The River Dee: Its Aspect and History (page 2/3)

Front Cover, The River Dee

My copy is bound in full read leather with a gold vine-leaf motif border.

Chester, from the Alford Road.

Probably this view was drawn from the road between Chester and Aldford, as it’s written today, at the bank of the River Dee.

Title Page, The River Dee

THE RIVER DEE
ITS ASPECT AND HISTORY [more...]

Remains of Valle Crucis Abbey

“It was exactly in the year 1200 that Madoc, Lord of Bromfield, at the time when Prince Llewellyn was contending with King John, founded this monastic house in a deep hollow, already called the Valley of the Cross, from a monumental cross which stood there previously, and stands theire still [...] [more...]

Ruins of St. John’s, from the Grosvenor Park,

bwpics has a history and more pictures of this ruined church which was heavily ‘restored’ in the 19th century.

“[...] we find in St. John’s Church a permanent and very grand memorial of the Early Norman period [i.e. approx. 1070 – 1100 — Liam]. In Saxon times Chester was included, with all the extensive tract of Mercia, in the Diocese which acknowledged allegiance to the great see of St. Chad: but with the early Norman kings came a change that made Chester a definite centre of episcopal jurisdiction. [...]

“Chester [...] still retains, on the very edge of its historic river, a striking monument of its early diocesan dignity. The gigantic round Norman piers of the Nave stand just as they stood in the days of William Rufus; and the fine Triforium above belongs yo a period not much later; and though large portions of this structure have been destroyed, and though its partial restoration in modern times [1875] is unworthy of its ancient grandeur, yet in two respects this church cannot fail to make a great impression on all who see it.

“The ruins at the East-end, recently extricated from heaps of rubbish and the growth of trees, are now a recognised ornament of Chester, near the new park which is laid out on a table-land above the banks of the Dee; while the lofty tower, erect though mouldering, and still showing in parts some [more...] [$]

Cathedral from the N.E. and part of City Wall.

“[...] there is good reason to believe that during the Roman occupation of Chester, a church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, stood upon this spot; and most interesting it is thus to connect this ground with the early Christianity of the Apostles of the gentiles, so large a part of whose life was spent among Roman soldiers, and whose name must [...] [more...]

Cathedral Cloisters and King’s School

The King’s School was so named when Henry VIII founded it in 1541. The location shown in the woodcut is now (2007) a Barclays Bank. [more...]

Chester Cathedral Tower from St. John’s Street

A narrow cobbled street with black-and-white half-timbered buildings, an overhanging turret with a percariously-mounted lamp, a heavily-laden cart pulled by two horses, and in the background, with birds wheeling about it, the tower of Chester cathedral. Perhaps this street had [...] [more...]

Water Tower, with Roman Hypocaust

“The descent of Watergate Street, at right angles to Bridge Street, led to the [River] Dee at another point of its broad, sweeping course. Of the actual form of the gate there is less to be recorded; but a little beyond this spot the Water Tower (sometimes called the New Tower), remains at the north-western angle of the city, so as to show us very [...] [more...]

Ancient Half-Timbered Houses, Foregate Street

“Turning now from the outside of the walls to the inside, we must remember that the four Roman Streets, intersecting one another at right angles, have always been the features which determined the whole interior character of the city. Only we must add to this fact that at the intersection was the “Hich Cross” itself—a structure of stone, which [...] [more...]

Chapter-head: Greek or Egyptian Frieze

This Victorian border, ornament or frieze is in the style of a frieze from a classical Greek temple, a style that was also imitated in Roman and (later) Egyptian decoration. It [...] [more...]