[{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"30 ft","route_instructions":"Head northeast"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89169,53.190269],[-2.89161,53.190331]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.1 miles","route_instructions":"Turn right at Bridge Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89161,53.190331],[-2.89127,53.189548],[-2.89114,53.18927],[-2.89106,53.189072],[-2.89105,53.189041],[-2.89094,53.18874],[-2.89093,53.18869],[-2.89094,53.18874]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.2 miles","route_instructions":"Turn right at White Friars"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89094,53.18874],[-2.89143,53.188671],[-2.89195,53.188599],[-2.89231,53.18856],[-2.89319,53.188438],[-2.89374,53.188381]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.1 miles","route_instructions":"Turn right at Weaver Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89374,53.188381],[-2.89374,53.188389],[-2.89392,53.188728],[-2.89403,53.18911],[-2.89423,53.189529],[-2.89434,53.18977],[-2.89439,53.189869]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"157 ft","route_instructions":"Turn left at Watergate Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89439,53.189869],[-2.89482,53.18977],[-2.89505,53.18972]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.1 miles","route_instructions":"Turn right at A5268/Nicholas Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89505,53.18972],[-2.89514,53.18988],[-2.89521,53.190041],[-2.8953,53.190239],[-2.8954,53.190521],[-2.89552,53.190941],[-2.89556,53.191139],[-2.89561,53.191349]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"144 ft","route_instructions":"Turn right at Princess Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89561,53.191349],[-2.89497,53.19141]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"20 ft","route_instructions":"Turn right at Trinity Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89497,53.19141],[-2.89496,53.19138],[-2.89497,53.19141]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.1 miles","route_instructions":"Continue on Princess Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89497,53.19141],[-2.89457,53.19154],[-2.89438,53.191589],[-2.89379,53.191761],[-2.89292,53.19194],[-2.89228,53.192059]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"148 ft","route_instructions":"Turn right at Northgate Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89228,53.192059],[-2.89209,53.191792],[-2.89202,53.191689]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.2 miles","route_instructions":"Turn left at St Werburgh Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89202,53.191689],[-2.89154,53.19173],[-2.89134,53.19162],[-2.89102,53.191422],[-2.89076,53.191319],[-2.89071,53.191299],[-2.89063,53.191299],[-2.8902,53.19133],[-2.89017,53.191311],[-2.89009,53.191311],[-2.88981,53.191349],[-2.88947,53.191391],[-2.88916,53.191429],[-2.88907,53.191441]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.3 miles","route_instructions":"Turn left at City Walls"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.88907,53.191441],[-2.8892,53.191689],[-2.88929,53.191841],[-2.88963,53.192581],[-2.88929,53.191841],[-2.8892,53.191689],[-2.88907,53.191441],[-2.88903,53.191391],[-2.88888,53.19109],[-2.88885,53.19101]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.2 miles","route_instructions":"Continue on ChesterCityFP118/City Walls"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.88885,53.19101],[-2.88883,53.190971],[-2.88879,53.190861],[-2.88878,53.190849],[-2.88865,53.190491],[-2.88843,53.189968],[-2.88822,53.189449],[-2.88817,53.189289],[-2.88826,53.189201],[-2.88823,53.189098],[-2.88828,53.189129],[-2.88818,53.188999],[-2.88814,53.188919]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"43 ft","route_instructions":"Make a U-turn"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.88814,53.188919],[-2.88823,53.18903]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.1 miles","route_instructions":"Turn right at Pepper Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.88823,53.18903],[-2.88814,53.189041],[-2.88812,53.189049],[-2.88814,53.189041],[-2.88823,53.18903],[-2.88837,53.188992],[-2.88855,53.188938],[-2.88877,53.188889],[-2.8889,53.188862],[-2.88902,53.188839],[-2.88941,53.188789],[-2.88964,53.18877],[-2.88984,53.18874],[-2.89004,53.18869],[-2.89022,53.188671],[-2.89042,53.188622],[-2.89087,53.18853]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"distance":"0.2 miles","route_instructions":"Turn left at Lower Bridge Street"},"geometry":{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[-2.89087,53.18853],[-2.89079,53.188358],[-2.89076,53.18829],[-2.89058,53.187889],[-2.89045,53.187641],[-2.89024,53.187309],[-2.89021,53.187271],[-2.88993,53.18689],[-2.88979,53.186722],[-2.88974,53.186649],[-2.88951,53.18644],[-2.88928,53.18631],[-2.88927,53.186298]]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"The High Cross, the symbolic heart of the Anglo-Saxon walled town, with straight streets extending in four compass points.","style":"start","tourOrder":1},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.8916358947753906,53.190247582273464]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"Here two churches stood on either side of Bridge Street, similar to other Anglo-Saxon 'burhs' such as Oxford and marking the entry point into the southern side of the burh.","style":"transit","tourOrder":2},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.8909707069396972,53.18869190831699]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"This street corner probably marks the south-west corner of the defences of the Anglo-Saxon burh - the streets themselves being 'intramural' streets.","style":"transit","tourOrder":3},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.8937816619873042,53.18837690961183]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"As with St Bridget and St Michael's churches standing at the site of the gate on Bridge Street, here on Watergate Street another church was placed at the gateway to the burh - this time the church of Holy Trinity. ","style":"transit","tourOrder":4},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.8948545455932617,53.189836169857074]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"Another right-angled street probably marking the north-west corner of the burh. The east-west alignment of Parsons Lane seems to reflect the course of the burh's defences on the northern flank, cutting across the area formerly within the Roman defences. ","style":"transit","tourOrder":5},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.8949403762817383,53.191385374182566]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"Where Parson's Lane and Northgate Street intersect was the area of the market in later medieval Chester, but in the ninth century burh a gate would have stood here.","style":"transit","tourOrder":6},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.892086505889892,53.19179034367802]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"The abbey of St Werburgh came to occupy a quarter of the Anglo-Saxon burh, but originally one might suppose that that when in 907 Aaethelflaed restored Chester and rebuilt this church it occupied a much smaller area. ","style":"transit","tourOrder":7},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.889683246612549,53.192568131504665]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"The east gate into the burh stands on the Roman wall alignment. Note how from here the distance to the High Cross is the same as it is to each of the gates along the other three main streets within the burh, giving a high degree of symmetry to the layout of the burh.","style":"transit","tourOrder":8},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.888706922531128,53.19087112169172]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"This was the south-eastern corner of the Anglo-Saxon burh, the defences running along the alignment of Pepper Street, formerly the southern side of the Roman fortress.","style":"transit","tourOrder":9},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.888127565383911,53.1890647609367]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"Standing here in say 950 one would have been just outside the defended burh, but in a suburb extending southwards towards the river that now forms Lower Bridge Street.","style":"transit","tourOrder":10},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.890777587890625,53.188364052472686]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"From the dedication to the church of St Lave one might suggest that this pre-Conquest suburb of the Anglo-Saxon burh was established during the tenth or eleventh centuries, and perhaps was an area particularly favoured by Danish and / or Hiberno-Norse inhabitants and traders, close to the river so essential for supporting their long-distance trading activities. ","style":"transit","tourOrder":11},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.890198230743408,53.18731618267116]}},{"type":"Feature","properties":{"name":"Dark Age Chester","description":"The lower end of the suburb was later enclosed by the medieval city walls, and a gate created at Bridge Gate. Before the Norman conquest however, one might imagine the riverside here being an area bustling with trading activity, as ships came in from the irish Sea and beyond.","style":"end","tourOrder":12},"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.8892970085144043,53.186287573913304]}}]
Keith Lilley
Dark Age Chester - the hidden urban landscape of the Anglo-Saxons. Created by Keith Lilley
Description
This tour links up sites that reflect particularly the outlines of the lost Anglo-Saxon 'burh' (defended town) of Chester. Most of the remains of Anglo-Saxon Chester lie beneath the ground surface, but the street layout and some of the churches that are visible today have their origins in the ninth and tenth century. This tour pieces together these legacies.
Directions
