DEVA VICTRIX BLUR
The
logistics of sightseeing with young children can put a damper on this
particular hoofer’s scattershot approach to visiting a new place. One needs to
worry if the little fellows are tended to, their nappies dry, their bellies
filled. I’m kind of a frantic ADD traveler when it comes to new places like the
city of Chester and for me it's especially difficult if I have limited time. Janet has taught me to calm
down a bit when visiting a new place. We take a tour and figure out where we
would like to focus our exploring. That’s usually a good idea, and in the long
run we experience more than if we (er, I) ran about like a headless chicken. Sadly
though on this particular day trip we really had just a bit more than 4+ hours
of parking lot time, a toddler and an infant in tow and the day was dreary and
raining at times. So far much of this most recent trip to England has been all
about balancing the kids on our knees, walking daily to the Sainsbury’s super
market or trundling out to a pub for a beer, so no matter how short the trip
was to Chester, it was a welcome diversion and a new experience for your humble
chronicler.
So, the
tourist city of Chester in the North West of England, not far from Liverpool
and just over the border from Wales is 20 miles from our home base of Nantwich.
It’s close enough to allow for short day trips and Janet had already been to this
ancient city a couple of times before with the kids. On one of their visits
they went to the Chester Zoo, which is one of the largest in the UK and the
most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain. It was far too cold and dreary for
a visit that day though and given the enormity of the zoo there really wasn’t time
to enough to explore it all.
The
city started as a Roman fortress called Deva Victrix around 79 AD and became a
major city over the ensuing years. The Roman ramparts protecting the fortress
were eventually replaced by a defensive stone wall that still exists today and Chester
is the best preserved walled city in England. After the English Civil War in
the mid-1600s though the wall ceased to have a military function but was kept for
leisure and recreation and is maintained to this day. It is perhaps the city’s
main tourist attraction.
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| Christmas Tree Festival |
Janet
had already hiked some of the 2 mile stretch of wall in a previous visit, but
because it was raining when we first arrived we decided to stop into the
Chester Cathedral for their Christmas Tree Festival and hoped the rain would
subside.
CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL
Chester
was a Roman stronghold and the site of the Chester Cathedral may have been a
place for Christian worship since then. Typical of English cathedrals it has
been modified over the years from its initial erection just after the Norman
conquest of England. You remember that date 1066. All the major styles of
medieval English architecture can be found at the cathedral. Services are held
still, but the cathedral hosts events and concerts. As it was raining we scampered
up from the parking lot, underneath Eastgate and its ornate clock, to the
cathedral to take in the Christmas Tree Festival. Now in its 5th
year the Cathedral’s cloisters were decorated with Christmas trees from area
schools and businesses.
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| just below Eastgate |
Unlike
the Minster in York, where we visited a couple of summers ago, admission to the Chester Cathedral is free, although a donation is humbly requested.
We then
strolled through the cathedral waiting out the rain. There was a cafeteria and,
of course, a gift shop near the exit.
THE SECOND MOST PHOTOGRAPHED CLOCK IN ENGLAND
Eastgate
is the original main entrance to the old Roman fortress of Deva Victrix. The
entrance was once guarded by a tower, but after the English civil wars the
medieval walls became obsolete for military use and the wall impeded traffic
into the city. Thankfully the walls were not torn down, but Eastgate was
replaced by an arch and in 1897 for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee an ornate wrought-iron
turret clock was constructed. It is said that the gold emblazoned timepiece is,
after Big Ben, the most photographed in England.
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| Janet at Eastgate Chester |
It was
at Eastgate that we ascended the stairs to walk much of the wall. Somehow
fitting at the foot of the stairs wedged in a little space is a donut shop. As
we did not have that much time we did not purchase donuts or dawdle on the
wall. I could have spent the entire allotted time strolling the wall and the
sights it afforded, but we tripped along at a clipped pace, pausing only
briefly to ogle the Cathedral or peer down onto the canal that flowed far
below. We made it as far as Chester Racecourse, also known as the Roodee, and
the oldest still in use in England, before fearing we’d run out of time and we
left the wall and headed straight away into the city.
WHAT’S BLACK AND WHITE AND ROWED?
Another
attraction to Chester that we literally skipped through is the shopping area
known as the Rows. The four main streets within the city walls are lined with
picturesque black and white Tudor-style buildings. The unique system of shops
at street level and covered walkways leading to more shops on the second floor
supposedly dates from medieval times although the Black-and-white Revival is
relatively new from the 1800’s. It was then that area architects covered the medieval facades with the current Tudor-inspired appearance. With their timbers painted black and the panels
between painted white the buildings are strikingly gorgeous as if one had been
dropped into a story-book setting. The rows still maintain old names like
Shoemakers Row or Ironmongers Row, but the wares have changed to boutique
shops, etc. Found mostly on the four main streets; Bridge, Eastgate, Watergate
and partially Northgate that intersect at the St. Peter’s Church and the city’s
High Cross; we marveled at the beautiful buildings. People milled around the open
square before the church and the pedestrian mall taking advantage of the
respite from the rain, enjoying street performers, but we could not dawdle. We
had lunch waiting for us.
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| Chester Wall |
We
certainly could have spent much more time in this area. We did clamber up one
flight to peer out onto the beautiful streets, but only for a moment before
moving on to beer…
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| Part of the Rows Chester |
I still
have a flip phone but GPSMyCity.com/tours may aid me in shedding my Luddite
ways just so I could download their app. On this visit we had no time to
explore Chester, but their app turns a “smart” phone into a personal tour guide
using a built-in GPS navigation system. And, because it works offline no data
plan is needed when traveling abroad. They offer a black-and-white
architectural tour of Chester. At their
website they list a number of other cities around the world.
Indeed,
though Chester had been mentioned several times over the years as a destination
I had dismissed it out of hand. I was wrong and this trip only whetted my
appetite to return. There’s much to explore in Chester, including a boat trip
on the canal.
BEER!
Well, time
on the meter was ticking away and the boys needed to be fed (as well as the
adults). With the rain beginning to fall again we ducked into Brewhouse and
Kitchen on Love Street, just beyond the Eastgate entrance. A small English
chain they were a microbrewery that had a healthy selection of other beers. The
food was good and prices were reasonable, although their particular beers were just
all right. Service was good and patient with our large group.
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| CHESTER UK WALL |
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