Chester and North Wales

‘Virgin Mary guilty of murder’ is not a headline you read very often, but we discovered the truth behind the headline as we toured Chester at the start of our three day visit to the city and north Wales. After an uneventful journey we arrived in Chester and were joined by Roger, one of the city guides who recounted this story as he pointed out a small stone cross on The Roodee, Chester’s racecourse. Legend has it that this cross marks the burial site of a statue of the Virgin Mary.  It appears that, in ancient times the wife of the Governor of Hawarden was out walking during a thunderstorm when a statue of the Virgin Mary, became dislodged and fell on her, killing her. As she was an important woman this occurrence could not go unpunished so the statue was put on trial and found guilty of murder. Hanging or burning the statue would have been sacrilege, so it was left by the banks of the river where the tide carried it to Chester, where it was found by some nuns who buried it on the Roodee, planting the cross on top of the grave. For a closer look at the fascinating city of Chester we went on a guided walking tour, being joined by Peter, an equally knowledgeable guide. At the end of our walk we had discovered a great deal about The Rows, the medieval two-tiered galleries not only from the outside but also from the inside, studying the construction from the cellars to the roof. While looking at the inside of one of the premises we discovered that our ancestors were not adverse to some graffiti. On one of the panes of glass were comments (all quite proper) scratched by a possible admirer concerning an 18th century lady! These premises are unique to the city and by the end of our walk we were able to identify which of the city’s black and white houses are the genuine 17th century article as opposed to Victorian or even 20th century copies.  After our guided walk we did our own tour of the town. Visits were made to the cathedral, the amphitheatre and Eastgate to view the famous Eastgate clock.  If you took a walk along the city walls, you were bound to meet other travellers taking the opportunity of walking the whole length or smaller sections. That evening at our hotel we were treated to a Welsh evening with a menu in Welsh, a harpist playing during our meal and the local male voice choir entertaining us afterwards, when we were given the opportunity to learn some welsh!  A really pleasant evening.

Friday took us through the Snowdonia national park to Portmeirion, the brainchild of the architect Clough William-Ellis and built between 1925 and 1973. The village is acknowledged as a work of art in its own right.  The Italianate style village with its brightly coloured buildings grouped around the piazza provokes many emotions. On first entering, through the Bridge House the village itself looks like a model, with its odd collection of buildings. It is something that should not work with its assorted collection of Mediterranean buildings clustered on a welsh hillside, but you have to admit it does and looks startlingly beautiful in its own very unique way.  Wandering down to the shore there were some lovely views looking across to the national park.  For those who had been fans of the original ‘The Prisoner’ series, which was made in the village, there was an opportunity to view number 6’s residence. A few minutes coach ride took as to Porthmadog Harbour where we boarded our reserved coaches for our journey on the world’s oldest independent railway – the Ffestiniog railway. What a delightful experience.  The railway was originally built to bring slate from Blaneau Ffestinion to the harbour and was gravity fed. This means simply, that the trucks were loaded at one end and allowed to make their way to the harbour powered simply by gravity, hence the twisty nature of the journey.  To return the trucks to Blaneau, horses were used to pull them.  Luckily, neither gravity or horse power were used on our journey.  We were lucky enough to be pulled by the oldest double Fairlie engine, in service since 1879.  If you are still none the wiser here comes the ‘geeky’ stuff, this type of engine is unique as it has swivelling power bogies, a long boiler and a chimney at both ends. It looks like two locomotives stuck together. Briefly, these attributes produce greater power at no extra cost and a very unusual engine to look at!  This was a winding journey through beautiful countryside, stopping at small stations with, to the English, unpronounceable welsh names. We had our own volunteer attendants who were only too willing to point out places of interest or facts about the railway. Such is their love for the railway that the attendant in our reserved third class carriage, which most of us travelled in, spends a week every month, along with her husband away from their home in Coventry just to work on the railway. All to soon our journey came to an end at the slate mining town of Blanenau Ffestiniog.  This is a town surrounded by the national park but is not part of the park.  Some writers suggest that with its industrial landscape it was too ugly to be included there. However, I thought that the abandoned mountains of slate and the mines had a beauty all of its own. Onto the coach again and for our ride back to our hotel, once again travelling through the national park over the Crimea Pass and then back to Mold.

On Saturday we started our journey home, this was to take us via the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas near Lichfield in Staffordshire.  This 150-acre site has been established, as the name suggest as a national memorial site to remember those that have died in so many ways.  The main focal point, standing on a hill in the centre of the site is the imposing Armed Forces memorial, containing all the names of British soldiers killed in conflict since the end of the Second World War. Many felt that this very moving commemoration of the dead was made even more poignant by the large expanse of blank stone walls silently waiting for more names, almost inevitably to be carved. The land train complete with commentary was popular with some of our travellers while others walked following the clearly marked and not so clearly marked pathways.  While there are many specific military memorials, there are many others relating to ordinary people and civilian organisations. The RNLI, the police, emergency services, women’s institute, still birth and neonatal deaths, road accident victims and children, the innocent victims of terrorism and many, many more groups are all represented.  Most people made the time to visit the newly rededicated Basra Wall, removed from Iraq and rebuilt here, commemorating those British soldiers and those working with them killed during that conflict. The ‘Shot at Dawn’ memorial, remembering all those who had been executed for desertion and cowardice during the First World War was also a must visit for many people. But it is not all memorials.  The Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness, is a tranquil, peaceful place to be for contemplation and prayer. It contains many fine items, all donated by groups, companies and individuals.  There is much to see at the arboretum, but our three-hour visit was soon over and we were once more on our way home to Bray.

Ken Amery

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