Chichester - part one

Saturday 18 August was a free day so a visit to the city of Chichester in Western Sussex was arranged. We were met at Chichester by Andrew Barnes, a member of the England team, who had offered to show us around.

Chichester is rich in history, not only as a Roman settlement, but it was also one of the burhs (fortified towns) estabished by Alfred the Great (around 878-879). The Roman walls were used as part of the fortifications for the new settlement. The influence of the Normans is also obvious in the city including the Cathedral and  part of the castle motte.

The dominant feature in the city is the spire of the Cathedral.

We began the tour at part of the Roman walls, another feature of the city.

Entering a gate in the walls took us to the Bishop's Palace Gardens. Inside the walls on one side of the gardens are the remains of the ramparts.

 Many colourful flowers are located in the variety of flower beds.

A wall dating back to Tudor times is another feature of the gardens.

We had a view of part of the Bishop's Palace through a gate leading from the public gardens.

Andrew provided us with information about the gardens as we explored them.

I am sure that the stones in these walls could tell a story.

We then side tracked to the shops as some of our members needed to go to a bank. This photo looks towards the Chichester Market Cross. This version of the market cross dates from 1501.

Our next stop was Priory Park. As we walked next to the wall there was a view of houses in the street on the other side.

On the right of this photograph is the Guildhall dating back to 1282. The spire of the Cathedral is in the background while in the foreground is part of the Priory Park Cricket  Club ground.

Remains of walls of a building in Priory Park.

Remains of the motte that would have have been part of the motte and bailey castle built by the Normans. The mound making up the motte would have been four times as big as the mound in the park today.

At this point we had free time to have lunch and then do some additional exploring before meeting the other members of the group at the Market Cross and then returning to the coach.

Chichester - part two

After lunch we visited the Novium Museum which provided information about Chichester in Roman times.

On the wall were a number of mosaics discovered in the area.

The museum is in a new building built to display part of a bath-house excavated on the site.

This excavation shows other uses of the site through the centuries.

Being a Roman City reminders of the Roman past are constantly being discovered. Recently the remains of three Roman buildings have been detected at Priory Park. Reports by Chichester and District Archaeology Society:
Priory Park 2017
Priory Park 2018

We then went to Chichester Cathedral to explore inside the building. The building of the Cathedral commenced in 1075 and the building was concecrated in 1108.

View of Chichester Cathedral

The old bell tower at Chichester Cathedral

View inside Chichester Cathedral

View of roof inside Cathedral

Looking towards the organ

Stained glass window in the Chapel of St George

There is a variety of stained glass windows within the cathedral.

Marc Chagall window in the Cathedral (1978).

Shrine of Saint Richard

Saint Richard was a bishop at the Cathedral in the 13th Century and his shrine was a focal point until 1538 when Henry VIII had the shrine destroyed. The present Shrine of St Richard was created in 2011.

Statue of St Richard

A statue of St Richard stands in the cathedral grounds. We thought that he would make a good character in an episode of Dr Who.

Remains of Roman mosaics can be viewed in the Cathedral.

When we passed the Arundle tomb there was a feeling of familiarity so I decided to take some photos. Later I checked our Ancestry family tree and discovered that Richard FitzAlan (1307-1376) and Eleanor Plantagenet (1311-1372) were my 20 x great grandparents.

Leaving the Cathedral we wandered back to the Market Cross where we met the other members of the group and then returned to the coach.

Chichester is a great city to explore.