they're more like footpaths as they are the same level as the road on the inside of the walls is (though the ground on the outside is a lot lower), sometimes they are up high edging between old buildings and the backs of modern car parks, and in one spot they disappear completely, which is a bit sad for the sake of completeness.  As well as the traditional gates holes have been made in the walls for a number of reasons including allowing the trains to transit through which seems a pity as a diversion of a matter of a couple of hundred yards would have missed the walls.

We did a little bit of our wall walk when we set out - completing the bit we missed last night when we came down the stairs at Duke Street.

'Nine Houses' - alms houses in Chester dating from 1650

Half-timbered buildings viewed from the row opposite

This time we came down at Pepper Street (past the old Peppergate or Wolfgate) then wandered through some the streets we had so enjoyed last night (Bridge Street and Eastgate Street) before turning into Northgate Street heading for the tourist information office.  We didn't find the office a very useful place but it did put us directly opposite the cathedral and so we headed across to visit that.

First we took our map and headed (against advice) into the cloisters.  Not that I needed another TICK for Elsie Oxenham's Abbey books, but we are fairly abbey-focused people and cloisters and garths are our what we know best.  And we did know it!  I recognised all sorts of features from all the years of studying Cleeve Abbey, even if these were on a larger, often grander scale.

The cloisters in Chester Cathedral

Inside the cathedral itself we ended up on an excellent guided tour (just three of us) but not before I had paid my pound and contributed to the fund-raising project of building the cathedral in Lego. Have to say, Best Fun Ever, especially when the assistant showed me and the previous purchasers where the column onto which we had added our pieces would be fitted when it was finished AND where that actual column was in the building.

Lego cathedral

One of the quirky things in the cathedral was the change in style from the original build to the new Gothic style - very evident in the north transept.  Also high up on that wall were recycled columns; Roman columns, nearly 1000 years older than the church incorporated into the building because they were on-hand.  A reminder of just how much history there is in this city.

The wall shows the two building styles

Roman columns incorporated in the wall

After the cathedral we went back on the walls to complete our circuit.  There has been much rebuilding and restoration over the years (and with the buildings in town) and I find it difficult to decide whether things are old or new.  Sometimes they were rebuilt 500 years ago (as with the cathedral cloisters) so they're not 'original' but they're pretty darn old and this isn't a museum but has always been a lived-in city.  There are some great websites around listing which bits of the walls, gates, and towers have been rebuilt (and which contain stretches of original Roman walls) but sometimes it feels better not to know the details but take it as it's presented - walls in use since Roman times.

Delightful brick chimneys

Some places (including our B&B) have addresses of 'City Walls' as if it was a street and there was a delightful shop selling wonderful greetings cards (my weakness) which was No. 1 and, therefore, deserved a photo:

My favourite shop - and address

Gary in Water Tower Street

Eventually we reached the north-western corner and the Water Tower(s) which were successively build as the course of the river moved away from the walls:

Water Tower(s) from the walls

And it isn't all serious history stuff in Chester; the girls from the local school (itself historic) were having a great time on the fields below the walls (the school is inside the walls) in these plastic balls, the Roodee (the first racecourse the in the UK) is still positioned at the foot of the walls and spectators watch the meetings from them, and once we were home outside our window there were kayaking lessons over the Norman weir to keep us entertained.

Girls in bubbles

First racecourse, founded 1539

Kayaking over the weirs

And the internet connection has been kind this evening.  A great end to a wonderful day.

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