For my birthday on the 17th December 2021, I took a trip to Chester. My friend Tony suggested Chester as he wanted to take a picture of the Eastgate clock and I wanted to take pictures of the famous Chester Cathedral.
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| The Eastgate clock, 2021 |
The Eastgate clock was constructed in 1899 for the diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
The designer was the Chester architect John Douglas. John Douglas was born in 1830 and died in 1911. Working from an office in Chester, he designed over 500 buildings in Cheshire, North Wales and North West England.
The clock's decorative ironwork was made by John Douglas's cousin, a local celebrated blacksmith, James Swindley.
Sitting on a sandstone structure forming part of the Chester wall. The Eastgate clock stands on the site of the original entrance of the Roman fortress Deva Victrix.
A timber tower was replaced by a stone tower in the 2nd century. Although the original gate was Roman, the present gate was built in Georgian times to allow coaches through.
The present gateway dates from 1768. On 28th July 1955 the building was listed as grade 1.
I got to Chester when it was almost dark so wasn’t able to take a picture until the next day. After a cosy sleep in a nearby Premium Inn. I got up early the next day to take a picture of the Eastgate clock. The clock is the second most photographed clock after Big Ben.
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| Eastgate Clock, Chester |
The clock was damaged by students during “Rag Week” in 1958. as reported in the Saturday 22nd November 1958 edition of the “Liverpool Echo”. The repairs cost £5-10s (£131-4Op at today's value)
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| Chester Carhdral |
Having visited the clock and taken a few pictures of it from the top and the bottom I headed to the cathedral.
The queue there was over half a mile long due to social distancing so I decided just to take some pictures of it and not to queue to go inside.
The cathedral was constructed between 1093 and the early 16th century having being modified a number of times throughout history.
It was formerly the church of a Benedictine Abbey dedicated to St. Werburgh like the church on Wilbraham Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
It became the Cathedral of the Chester diocese in 1541 after Henry VIII's dissolution of the monastries. To discourage the practice of the veneration of saints which the protestant reformers thought idolatrous St. Werburgh's shrine was destroyed and the cathedral re-dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin.
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| Chester Cathedral |
It is also grade 1 listed.
I had a lovely day in Chester before heading back I had a nice latte at Chester train station before the one and half journey back to Manchester.
Location; Chester
Pictures; 2021, courtesy of Andrea Martinez
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