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Chester Children's Tour II: Leeches to Fashionistas
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About the Tour
About the Tour
Welcome to Chester, one of the most beautiful cities in the North West! On this walking tour, you‘ll take in the city‘s historical sites as you hear the voices of the past, from medieval royal surgeons to interwar fashion designers. You‘ll meet King Edward III's local man of medicine, a Welsh poet, a Tudor lady, an unsuspecting highwayman, and a world-famous fashion icon and frequent visitor to interwar Chester. Together, we’ll time-travel through seven hundred years of history.
The tour starts on Watergate Street, a street of merchants and impressive medieval crypts. You‘ll head past the iconic Chester Cross and down back alleys to Chester Cathedral. From there, you‘ll take in the fashionably wealthy King Street. You'll venture back onto the interwar Northgate as the city moves into the modern age.
You'll walk through the chaos of the 1645 siege of Chester, ducking 'grenadoes' alongside King Charles I as his royalist city faces starvation and bubonic plague. A Georgian gentleman introduces you to banking houses and coaching inns before a highwayman attempts to relieve you of your valuables near the Pied Bull. The tour ends opposite Chester Town Hall, where a 5-metre bronze sculpture commemorates the Cathedral's 900th anniversary.
On this 90-minute Chester tour, you‘ll have a chance to:
- Hear past residents and visitors talk about their city and their everyday lives
- Get the inside scoop on the city‘s evolution over the centuries
- Find secret streets, including the most romantic lane in Chester
- See the only surviving galleried medieval shops in Europe
- Discover impressive city defences from the English Civil War
Can you navigate the finer points of time travel, or will you get lost in the past? Explore Chester in the city's second child-centred audio tour. Love history? So do we!
Join us on this tour through our medieval, early modern, and modern history, letting the past come to life in an exciting new way. Experience the past with Live History!
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
Live History
Live History offers immersive, interactive history for everyone, from day trippers to academics. In addition to Tudor school workshops and heritage fundraising events, our staff can be hired as researchers, writers, historical consultants, school workshop providers, tour guides, actors and event comperes. From Roman gladiators to Victorian pawnbrokers, people can meet historical characters on whistle stop Family Tours in Lancaster and Chester, which offer two thousand years in just sixty minutes. Explore Chester's architecture with Tudor bricklayer Myles Mason, Lancaster's entertainment with Georgian coachman Johnny Eccleston or...try one of our self-guided audio tours with Voice Map (downloadable from our website www.livehistory.co.uk). Experience the past with Live History!
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Preview Location
Preview Location
Location 15
Gorse Stacks II (Stuart) - King
"Ah, you there. What's your name?"
Ignore him and keep moving.
"Hey, I asked you a question, speak!"
Highness?
One moment.
Highness, what are you doing?"
"Inspecting th... Read More
View locations and route
How VoiceMap Works
Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
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Katie's Tea Rooms
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Leche House, Watergate Street, Chester
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Watergates Bar
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Chester High Cross
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Chester Cathedral
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Chester City Walls
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Morgan's Mount
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The Pied Bull
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Chester Town Hall
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A Celebration Of Chester
Getting There
Getting There
Route Overview
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Start location53 Watergate St, South, Chester CH1 2LE, UK
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Total distance2km
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Final location33 Northgate St, Chester CH1 2HQ, UK
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Distance back to start location263.02m
Directions to Starting Point
Start: The Guild, Watergate St, Chester CH1 2LA
The tour starts in front of the Guild (former Holy Trinity Church) - a grade II listed building on Watergate Street.
Chester has a number of accessible council-owned car parks in the city centre or off-street parking if you don't mind the walk in.
Show Directions
Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
Chester has a variety of cafes (Huxleys, City Walls or Katie's Tearooms, Watergate Street), pubs (The Pied Bull or the Coach & Horses, both on Northgate Street) and restaurants (The Blue Bell or the Bull & Stirrup Hotel, both on Northgate Street) to choose from if you need a break from the tour at any point. Storyhouse is a great venue for stage shows but needs to be booked in advance. For those history-lovers, there is the Grosvenor Museum, Chester Cathedral and Chester Castle, however it is advised that you check individual opening days/times for particular tourist attractions, which may change seasonally and in accordance with staffing. Other attractions also include the Deva Discovery Centre, Cheshire Military Museum and Sick To Death.
Best time of day
For those wishing to visit city museums then it is advised to check opening times in advance. Chester is generally quite well lit at night but it is advised that this family-friendly tour is conducted during the daytime and always with the supervision of a parent/guardian as Chester can get rambunctious at night, particularly on weekends and during the race season.
Precautions
During winter, access to certain public spaces may be restricted. It is advised that you wear sensible footwear for walking and, be warned, that the city is uneven in places - take care if you struggle walking or if you are in a wheelchair. Although the route itself is disability-accessible, there are cobbles, uneven surfaces and some of the pathways are narrower than others so please take care. It is advised that you do this tour with family or as part of a large group, sticking to well-lit areas during the daytime.
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