Tourist Places To Visit In Chester
Planning A Trip To Chester? Here's our list of top tourist places to visit in Chester
Popular as the second best place in the UK to reside in, Chester is a beautiful city you won’t regret visiting. With a mix of medieval walls, old timber houses and goblin towers, the city of Chester will take you back in time to explore a variety of longwinded manors and castles with their designed gardens in North England. The city’s calendar of events is busy and tourist places are abundant to visit in Chester, with nature parks, river cruises & canals, games and sporting activities, high-end shopping experiences along with the vibrancy of flea markets and plenty of restaurants, cafes, pubs and festivals to frequent.
Chester Cathedral
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The Mother Church of Chester Bishopric and a Church of England Minister, the Chester Cathedral was built in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christ. One of the most popular attractions in the city, the Chester Cathedral has something for everyone that includes, service, a LEGO display, a guided tour and witnessing the birds of prey. As an operational church, the Cathedral conducts over 20 services each week with multiple choirs, organ recitals and sermons. Another notable activity at the Chester Cathedral is to explore nature within its premises with over ten wondrous Birds of Prey species at the Gardens.
Chester City Walls
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Chester’s city walls have a shielding structure that was built to protect the city and was constructed by the Romans during the establishment of the Deva Victrix citadel in 70-80 A.D. Being the only town in Britain that has maintained the ancient walls in their entirety, reflects greatly on Chester’s rich history. The chief access to Chester City Walls lies at each of the 4 gateways, namely the Bridgegate, Watergate, Eastgate and the Northgate, in addition to some other stairs and accessible inclines.
Eastgate Clock
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Eastgate and the Eastgate Clock are set on the main entrance to the Deva Victrix Fort, a significant mark on the city of Chester and one of the most snapped clocks in England after the Big Ben. Built right above the Eastgate of Chester’s ancient walls, the Eastgate clock is a steeple clock, designed by John Douglas, a local architect, built in 1899. Carried on an open work iron pillar, the clock has a timepiece on all the four sides and a copper ogee dome.
Grosvenor Museum
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Recorded in England’s National Heritage List as a chosen Grade II building, Grosvenor Museum’s official title is the Grosvenor Museum of National History & Archeology with Schools of Science & Art for Chester, Cheshire & North Wales. Set amidst one of England’s more scenic city, the museum’s domestically significant collections honor Chester’s cultural legacy.
The galleries display life in the Deva Victrix Fort and exhibit a large group of both engraved and chiseled stones from the Roman era from an independent location. The statuette and paintings in the Art Gallery include nearly half a millennium of Cheshire’s art, with the classic collection of Chester Silver at the Silver Gallery. There are about 9 rooms which illustrate changing fashion over eras in the realm of interiors nationally between the 17th century and the 1920s, in addition to costumes, coins and natural history items.
Chester Roman Amphitheatre
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A Roman auditorium in Chester, Cheshire, the Chester Roman Amphitheatre is supervised and run by the English Heritage and is known to be a Grade 1 structure & monument that was built in the late 1st century AD. The Roman Amphitheatre was the largest auditorium that was used for both military training and entertainment. The oval amphitheater is partially visible, while the rest of it lies hidden behind a brick wall. The visible portion of the theatre has two exposed entrances with the larger entrance set on the North’s long axis and the smaller one to East’s short axis. The auditorium didn’t really get to be used much as by 120 AD, it had run-down and was reduced to being a garbage dump! Most of the amphitheater’s history is of demolition and neglect.
Chester Castle: Agricola Tower and Castle Walls
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Located in the city of Chester, the Chester Castle is set on the southwest boundary of an area enclosed by the city walls and enjoys prominence facing the River Dee. The Agricola Tower’s a 12th century stone gateway, one of the first, founded in 1070 by William the Conqueror in the city’s south-west region. The tower’s first tier houses St. Mary De Castro’s chapel with some extraordinary fine wall paintings from 1240. As you leave the tower and climb up, you’d value the castle’s setting within the city, with the Old Dee Bridge on the left and the Roodee, a mudded port area of Chester on the right. There’s a gun platform right behind the Napier House which was established in 1745 for defense purposes. As you continue to the top of the ramp, it’ll lead you back down to the Inner Bailey’s courtyard, which was raised to include the Norman Bank of the Original Castle.
Dewa Roman Experience
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Set in the heart of one of the largest legionary citadels in the Roman part of Britain, the Dewa Roman Experience is a must see when visiting Chester. The tour commences in the dark section of a Roman Galley as an oars master steers you the Deva Fortresses gatehouse and introduce you to the sights, smells and sounds of Chester from over 2000 years ago amidst the distinctive reconstructions. Open for public, the archeological digs present a classy view of the Medieval, Saxon and Roman ruins beneath Chester while exhibiting a unique collection of artifacts from the Roman Empire on a wide scale. The Dewa Roman Experience purports the belief that experience is learning gathered from all things that encourages a practical approach to living life. From experiences of being sold at a slave market to checking out Roman armor, or shooting a catapult, this unique and renowned experience will leave you mesmerized for long.
Chester Roman Gardens
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Just outside the city walls, in close proximity to the Chester Roman Amphitheatre and the Newgate is the Roman Gardens, built in 1949 by Graham Webster and Charles Greenwood with a view to exhibit the structure’s remains from the Roman Legionary Citadel of Deva, which include portions of some of the most significant military buildings, the headquarters, the main baths and general relics from the city. Most of the fragments that are now on display were discovered at the end of the 19th century.
The daunting pillars were extracted from the Roman Bathhouse’s exercise hall and stood tall at 6ft initially in support of the stonework. The largest pillar was taken from the Headquarters’ assembly hall. The garden also has a restored hypocaust from the Roman heating system, which circulated hot air under the building’s floor and a mosaic. The Bath structure incorporated 3 large bathing halls which ran with both hot and cold water, with a frigidarium (cold room), the caladarium (hot room) and a tepidarium (warm room), in addition to an exercise hall and a courtyard.
Shropshire Union Canal
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Nicknamed the Shroppie, the Shropshire Union Canal is a maneuverable waterway in England and is charmingly rural and isolated for the most part of its length. With no towns in clear sight for miles, the canal is a perfect place to relax and enjoy and some quiet time. The Northern segment of the canal is a wider channel that follows the rolling landscape of Chester, while the southern segment is an arrow-straight waterway.
Long ridges, grand bridges and cuttings have been inspired from the railway age, resulting in fewer locks at the canal, while the intense, moss-grown clippings are distinctive and rich with wildlife, with frequent sightings of spot herons or kingfishers. The Shropshire Union Canal has an impressive offering of places to visit that include the National Waterways Museum, Audlem Locks with canal side pubs and lovely towpath.
Blue Planet Aquarium
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A freshwater and marine aquarium established by the Cheshire Oaks leisure and retail complex, the Blue Planet Aquarium is located in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire and is known as one of the largest aquariums in the UK, especially in the North West region. It houses one of the largest collection of Sharks, spiders, otters, fish & frogs in Europe with a family-centric, air-conditioned site with over 14 ideated zones and over 20,000 varieties of marine and freshwater life.
You will be privy to an up close and personal view of the zebra sharks, black & white tip sharks at the coral reef from the aquarium’s 70m long tunnel underwater, and watch the feeding of fish by the dive team through the amazing Aquatheatre window. With over 500 exhibits from across the globe, a hands-on encounter at the Rock Pools and an all active outdoor play area, there’s something for everyone at the Blue Planet Aquarium.