Chester, St Werburgh Street 1929

Photo ref: 82749

More about this scene

Built of red sandstone, Chester cathedral was founded in 1092 as a Benedictine abbey on the site of an earlier Saxon church dedi- cated to St Werburgh. St Werburgh was a late 7th-century Saxon princess and a daughter of king Wulfhere of Mercia. Werburgh was later appointed supervisor of all the nun- neries in Mercia, and died at Trentham in AD699. In AD874 St Werburgh's remains were transferred to Chester to prevent them from falling into the hands of Danish invad- ers. Parts of the Norman church can still be seen, though much of the present cathedral dates from the 13th to the 16th centuries. At the Dissolution the building was saved from destruction when it was chosen as the cathe- dral for the newly formed diocese of Chester. A careful restoration programme was under- taken by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the well known Victorian architect, who added battle- ments, pinnacles and buttresses, but yearned most of all to top the tower with a tall spire.