VII.

Places of Interest

The most important centre of tourism is Chester, the only city in England to have preserved the entire length of its Roman and medieval walls, which surround the city centre. At the north-eastern corner of the walls is King Charles Tower, from which Charles I is said to have watched his army defeated at the Battle of Rowton Moor in 1645. The Anglican cathedral church of Christ and the Virgin Mary is mainly from the 14th century. The attractions of Chester also include the partially excavated Roman amphitheatre, the largest in Great Britain, an ornate clock erected to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, and the Rows—shops dating from the 13th century, or earlier, which are set at first-floor level to remove pedestrians from the danger of traffic and, in bygone days, mud-filled streets. There are a number of stately homes in Cheshire, including the Tudor house Little Moreton Hall at Congleton, the Victorian Arley Hall near Northwich, 18th-century Capesthorne Hall in Macclesfield, and Bramall Hall, a black and white timber-framed building in Stockport.

The older part of Runcorn is almost entirely surrounded by the Bridgewater Navigation and the Manchester Ship canals. The ruins of a Norman castle are to be seen high on a hill at Beeston, and some 14 km (9 mi) to the south-west are the ruins of the 13th-century Holt Castle. Great Neston, on the Wirral, was the birthplace of Emma, Lady Hamilton. Near to Northwich is the Anderton Lift, a remarkable engineering device that lifts barges some 15 m (50 ft) from the River Weaver to place them on the Trent and Mersey Canal.

Cheshire has a number of museums. The astronomical centre at Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, which has a planetarium and exhibitions, is dominated by the 76 m (250 ft) radio-telescope dish. At Macclesfield there is a museum devoted to silk manufacture, and in Northwich a salt museum. Grosvenor Museum in Chester offers the history of Chester through the ages, and Halton Chemical Industry Museum is in Widnes. Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, at Nantwich, has been opened to the public who can explore the extensive underground complex. A 28-m (91-ft) high sculpture, known as Encounter, was erected near Birchwood in 2002 and is one of the tallest pieces of public art in the country.