Chester Cathedral

The blog has been slow in coming as web access has not been easy and we have been working through emails in preference.  There should be more regular updates from now on.

When we first arrived in the UK our friend Christine took us to visit Chester cathedral.  They have very recently opened a tour to its tower so we thought we would see what it was all about.

Chester Cathedral with flower garden
commemorating the Cheshire Regiment
and showing the tower.

The cathedral itself has quite an interesting history. There are records of a Christian church being built on the site of a Roman temple, and the church had been in existence well before 660. A monastery was founded on the site about 975AD which was then converted to a Benedictine monastery by Hugh Lupus a nephew of William the Conqueror in 1092. Some of the Romanesque style building from that era can still be seen in the current structure. Henry Lupus was a tyrant and fathered many illegitimate children, but late in life became a monk (perhaps to atone for his sins!!). The building of the monastery began at the east end in 1092, working from east to west; the style of the church was Romanesque, in imitation of the Roman building style, with round headed arches and solid masonry. Once the greater part of the east end was finished and could be consecrated to allow services to take place, the work began on the cloisters (the domestic buildings) while building continued on the church.

Interior looking towards the west window

The last part of the domestic buildings to be constructed was the Chapter House in about 1250 and by that time, the architectural style had changed to the Gothic, with its pointed arches and ribbed ceilings.
However, the church in the Romanesque style then looked very old fashioned and so the monks decided to rebuild their church in the more up to date Gothic style. Rebuilding began in about 1260 at the east end with the construction of the Lady Chapel.
Work continued with the remodelling of the quire in 1290. The Crossing followed in about 1300, followed by the south transept in 1350. The south side of the nave was remodelled in 1360 but the north side of the Nave was not built until 1490 – this 130 year break in building was due to the Black Death when not enough workers were on hand to continue the building.
The west end was constructed about 1515/20 and the work then moved aloft to construct the upper windows and the stone ceilings. However, the monastery was dissolved in 1539; building ceased at that time and very plain wooden ceilings were erected to allow services to take place inside.
Unusually, however, Henry VIII handed the monastery back as the Cathedral of the newly created Diocese of Chester (Church of England), so the building was preserved. the last Abbot became the first Dean of the Cathedral while the senior monks became the first Canons. By the nineteenth century, it was clear that the building needed restoration and some work was undertaken in the 1830s. However the major restoration took place 1868- 76. The cathedral and former monastic buildings were extensively restored during the 19th century (amidst some controversy). As the tower was raised, the bells were shifted higher, but the vibrations started to cause problems with the structure such that in 1975 the bells were shifted to a free-standing tower, the first such arrangement in England.

The cloisters

A lot of the monastic structure is still in existence today, and much is still in use. The Chapter House was built in about 1270, and all the abbots and earls of Chester are buried here. The cloister is enclosed, unusually, by windows (of stained glass). We don't know whether these were an improvement as part of the 20^th century works or whether glass was used prior to that. One nice touch is that the former monastic refectory is now being used as a cafe/restaurant with lots of home-made cakes and biscuits of great quality on sale.

For the climbers - here is a dedication
to Mallory & Irvine who disappeared
on Everest in 1924

As mentioned, the Cathedral has recently added a tour of the tower to the tours they run. Being recently accredited, it has passed all the OHS requirements, which means that some parts of the tower are still out of bounds to the public as they are not considered safe enough. The tour took us up the very steep and narrow winding stairs used by the maintenance staff and the bell-ringers. We were able to get a closer look at the

One of the bells still
in the tower.

Roman arches, the huge organ (with over 4,000) pipes, some of the very fine stained glass, and views of the cathedral from the gallery. Heading up the tower we saw the various levels from which the bell-ringers worked over the years – at one level because church officials wanted to be able to see the fine roof, they had to work from a gallery such that if they lost control they could be flung down into the church many metres below (but there is no record of this happening). The tower is finished off with turrets rather than a spire, although that was the original intention. Politics decreed that the spire should not be higher than the town hall, and as the turrets were already at that height, it was never built giving the cathedral its unique outline.

The tower is quite a good lookout and you can see Wales and 5 counties from it. Charles I used it to watch the battle of Rowton Heath which he lost leading to him losing his head a year later.

The tower visit is worthwhile, but not for the claustrophobic or those who suffer from vertigo.

If anyone is interested, the following links have a lot more detail about both the cathedral and the tower:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Cathedral
http://www.chesterwalls.info/cathedral.html