City of Chester and Flint Castle

Probably our last trip of 2024 was to Chester, the Wirral/Dee estuary and North Wales. We stayed at the Double Tree hotel at Hoole just outside Chester, thoroughly recommended. It is a modern hotel and very busy with business conferences and a very active Spa/leisure centre. It is ideally placed for exploring the Wirral and North Wales which was the objective of this trip.

We spent the first day exploring the historic and well presented city of Chester. There is so much to see if you, like us, are interested in British history **. The Romans, in particular, left their indelible mark on Chester (Deva Victrix) not least being the city wall and the amphitheatre. We spent sometime exploring St.John's Church, Chester's first Cathedral before it lost that role to St Werburgh Abbey at the time of the Dissolution of the Abbeys in the mid 16th Century.

On the second day we travelled via the excellent A55 (North Wales Expressway) to Conwy with the objective of buying a Welsh Blanket throw from the nearby Trefriw Woollen Mills.

It was back to North Wales again on the third day, this time to visit the well preserved and presented (credit to the Cadw organisation) ruins of Fling Castle.

Here are some photos taken during the trip -

 CHESTER

Views from the top of the Roman Wall

Amphitheatre

Churches

St John's c of E church, formerly Chester's Cathedral

After the 16th Century Reformation, St John's lost it's status as Chester's Cathedral and it was physically reduced in size. These photos are of the ruins of that great building that still remain together with information boards-

The River Dee at Chester

CONWY CASTLE

FLINT CASTLE

** https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DDTSH51B

Nick

Historic Warwick

On Sunday 11th August 2024 I visited Warwick expecting to enjoy the annual 'Retro Warwick' Classic Car & Bike Show in the Market square. As it turned out I had got the date wrong, I was a week early (a long story 🙁). I had taken my camera to take photographs of rare cars, so, not to miss the moment on a lovely sunny day, I started taking photos of some of Warwick's many historic buildings. 

When you live in the environs of Britain's historic towns you tend to take the historic buildings for granted, they just become part of the familiar background; it's only on moments like these that their true splendour and historic significance and brought into focus. We are blessed, thank you to all those who have gone before us for creating these building in the first place  and then maintaining them.

Here are just a few -

WARWICK'S MILLENNIUM + PLAQUE

ST. MARY'S COLLEGIATE CHURCH

ONE OF SEVERAL TIMBERED HOUSES IN JURY/HIGH STREET

EAST GATE

GRADE II LISTED HOUSE JURY ST.

STATUE OF JUSTICE OLD LAW COURT JURY ST.

THOMAS OKEN TEA ROOMS

THE LORD LEYCESTER'S HOSPITALE AT WESTGATE

Warwick Castle is one of the U.K.'s most popular historic tourist attractions, many thousands visit it every week, particularly in the school holidays. However, few of those visitors take a stroll around the streets of Warwick to see the many historic wonders there. If you are one of those Castle visitors perhaps this blog will encourage you to "linger awhile" in Warwickshire's historic County Town.

Nick