The Heart of Chester Walking Tour

The Heart of Chester Walking Tour Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from The Heart of Chester Walking Tour, Tour guide, Chester.

🚶‍➡️Chester walking tours/ tourist guide.
❤️ One of Chester’s most-booked walking tours.
🏛️ Discover 2,000 years of Chester’s history with a local guide.
📍 Roman • Medieval • Georgian • Victorian Chester

🧸 BARNABY BEAR IN CHESTER – 2004!A lovely little blast from Chester’s past! ❤️It’s fascinating to see Chester as it was ...
06/09/2026

🧸 BARNABY BEAR IN CHESTER – 2004!

A lovely little blast from Chester’s past! ❤️

It’s fascinating to see Chester as it was presented to a younger audience over 20 years ago.

Although… some of the historical explanations are, shall we say, open to interpretation! 😉

For example, the story that Chester’s walls were built simply to “keep the Welsh out” is rather more complicated than that! 🏰

Did you remember Barnaby Bear visiting Chester?

🎬 The full video is on YouTube — and we’ll share the link in our Story.

02/09/2026

👀🔎 CHESTER’S HIDDEN BOUNDARIES 🏛️📜

Have you ever spotted these curious little boundary markers around Chester? 🧐

They’re easy to walk straight past… 🚶‍♀️💨
…but they tell us something fascinating about how the city was once divided into parishes. ⛪️🗺️

Look closely and you may find:
🔤 Initials
📅 Dates
🪨 Carved inscriptions
📍 Boundary markers tucked into walls and buildings

And some are hiding in the most unexpected places! 😲

So next time you’re exploring Chester…

👀 LOOK UP ⬆️
🔎 LOOK DOWN ⬇️
🧱 LOOK AT THE WALLS
…and keep your eyes peeled! 👁️✨

You might just discover a little piece of Chester’s hidden history hiding in plain sight.

📸 Spot one? TAKE A PHOTO!
👇 Post it and tag me — let’s see how many Chester boundary markers we can uncover! 🔍

❤️ Discover the Heart of Chester! ❤️Fancy seeing Chester through new eyes? 👀✨Join us for The Heart of Chester Walking To...
01/09/2026

❤️ Discover the Heart of Chester! ❤️

Fancy seeing Chester through new eyes? 👀✨

Join us for The Heart of Chester Walking Tour and discover the stories, characters and hidden gems that make this city so special. 🏰📖

From the magnificent Eastgate Clock ⏰ and the unique Chester Rows to fascinating historic buildings, unexpected stories and plenty of photo opps 📸 — there’s something around every corner!

🚶‍♀️ 90 minutes of discovery
❤️ Fun & fascinating stories
📸 Great photo opps
😊 Friendly local guides
👣 Less than 1 mile

📅 Tuesdays • Wednesdays • Fridays
⏰ 1pm
📍 Meet outside the Visitor Information Centre, Town Hall Square
💷 £15 on the day — or book online

Come and explore, learn, laugh and fall in love with Chester! ❤️

👉 Book online or simply turn up.

30/08/2026

👑 DISRAELI — A POLITICAL ARGUMENT IN STONE!

Meet Benjamin Disraeli, twice Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party — but perhaps not quite as you’ve seen him before! 😄

This extraordinary Victorian carving shows Disraeli sword in hand, defending the Crown, in a rather theatrical political confrontation. He was carved opposite his great political rival, William Ewart Gladstone, during the Victorian restoration of Chester Cathedral.

The two became known as the “Political Corbels” and were created in the 1870s as part of George Gilbert Scott’s restoration of the cathedral. They were designed by sculptor Robert Bridgeman and carved by Edward Griffith.

📍 Where to find them:
Look up at the exterior of the South Transept of Chester Cathedral. The Disraeli and Gladstone corbels are up among the Victorian stonework — so remember to look up! 👀

It’s Victorian political satire… carved in stone and still arguing nearly 150 years later! 😂🏛️
🧹I did so much want to dust the cobwebs off, whilst up there!🧹

28/08/2026

👀 LOOK UP! You might just spot a Victorian political argument carved in stone…

Meet William Ewart Gladstone — four times Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party.

But this isn’t quite the dignified portrait you might expect! 😄 Gladstone is shown with a pen in his mouth, apparently attacking the claims of the Roman Catholic Church — a cheeky piece of Victorian political satire.

These extraordinary Political Corbels were created during the Victorian restoration of Chester Cathedral, under architect George Gilbert Scott, and feature some very recognisable figures from 19th-century politics.

📍 Where to find them: look up at the outside of the South Transept of Chester Cathedral. And don’t forget to look for Gladstone’s political rival, Benjamin Disraeli, nearby!

Who said history had to be boring? 😉🏛️

24/08/2026

🌉 Chester’s Bridge of Sighs…

Hidden beneath Chester’s Northgate, this little bridge has a much darker story than its name suggests…

In the 18th century, prisoners from Northgate Gaol were led across the canal and into St John’s Chapel for their final prayers. ⛓️🙏

For some, this really was their last walk through Chester.

And the nearby Northgate Gaol had an even darker history… ⚰️

Chester’s streets are full of stories that are easy to miss — you just have to know where to look. 👀🏰

❤️ The Heart of Chester
History • Stories • Walking Tours 🚶‍♀️

22/08/2026

🎼❤️ HANDEL IN CHESTER ❤️🎼

Did you know that George Frideric Handel came to Chester in 1741?

He was travelling to Ireland for the first performance of his new masterpiece, Messiah, but unfavourable winds delayed his journey for several days.

While waiting, Handel stayed at the Golden Falcon in Northgate Street and contacted Chester Cathedral’s organist, John Baker, looking for singers who could sight-read his newly copied music.

A private rehearsal was arranged at the Golden Falcon, where Handel tested some of the choruses he intended to perform in Ireland.

And then there’s this wonderful eyewitness account…

Charles Burney remembered seeing Handel sitting at the Exchange Coffee House, smoking a pipe over a dish of coffee! ☕️🎼

So Chester wasn’t simply somewhere Handel passed through.

For a few unexpected days, our city became part of the story of Messiah.

20/08/2026

FROM CHAPEL TO SUPERDRUG: DICKENS IN CHESTER ❤️

Did you know that Charles Dickens visited Chester on 13 August 1858 and gave a public reading from A Christmas Carol right here — in what was then Chester’s Music Hall? 🎩📖✨

And this building has quite a story of its own…

⛪ c.1300 — St Nicholas’ Chapel
⚖️ 1545 — Common Hall
🐑 Wool Hall — a place of trade
🎭 18th century — Theatre Royal
🎶 1854–55 — Music Hall
📖 1858 — Dickens reads from A Christmas Carol
🎬 20th century — Cinema
🛒 Later — Supermarket
🛍️ Today — Shops

Seven centuries of change and continuity, all contained within one remarkable Chester building. ❤️

And somewhere amongst all those transformations, Dickens stood here and brought Scrooge, Tiny Tim and A Christmas Carol to life for a Chester audience.

Imagine that… Dickens in Chester!🎩❄️📖

18/08/2026

🛞 Chester’s “Wheelers” 👀

Ever noticed these stone tracks running through the cobbles of Abbey Square?

🛞 They’re called wheelers
🐴 Designed to give horse-drawn carriages a smoother ride
🏛️ Particularly useful for the wealthy Georgian residents of the Abbey Square
🪨 A distinctive feature of historic Chester

So, basically… 18th-century suspension! 😂

16/08/2026

👦 Meet John Coppack — the real boy behind Chester’s famous Bluecoat Boy! 💙

Born into a humble Chester family, John went on to become a Freeman of the city, built a respectable career with the Shropshire Union Canal Company, married and had an astonishing 14 children! 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

But his lasting claim to fame? ⭐ His likeness became the Bluecoat Boy we still see around Chester today.

So next time you spot him… 👀
say hello to John! 💙

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Chester

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

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