Chester

by Alec and Val Scaresbrook

Cheshire's county town is well furnished with shops, including cycling shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants and hotels. Every day except Sunday is market day, so the streets are always busy with people and traffic. Guided tours are available and these are probably the best way to discover the delights of Chester if your time is limited - ask at the tourist information centre (TIC). There's also a plethora of museums and lively displays from different periods of history, which you can also find out about from the TIC.

Chester's Heritage Centre gives you a summary of the history of the city from pre-historic times to the present day, and the Grosvenor Museum concentrates on life here in Roman times. Chester was the site of the largest Roman fortress in Britain and numerous items have been discovered over the years. These are now on imaginative display in the museum.

The city walls owe their existence to the Romans and are open to the public, giving good views of the centre and surroundings. Visit Bonewaldesthorne's tower and walk along the connecting spur wall to the Water Tower. This was built in the early 14th century to guard the harbour of Chester, but you need imagination to visualise the days when seagoing vessels moored here - the river silted up long ago and the Water Tower is surrounded by dry land, now a public park. A camera obscura gives a panoramic view of the area.

King Charles' Tower, also on the city walls, contains a small English Civil War exhibition. Chester played an important part in the Civil War, with deep division amongst the inhabitants, even within families. At the end of 1644, Chester was besieged, holding out until February of 1646, when the Parliamentarians finally took possession and Cheshire's part in the Civil War ceased.

On a lighter note, the city boasts the oldest racecourse in Britain (the Roodee, visible from the city walls), where racing dates from the mid-16th century. The city's rows are also famous - these are medieval rows of two-tier shops. The roofs of the shops at street level provide a walkway and frontage for the shops above. The walkways are covered and provide a good view of the streets below, and shelter from any rain too.

Amongst the many old buildings in Chester, the most important is the cathedral. Its stones spans 900 years, including parts of the original abbey church of St Werburgh that somehow survived King Henry V111's Dissolution of the Monasteries. Not all is old though; the newest addition is a bell-tower that was built in the grounds in 1975.

NB Shops on the outskirts of Chester may observe Wednesday early closing. See the map below