| Chester Cathedral - The present-day cathedral, overlooking the Memorial Garden of the Cheshire Regiment, owes much to the Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. Although the pinnacled roofs,flying buttresses and turreted central tower may not be to everybody's taste, he undoubtedly helped to save it from complete disintegration. The present cathedral stands on the site of a 10th-century Anglo-Saxon minster dedicated to St Werburgh by Aethelfleda. In 1092 the first Normal Earl of Chester, Hugh d'Avranches, decided to transform the minster into a Benedictine abbey. Anselm, Abbot of Bec in Normandy, with a group of his monks, began the slow process of constructing the abbey church and, at the same time, rebuilt the monastic quarters in a much lighter, more elegant Gothic style. In c.1250 the monks started to rebuild the church in a similar fashion and, in 1540, had barely finished when Henry VIII dissolved the monastery. However, in 1541, the king returned the church as the cathedral of the new diocese of Chester. By the end of the 18th century, the cathedral was sorely in need of repair, but restoration did not begin in earnest until the mid-19th century. The layout and many features of the medieval abbey have been retained, affording a precious glimpse of monastic life in former days. |
