Three Old Arches

Three Old Arches is located at 48 Bridge Street.. Together with the adjacent building at No. 50, it has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. The stone frontage at the street and row levels of No. 48 is considered to be the earliest shop front still surviving in England. It was once the largest known medieval town house in the Chester Rows, and the stone-walled hall at the row level extending to No. 50 was the largest hall set parallel to the rows in Chester. Currently empty, it looks as though something will be happening there SOON. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Old_Arches

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The Phone Box ATM

With the advent of the mobile phone the public telephone network, along with all those beautiful red phone boxes, has become largely redundant. A new use has been found for one in Bridge Street - it has been turned into a cash machine and now dispenses bank notes to happy shoppers.

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Amakai Caribbean Shop

Brook Street is turning into an interesting food shopping area, and amongst the shops down there is Amakai, who sell all manner of Caribbean goodies. Currently they also seem to be doing a nice line in bedding plants - why, I have no idea.

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Corks Out Delivery Chute

The other day I was walking past Corks Out on Watergate Street and their side door was open, showing the delivery chute down which barrels of wine would have been rolled when they arrived. I guess the chute dates from around the 12th century, and nothing has really changed at all, although wine now tends to be delivered already bottled rather than being done on the premises.

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Mile Markers

All around Chester, on the main roads, are mile markers, which tell you how far you are from the Cross. I guess that they are a hangover from the days when arrival in the city was normally either on foot or horseback, and they are looking a little shabby and uncared for now.

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St John's Church - Mediaevalness

If there is such a word as 'mediaevalness', then St John's qualifies. The interior was described by Pevsner as 'transporting him back to the twelfth century', and there is an extant wall painting from that period on one of the pillars. I was also interested to see that the stained glass windows, although from a later time, clearly show musicians playing at the Last Supper.

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Medieval Music And Dancing

There were four groups performing medieval music at the Minstrels Court this year, and Trouvere, one of them, were very impressive live performers, and you can find out more about them here: http://www.medievalminstrels.com. They were playing their 'Music for a Medieval Prince' set. Another set of musicians led the audience in medieval dances round the church.

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