Roman Chester

Chester was one of the main towns of Roman Britain and medieval England. For the Romans it was also a garrison town. Some of the Roman remains are clearly visible though there is still plenty under the streets waiting to be excavated.

I visited Chester last weekend. The first video below is of Chester's Roman ampitheatre. I understand it was the biggest ampitheatre in Britain. It's free to get into and can also be viewed from the medieval wall.

There is some talk of the ampitheatre being the inspiration for the Round Table of the mythical King Arthur.



The second video is of Roman Gardens, a park next to the ampitheatre and medieval wall. The entrance is next to the Newgate on the wall (the gate overlooks the ampitheatre as well).



The park is quite recent, opened in 2000, according to the bit of background research I did on it. It was previosuly the site of an 18th century clay pipe factory.

The park is used to exhibit various pieces of Roman stonework and contains a reconstructed hypocaust.

Back to the ampitheatre - a couple of photos:





This 2nd photo was taken from the top of Northgate. Note how only half the ampitheatre has been excavated.