Five-Day Weather Forecast
for Chester, England
(rain there, too!)
Today in Chester
(a walled city in northwest England,
also known as England's gateway to Wales):
The group had a day of leisure in Chester, sightseeing or doing whatever else they wished to do. They had a rehearsal with a host choir in Hartford, and this evening, they will be performing in a concert with the host choir.
Some things they may have seen include:
City Walls
The original layout of Chester was based on the Roman pattern, and defensive walls, partly Roman and partly medieval, surround the old city center. The four gates to the city still exist. Click here to see another photo.Roman Ruins
The Romans built a fortress at Chester in the 1st century AD and named it Deva, after the goddess of the River Dee. There are many remnants of this early settlement, including a Roman amphitheater (half-buried under grass). Click here to see an artist's rendition of the Roman Fort at Chester (long download time!).The Rows
Two-tiered, half-timbered, shopping arcades built above the main streets, which are said to have been built to protect the shops at street level from Welsh cattle drovers with their flocks of sheep and geese and herds of cattle! The layout of The Rows dates back to the 13th century.Chester Cathedral
built on the site of a 10th-century Saxon chapel, it became an abbey church for a Benedictine monastery in the 11th century. It was later rebuilt in the Norman style.Anchorite's Cell
Local legend has it that Harold, king of the Saxons, was not killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but escaped and fled to Chester, where he lived as a blind hermit in the Anchorite's Cell, a simple sandstone structure near the River Dee.Wolf Gate
(a gate in the wall around the city, next to the present Newgate)
According to legend, Ellen Aldersley, daughter of a city alderman, eloped through Wolf Gate in 1573. The ghostly clatter of her horse's hooves have at times been heard around the area of the gate.Eastgate Clock
built in 1897 to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The clock's intricate iron framework, designed by architect John Douglas, is a marvel of ornate Victorian style.
