Crab Mill Farm, Kinnerton, Flintshire, Wales

Today we went to England for the day, more specifically to Chester, just five miles to the east. We drove to the Wrexham Road Park’n Ride and caught the bus into the city, certainly a sensible choice for today as we were able to pass about five hours wandering here and there without worrying about the parking  meter expiring.

Chester is the best preserved walled city in England, right up there with York which we visited last year; or was it the year before? Chester is also one of the richest cities in architectural and archaeological treasures. With its medieval, galleried streets and Tudor houses of plaster and age blackened wood, few places can conjure up more vividly the atmosphere of England, or amongst those we have visited.

The city sits on a sandstone spur on the banks of the River Dee, that which widens and meets the sea after passing between the Wirral and Liverpool. The Romans first settled here in 79 AD, the 20^th Legion, one of three in Britain, was stationed here to protect the fertile valleys of the north-west from marauding Welsh tribes and sea pirates. The remains of the amphitheatre, the largest known in Britain and once able to seat around 7,000 spectators and the walls are the main features left to remind us of that grand past, this latter making for an excellent walkway of almost two miles. 

The initial construction of the walls was of timber, later replaced with stone, some of this still evident today. They were more heavily fortified in the 13^th century when Chester became the military base for the conquest of North Wales. Centuries later they were battered by cannon fire during the Civil War and eventually repaired in the 18^th century to become the pleasure promenade they are today. 

But even today there were sections undergoing repair, and roading infrastructure has driven permanent gaps in the wall, so to walk the walls in their entirety does require a few small detours.

There are other wonderful structures to be admired as one explores the city; the Dee Bridge, towers along the wall, the remains of the castle of which really only the Agricola Tower remains. The Castle was built by William the Conqueror, and rebuilt between 1788 and 1822, but today it has mostly been integrated into courts and offices. We did climb the tower, which is looked after by English Heritage. 

We were amused to be greeted by over-the-top health and safety precautions: there were three employees manning the tower, all armed with walkie-talkies who conveyed the fact tourists were either coming or going up and down the tower, and then only three were admitted at one time. How very different from the crowds who squeezed past each other on the dark and very steep spiral stairways in the Caernarfon Castle.

We spent some time in the Cathedral, a most impressive structure which began its life as a Benedictine abbey, this explaining the lack of decoration. Before the abbey, there was a church here, built in the 10^th century, containing the relics of St Werburgh, a Mercian princess who died in 707 AD. Of course the abbey was victim of the 1540 dissolution, or at least the monks’ lives were, because there was no demolition, simply a conversion into a cathedral. A luck escape, I think.

We wandered about the massive building, far more impressive inside than from the outside, where it appears hemmed in by the walled city. We admired the exquisitely carved quire stalls, the wonderful Victorian mosaics, and the 1992 installation out in the cloister gardens, a statue depicting the Samaritan woman at the well, giving water to Jesus. 

Lunch was taken down on the river bank, surrounded by hundreds of like-minded tourists, entertained by a piano-accordionist who did not play half as well as Chris’s cousin’s grandson who had been the star performed at the family reunion at Blo’Norton back in May.

Our walk about the walls was wonderful for the views over the canal, the river, the castle, the racecourse and the fabulous busy streets, and the bonus of the free Chester Cathedral Falconry show although we could of course not hear the handlers expounding the virtues of these beautiful birds.

Although we occupied our time well in Chester, we still did not see all we would have liked, so plan to return to the city in a few more days. There are some housekeeping matters that can only be attended to in a town of significant size, and there are still the museums, the canal towpaths to walk and so much more.