IN CLOISTERED CHESTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 200, 12 November 1927, Page 11

IN CLOISTERED CHESTER

Afternoon! Tea in a Crypt That Dates from 1230

(Written for THE SUN by

B. E. HOLDSWORTH— "Anemone”)

Ag EVENING fell and the sunlight Altered softly into the long dim passages and warmed the walls . jjaasive tower, I stood in the ‘Tt of the Cloister garden of Chester ?-rfiedral A deep-set fountain played c ‘“ ing ly, Its water falling, falling ,h 6 passive stone and splashing bubbles that changed to dAngness. Gnats whirled aimlessly die still ai r and Pigeons turned “ r against the white-flecked blue of T, SI y. It was quiet as when, in the !,ts of long ago. monks passed silently !*; Cathedral to Cloistered study, t Ae vaulted store cellar to the •Jt refectory and their frugal meal Spread and beer. Nearly 2000 years ago when the ink.bitants of Chester were using hair 5 ‘ with carved heads, bronze spoons, little tear bottles, a soldier Toje Roman Legion carelessly placed ’Vfoot u pon a still damp tile and left n imprint to tell those who came *»,r that the shoes worn in that farg time were thickly studded with tib nails. I feel there must have been Luething very human and appealing .boot people who had a use for both •ar bottles and for hob nailed boots! -base were the people who built the ££ City Walls. The present day falls are not of course the old Roman IIM6 , bat, just as the main gates of modern town occupy the sites of tbt ancient Roman Porta, so do these Sails follow fairly accurately the line , jbcte earlier fortifications. The gf the Walls was formerly entjttted to a number of men called Stagers”; and the custody of the fry- a great privilege, was passed a faun father to son through hun.frpS. of years. At the present day fea Ssrgeantships are in the families of lord Crewe and the Earls of Derby jed Shrewsbury. The southern por--jB of the Walls leads past the River Dee, spanned just here by an arched >nfcige that Edward I. ordered to be oiweted in 1280. In the stretch of water below the bridge the famed Dee salmon are -aught, and other fish as well, one tyesnmes, for there were men and boys watching their lines with that jtr of placid patience that characterset (he English fishermen. “What do you catch?" I asked one h* 'Seech —roach.'" he answered with-

«t turning his head; but his float Mrer bobbed and there was never anything except the bait on the end »f his line when he swung it hopefully upstream again. h was from one of the Watch Towers on the wide Walls that the 111-fated Charles saw his army defeated on Rowton Moor: "Jnst over thers, beyond those two tall chimneys —lt was all open country then,” said 'he custodian, a confirmed Roundhead. "All open country then”; and what Is it now? From the canal beneath 'he Walls a barge chug-chugged to its moorings, frothing the tawny water. R eyonfl lay a crowded expanse of grey s Jate roofs and smoking chimneys—the dose-herded homes of close-herded

humamty. Have we advanced much m the centuries between? Are people any happier, I wonder, than they were in the days when it was “all open country?”

, P . a l rt ° f the famous Watling Street of the Romans runs through Chester ana is known as Foregate Street At a spot where it meets the three other

principal streets that lead from the city gates there formerly stood an ancient stone cross and the Penthouse or Pentice. The latter, erected close to the site of the Roman Praetorium, was a kind of courthouse in which, the mayor and aldermen met and, with the aid of the stocks, the whipping post, and the pillory dispensed stronghanded justice. From the Pentice windows these guardians of the law could witness the yearly event of bull-baiting with dogs which

took place at the Cross. . . . Chester is noted for its Rows, that quaint style of architecture for which no one seems to have a satisfactory explanation The lower shop windows come ,right to the pavement in the usual way, but above, and as it were on the roof and reached by narrow flights of steps that lead up at frequent intervals from the pavement, one. finds a wide passage with another row of shop windows at the back. The Rows in Bridge and Foregate Streets have been repaired and modern fashionable shops open on them. For interest it is better to stray down Watergate Row, where less renovating has been done and where children play unchecked on the uneven stone floors. There amongst the dusty

antique shops one finds ancient houses, narrow alleys, and quaint carvings, black with age. Here two grotesque figures leer at each other across a narrow arch; and there a for, a lamb, or an owl, large-eyed and serious, peers from out the dimness, all unchanged through the changing

Chester is full of odd corners and unexpected places; I had my tea one d'ay in a crypt that dates from 1230. There were tables set out and waitresses hurried hither and thither and the electric lights were dimmed by imitation medieval lanterns. The stone floor, the groined roof, and the little diamond-paned windows all contrived to make me feel as if I were eating in a chapel. Close to the West, or Water Gate, so called because in former times the River Dee flowed right to the City Walls, stands one of the most interesting houses in Chester, the Stanley Palace. The gabled Elizabethan front faces what was formerly a large courtyard but is now a narrow passage Crowded with discarded grinning gargoyles. A thin little person, overflowing with enthusiasm for the old house, showed me the kitchen with the wide deep fireplace and cavernous chimney up which the Earl of Derby escaped when sought by Cromwell’s men. I peered up into the sooty darkness .... Poor Earl! After six weeks he was betrayed 'by bis butler. At the top of the irregular winding steps that were once considered a grand staircase a door revealed a secret chamber worthy of its name for it remained undiscovered until nine years ago. My guide led me through the old rooms and pointed out the little powdering closet, and explained that the ladies did not enter it but put their heads through a hole in the door for their hair to receive the necessary powdering. But the crownirlg interest of the Palace was the Haunted Chamber. The light came rather dimly through the green-tinted old glass and left many shadows in the little room with its panelled walls. No less than seven secret hiding places are concealed' behind those panels; the last was discovered only three years ago, and time may reveal even more. In all seriousness I was told of the restless lady and of the man in clanking armour who haunt the place. “Have you seen them?” I asked eagerly. "No,” the woman replied, “I can’t see them because we are not all made the same; but I can feel when they are there, and I can hear the knock —like that.” And she rapped loudly and then softly on the he How-sounding wooden wall. When the old house with its bulging walls and hollow secret places tumbles to ruin, as it soon must surely do, what, I wonder, will become of these wandering dissatisfied spirits that through the passing of all the relentless centuries have not yet found rest? London.