Chester Cathedral

Medieval cathedral with some of the finest Gothic choir stalls in England

Chester Cathedral occupies the northeast corner of the city within the walls, a large sandstone building that has been in continuous religious use for nearly a thousand years. The current structure is mostly fourteenth-century Gothic, though elements of the original Norman building survive in the north transept.

The highlight is the choir: the medieval oak stalls, dating from around 1380, are among the finest surviving sets of Gothic woodcarving in England. The misericords — the hinged ledges that allowed monks to rest while standing — are carved with a catalogue of medieval imagination: jousting knights, mythological beasts, domestic scenes, and grotesque faces. The cloister garden is peaceful and free to enter; it is one of the quieter spots in a busy city. The cathedral asks for a voluntary donation rather than charging admission.

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A story
The building that is now the cathedral was a Benedictine monastery from 1092 until Henry VIII dissolved it in 1540 and refounded it as a cathedral — one of the few monasteries to survive the dissolution intact precisely because it was converted rather than demolished. The choir stalls, carved in the 1380s, show the whole medieval world in miniature: saints and sinners, monsters and musicians, biblical scenes and scenes of daily life, carved into the misericords and canopy work with extraordinary craft.