Cheshire 18 - Chester/coffee in the refectory/the cobweb picture/gift aid queue/pizza in Bella Italia

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After the long walk back from the Museum it was time to have a well-deserved coffee. We arrived at the Cathedral. A low squat building surrounded in parts with scaffolding. It was so cold and there was so little to see we did not bother to take photographs . Perhaps next time.

The cathedral began its life as a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Werburgh. The is the name I know it by rather than the mouthful of Christ and the Blessed Virgin. Mind you perhaps St Werburgh is a mouthful too. That Mercian saint with a massive name .

We struggled to find the entrance which was tucked in at the front of the building. Normally we would stand outside and admire the doorway into the cathedral in the same way as we have done in front of many French, German and Italian cathedrals. We would marvel at the carvings and the quality of the workmanship but today though coffee was beckoning, and it was rather chilly.

The grade I building was lovely to look at outside and normally free to enter. However today there were Christmas trees in the cloisters. Many cathedrals have displays of Christmas trees at this time of year. We had been to Worcester some years ago and last year our local church in Wrexham had a display of angels just to be different . There was a fee to pay. £2.50 a person and the queues were quite deep. Folks were not expecting to pay so the queue ambled along slowly. Crawling at a snails pace . Everyone checking purses for cash or for credit cards. The guy on the counter sent us back. Just wait he said. Over that line. It reminded me of Covid days with 2 m gaps between people. All that had gone and there seemed little need for the crawling queue. Perhaps it was the Gift Aid that was slowing things down. Do you want to pay another 50p? Fill this form in and we can ask for money back from the tax man on your behalf.

We managed to escape the queue eventually and headed for the monks refectory. Converted into a communal space with chairs and tables , a dais for music and a bar serving hot drinks and cakes. No doubt later we could have a hot meal but we were too early. There was also the opportunity to pay for a coffee or a cake and that would be put aside for a homeless person.

We sat ourselves down and pondered a while on the lovely refectory with its modern stained glass and the manorial coats of arms of Hugh Lupus on the walls. These had been taken down during restoration work in the 19th century . Luckily they had been saved and not destroyed.

Constuction on the cathedral began in the 10th century and throughout history it had been modified time and time again. In the early 16th century, it became characteristic of English Cathedrals. High Gothic and completely medieval. Everything from Norman to Perpendicular were to be seen all over the interior. The coffee was welcoming and the atmosphere buzzing as the seats filled up and friends met up for a drink or two. Mulled wine if you wanted it. We pondered on queues which we hate, lots of people which we hate and wanting quietness but wanting company. There was an old English pulpit in the refectory and we read that it was reached by a staircase and was the only example in Northern England and the only one of two in the UK.

After coffee we entered the cloisters. Closed in. Each archway was a window complete with stained glass. St David, St Werburgh, St this and that. Every saint known to man was depicted in those windows. The Christmas trees all lined up along the four sides. I think they said there were 50 trees. Some along the cloisters and others in side chapels and the monks parlour. Leaving this part of the building we entered the north transept and the crossing. The cathedral had a warm feeling with its soft red sandstone walls. We found ourselves discussing other cathedrals we had visited over the years. How did the cathedral so far compare against Worcester, Lichfield , Westminster Abbey or Ely? What about the great cathedrals of France, German and Italy? There were so many that we had visited it was hard to say. Each were different but each in parts were the same. Chester was one of the nicest in the UK it was fair to say. The quire was superb with its dark wooden seating. Each of ends of the stalls told a different story. A man drinking from a beer jug. His rear end a pig, I think. An elephant with a castle on its back. The carvings went on and on. The quality of the workmanship wonderful. The choir stalls dated back to 1380 and were high, spiky with canopies and spires or so we were told. Tghe ends poppyheads and rich with carvings. 48 misericords some humorous and some highly grotesque . To say they were the finest in the country was probably not an overstatement. The lighting subtle highlighting the heavy carving. What was there not to like about the altar, the rood screen and the mosaics on the walls? . The problems though were there to see. Massive cracks down the corners of walls. Damage to the mosaics. The bells had proved too heavy for the tower. Hence the freestanding belltower outside. Time had not been kind to some parts of the cathedral, and it was plain to see how expensive it was to keep the ancient building open and maintain it.

We wandered around the inside for a while. Staring out at the sculpture the Water of Life in the cloister garden, at the modern stained-glass windows depicting the Creation, the iron gates from Spain. The church silver of which there was much. The lecturn and the font. Before long though it was time for lunch. Bella Italia called. The restaurant was full but there were the odd table free here and there. No, we had no booking. We had given much thought to lunch. They seated us down and ordered a pizza between us. It took a while to arrive but when it did it filled the gap left between breakfast and tea. We ate up, paid up mumbling about the service charge which was hidden in the small print and then headed home. Chester Cathedral done for this year.

And of course, the Cobweb picture. I had never seen that in all the times I had visited the cathedral. I had heard about it. A painting on a cobweb. Well, not strictly true. What it was was a painting on the material made from the threads of a spiders web. Turned in a delicate gossimer a continental artist probably from Austria had painted this picture. I believe this is the only surviving example in the UK of such a delicate thing. Was it worth the wait to see it? Yes, it was. You don't see them so we took the chance to see it whilst we could. I doubt we will ever see a cobweb picture again.

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