Chester Cathedral

Location: St Werburgh St, Chester CH1 2DY
Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9.30am – 6.00pm; Sunday 10.00am – 6.00pm. Note: The opening times given above are the standard opening times, but times can vary due to special services and events. Check the cathedral website here to ensure the cathedral is open when you visit.
Entry: Small entry fee during summer and Christmas, otherwise free. Donations are most welcome.
Access: Parking in town, charge applies.

Chester Cathedral began life as a church dedicated to St. Werburgh, part of a Benedictine monastery established here in 1092. Following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, St. Werburgh’s abbey became a Church of England cathedral in 1541. Construction never stopped between 1092 and 1541, the building constantly being expanded or altered according to architectural fashion and the growth of the city.

An earlier Saxon church dedicated to Werburgh stood on this site before the abbey’s foundation, one that in turn replaced a basilica dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul that possibly dated back to the late Roman period. In other words, Chester Cathedral stands on a sight that may have been a place of worship for at least 1600 years.

Let’s have a wander around this grand old building…

*View of the cathedral from the City Walls. The building was constructed using sandstone, and all the major mediaeval architecture style, from Norman to English Gothic, are represented.*

Left: Addleshaw Tower, Chester Cathedral’s 85-feet high, free-standing bell tower. The bells originally hung in the cathedral’s centre tower, but when they needed overhauling in the 1960s it was thought rehanging the bells in their original position might damage the architecture. As a result, Chester got the first free-standing bell tower to be built for an English cathedral since the fifteenth century. Addleshaw Tower was completed in 1974 and was the last major work of ecclesiastical architect George Pace (1915 – 1975). Right: Badge of the Cheshire Regiment in the cathedral gardens.

The nave. The cathedral often serves as an event venue, and the art deco screen and stage at the far end of the nave was in the process of being dismantled following a concert the previous evening. Apart from the regular scheduled choral evensongs and organ recitals, December 2025 events include Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by Candlelight, a Rat Pack tribute show, a screening of The Snowman with live orchestra, and a Christmas at the Movies concert.

*The Quire stalls were designed by father and son William and Hugh Herland and constructed around 1380. The Herlands were also responsible for the stalls at Lincoln Cathedral.*

Two of the many carvings in the choir stalls. I’m guessing that’s St. Michael defeating the Devil on the left, and on the right a man considerately poses for the photograph whilst being devoured by a dragon.

*The best surviving example of a consistory court*, *or ecclesiastical court, in Britain.* Unlike the common courts where proceedings were dominated by upper middle to upper class men, those of a lower societal ranks were allowed to represent themselves and have their voices heard in the consistory court. Unusually for the times, that also included women. The fittings date from the seventeenth century, and the last case heard here was as recent as the 1930s.

Left: This Norman arch is the earliest part of the cathedral still standing and dates from the late eleventh century. The small picture in the niche on the righthand side of the arch is a ‘cobweb picture’, i.e., a picture painted on the net of a caterpillar. This one depicts the Madonna and Child, and is believed to be the work of the Tyrolese artist Johann Burgman (died 1825). Right: Carved high in the nave is the Chester Imp, an image of the Devil in chains created to chase evil spirits away.

The Lady Chapel, named, like all Lady Chapels, for the Virgin Mary. It dates from the mid-1200s. The statues to the left of the alter are of the Magi; do they stay here until the Epiphany (6 January) or are they moved around the cathedral, getting ever closer to the Nativity?

Left: The Lady Chapel’s gorgeous ceiling – it may be a restoration but it still looks wonderful. Right: The Shrine of St. Werburgh, the patron saint of Chester. Werburgh (c. 650 – 700CE) was an Anglo-Saxon princess, the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia and granddaughter of King Penda of Mercia. She spent most of her life as a nun, entering the Abbey of Ely and eventually becoming its abbess. Her shrine was originally located at Hanbury but was moved behind Chester’s City Walls in the ninth century to protect it from raiding Vikings. It was saved on that occasion but the shrine was destroyed and its relics lost during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. What we see today was reassembled in 1876 using surviving fragments.

*A very festive Chapter House. Chester Cathedral holds an annual Christmas Tree Festival, which this year (2025) featured over eighty trees decorated in a* Christmas Around the World *theme.*

Most of the Christmas trees in the festival could be found lining the cloisters.

The Water of Life (1994) by Stephen Broadbent. The statue was commissioned as part of the 900th anniversary celebrations commemorating the laying of the abbey church of St. Werburgh’s foundation stone in 1092 and depicts Christ’s encounter with the Woman of Samaria.

Destination or Diversion?

I do like a good cathedral and Chester Cathedral was indeed a good one. Annie and I spent a couple of hours exploring it and that didn’t even include the obligatory trip to the shop and the cafe, or the Tower Tour which I didn’t realise was a thing until I was back home. Anyway, it’s a destination and one that can be easily extended to take in the city’s other sights such as the City Walls and the Roman Amphitheatre.

Note: I am taking some time off to enjoy the holidays but will be back blogging about more brown sign sites in early January.

Destination or Diversion?

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