Chester Cathedral, Chester

The 92-mile Two Saints Way connects Lichfield and Chester

Highlights

• Shrine of St Werburg

Chester has many reasons to celebrate the abbess St Werburg, its patron saint. She is credited with protecting the city from fire in 1180, and from raids by Vikings, the Welsh, and the Scots. Today the city can thank her for its outstanding cathedral, built on the site of her shrine.

Her relics were destroyed at the Reformation, and their 14th-century shrine dismantled. Much of the stonework survived, however, and was re-assembled in the cathedral in 1888. The monument now stands at the entrance to the Lady Chapel, one of the largest shrine structures in England. A delicate statue of the saint was placed in the middle of the shrine in 1993. Despite its small size, the effigy somehow avoids being swamped by the shrine itself, and the vast canopy of Chester’s ceiling behind it.

St Werburg had no personal link to Chester, but her remains were moved to the city in 907. Her shrine formed the basis of an important abbey, which later became the cathedral.

The building’s majestic architecture is a particular highlight of this holy site. There is a pleasing symmetry to the cathedral’s nave, even though the two halves were built more than 100 years apart. Long before the word ‘heritage’ had been invented, the later architect decided simply to copy the original design. If you sit in the nave it is hard to spot significant differences between either side. The cathedral building was once the church of St Werburg’s Abbey. The oldest parts of the structure date back to Norman times.

In its own way, the cathedral pays other forms of homage to ancient traditions. There are several candle stands including one in St Werburg’s shrine, although it is in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, rather than an image or icon of the saint. There is some symmetry to this arrangement, since St Werburg’s shrine is in the Lady Chapel. The cathedral has a number of Orthodox icons, an 18th-century example of which was stolen in 2014 but recovered a month later. Fittingly for such a miraculous return, it depicts the raising of Lazarus.

Most famous among the saint’s miracles is her negotiation with a flock of geese to stop them stealing corn. She is often depicted with the obedient birds. The great west window has one such image, in the bottom left-hand corner, beneath a portrait of the saint holding Chester’s church. Another goose image is found among the celebrated carvings in the choir stalls.

St Werburg came from a family of famous saints, particularly her great aunt St Etheldreda of Ely. Famed as much for her beauty as her purity and humility, she founded or served in six monasteries across central England, including Ely itself. She died around 699 at her convent in Threckingham, Lincolnshire. She was originally buried at Hanbury in Staffordshire, but her body was brought to Chester in 907 to hide it from Viking raiders. Her saint’s day is 3 February, the date of her death, while the translation of her relics at Chester is remembered on 21 June.

Directions

Chester Cathedral, St Werburgh Street, Chester CH1 2DY

www.chestercathedral.com

http://www.chestercathedral.com

W3W: pocket.coats.ruled

GPS: 53.1918N 2.8912W

Chester railway station: 1km

The Chester Cathedral of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary is in the town centre. Entrance is free, with tickets for some activities and the tower. The cathedral is open every day 9am–5pm, apart from Sunday 11:30am–4pm.