Bartimaeus

I have visited Chester a few times in previous years and then I was mainly admiring theTudor buildings in the centre. We have also been on the  Medieval city walls before. From there we had seen the spot where King Charles had watched his army be defeated by Parliamentarians. 

Nearby was a statue of a cannon representing the royal cannons that were broken by bombardment by larger cannons. The Parliamentarians were attacking from outside the city walls.

From the city wall we could look down on the canal, running outside the old city. The city is spread around the walls now.

After our first walk on the city walls I remembered that towns with “Chester” in their name were Roman, so while Chester was clearly a major Medieval trading place, it must have been a Roman town too, more than a thousand years earlier. I started to research whether any Roman remains were to be seen and found that an amphitheatre had been unearthed in the last hundred years. Much of it had been built upon but it was evident that it had been the largest Roman amphitheatre in Britain. It was also used for 300 years, before falling into disuse. The phrase When in Rome, do as the Romans do, probably extended to the whole empire. The Romans in common with many invaders, did what they did wherever they went, rather than taking up the habits of the barbarian cultures they conquered. The Romans had begun the building of a defensive city wall a millennium before the one we see now. 

I knew it was still only partially revealed but I wanted to see the amphitheatre next time we were in Chester. On Sunday, Shane proposed another city wall walk but going the other direction. This took us to where we could see the city gates. The medieval one was too narrow to cope as the population and traffic increased so last century another wider gate was built with a two lane road. It was built to fit in architecturally and still allowed the continuation of the wall for people to walk along. 

The Romans began the building of the defensive city wall but of earth and wood as well as stone. From above the gates the partially exposed amphitheatre can be seen too. It is free to walk around so we made our way down.

Leaving the amphitheatre, we found ourselves near church gardens and ruins.  Ancient relics were fairly packed in to this area. Most of the Church of St John the Baptist was still intact, and still functioning but it had once been twice as big and was Norman in origin. A strange addition to the disused and ruined part was that a 14th century solid oak coffin was used to add stability to the masonry wall. It is thought the “dust to dust” inscription was a later, possibly Victorian addition.

From the city walls I had also spotted Roman gardens, but we were diverted by seeing the river and it was full, not of Romans, but rowers. It was interesting to watch from our high up view on the Victorian bridge.

The long narrow boats are unweildy to carry. The team had to work together to lift, turn and walk with the boat out of the water. It seemed harder to coordinate than actually rowing the boat. Some coxes were still calling instructions for how to carry and where to walk. I was surprised to learn that these boats were two halves bolted together and to put them in the trailers they had to be taken apart. It was rather like our tandem being loaded on a train, but a lot more work. I hadn’t realised we did what rowers do.

There were many teams, all dealing with their boats, flipping, unscrewing, carrying – and catching up with their families too,  and they all seemed to be learning what to do. Having enjoyed the spectacle we got out of their way and headed for the Roman Gardens.

They were gardens now, for a quiet stroll, but they had been a busy leisure complex in Roman times. I had not really ever thought about Romans relaxing in Britain. My history had only mentioned Roman soldiers, legions marching, building roads to move their army around; building walls and fortifications to keep the enemies out and then some information about toileting and trading. History tends to focus on the wars, the conflict and boundaries and who gained power and less on what people did when they were not engaged in a battle. That said the amphitheatre did include a lot of battles, contests between humans and animals, and the audience was huge. Here was a place to rest and invigorate the body, without the spectating crowds, in an exercise space with pools, hot, warm or cold, and a sauna with underfloor heating. When in Roman Baths, do as the the Romans did and relax.