Chester Castle - the Agricola Tower I

The Agricola Tower was the original gateway to Chester Castle. It is 12th century, and contains a chapel with exceptionally fine wall-paintings dated about 1220. They were covered up with limewash, but were but rediscovered in the 1980s. The wall-paintings are difficult to see, but were originally exceptionally fine work. You can just about make them out in the photos below.

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Stallboards

The areas outside shops in the Rows are called stallboards, and were originally an extra area for shops to display their wares. A few shops still do so.

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Chester Town Crier II

Not only does Chester have a Town Crier, it also has a Lady Town Crier, and you can hire both of them to do proclamations for you. See more about it here:
http://www.chestertowncriers.com/
The photo shows Julie distributing leaflets announcing special offers from a local shop.

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Chester Castle - the Guard Room

Inside the curtilage of Chester Castle is a guardroom, built in 1846, and attached to one side of it is a later extension, built in 1878, which is a block of 3 cells for unruly soldiers. Each cell has a means of raising an external flag, to attract the attention of the guards, and a spyhole so the guards could look in. The guardroom now houses an exhibition that tells the story of the Castle.

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Chester Castle - Crown Court

Inside Chester Castle is the Crown Court. Unfortunately you are not normally allowed to take photos of the inside whilst trials are going on, so I have had to content myself with a photo of the outside. However, anyone can go in to watch a trial from the public gallery, and these courts have had many famous trials take place in them, including those of the Moors Murderers.

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Bridgegate

On the Bridgegate are some carvings, or reliefs, that were put there the last time the Bridgegate was rebuilt, in 1781. The photo on the right shows what I think are fasces, or roman emblems of authority, and below are the symbols of justice.

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Chester Castle - the Barrack Yard II

The domed structure is from the end of the runway at RAF Hawarden. It was protection against bomb splinters etc. for the man who fired the very-light to tell the pilot whether or not to land. The small brick brick building is the 'condemned cell'. There is no existing evidence that it was ever so used but there is a tunnel from No.1 Court of the Crown Courts (also within the Castle) to this barrack area which is now sealed.

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Chester Castle - the Barrack Yard I

Chester Castle has an early example of a Barrack Yard, completed by 1810 and hardly altered since. In early days soldiers were forcibly billetted on the townsfolk and for 200 years it caused many problems. The building with bars on the windows was the cookhouse - separate from the other buildings to reduce fire risk. The window on the second (Provost) building has been replaced with a slit - for firing on riotous townspeople in the days when the army provided the police force.

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Up The Wall 2011

Up The Wall 2011 happened over the last two evenings, and was an art installation by 14 artists in the Grounds of Chester Castle. My favourite piece was 'Make Do And Mend' where performance artists Katherine Johnson and Stacey Allen invited audiences to destroy maps of Britain, then made futile efforts to repair them. http://stacey-allen.blogspot.com/

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Chester Castle - the Museum

Although Chester Castle ceased to be used as a garrison in 1971, the army still has a presence there, and it now houses the Cheshire Military Museum, which has been refurbished relatively recently. Amongst other things, it tells the story of the Cheshire Regiment, now subsumed into the 1st Mercian, and you can read more about it here: http://www.cheshiremilitarymuseum.co.uk/

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Italian Market

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow there is an Italian Market in Town Hall Square, selling delicious food. I can personally vouch for the quality and flavour of the ciabatta, dolcelatte, and some very unusual green olives which had been brined with fennel.

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Nowhere

On the south banks of the River Dee, between the Grosvenor and Old Dee Bridges, is a house called Nowhere. The story of how it got its' name can be read here: http://www.chesterwalls.info/grosvenor.bridge.html  (you have to scroll down to find it), and it is said to have inspired the Lennon song 'Nowhere Man'.

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Bear and Billet

The Bear and Billet pub, on Lower Bridge St, was originally built as the town house of the Earl of Shrewsbury, but has been an inn since the 18th century. Amongst its' claims to fame is that John Lennon's grandmother was born and lived here, and that John would have visited her in Chester when he was a young boy.

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The Boathouse Pub

Right on the banks of the river, at the end of the Groves is the Boathouse pub. It is built right onto the river frontage looking out onto the Meadows, and is an excellent place to while away a summers' day. In winter, however, if we have heavy rains, it occasionally floods.

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The Boat On The River

Currently moored in the middle of the River Dee (and has been for a few weeks), is a narrowboat. How did it get there? - it is possible to get from the Canal system onto the river, but it connects below the weir, and this narrowboat is moored above the weir. Is it waiting for a high tide so that it can float over the weir and back to the canal, or even out to sea? Is there anyone living on it? Such a lot of unanswered questions...

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Grosvenor Park Miniature Railway

In Grosvenor Park there is a miniature railway that carries small children (and their parents) on a circuit round the Duck Pond. You can read more about it here: http://www.gpmr.co.uk/

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Private Moorings

There are two words that will immediately increase the price of a property in Chester - 'Private Moorings'. These are houses that have, at the bottom of their gardens, the right to moor boats on the River Dee.

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The Bandstand in the Groves

Down by the river there is a bandstand, and sometimes, during the summer, there is a band playing in it. One was  there last Sunday, to serenade the Marathon runners as they went past.

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Waitrose

Today a new Waitrose opens in the city centre, on Foregate St in what was previously Currys, and before that it was once Ye Olde Royal Oak Hotel.

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Autumn in the Park

Autumn has finally arrived, leaves are falling, the squirrels are hoovering up nuts like there's no tomorrow, and Grosvenor Park is starting to look bare.

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Chester Marathon - the Course

This year the Marathon was run over a new course, some parts of which are very pretty. Towards the end there was a long hill down to the river, but then came a nasty little uphill climb that caught some runners unawares.

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Medieval Food and Pottery

During my visit to the Water Tower there was a display of medieval food and drink and pottery. The plate in the foreground holds gingerbread, and in the background seed cake. Both were very tasty, but the gingerbread was probably sweeter that we would make it nowadays. The jug held spiced wine.

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Chester Marathon - the Spectators

The spectators included the Lord Mayor, and some pompom cheerleaders, and there was facepainting and lots of freebies that made noise for the children.

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Chester Marathon - the Runners

Today was Chester Marathon, and luckily the predicted rain held off, and the winner set a new course record. We had two runners staying in our apartments - hope they had a good time!

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Water Tower III - Lower

The entrance to the lower tower (originally known as the New Tower) has both a portcullis and a heavy door, and just inside there is a garderobe, or medieval toilet. There are a few steps down leading to a lower room, and a spiral stair leading to the upper room, of which you can see photos below.

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