The first guidebook dedicated solely to Chester’s historic city walls for over one hundred years will make its debut next week.
Explore The Walls has been written by Council archaeologists, Jane Hebblewhite and Simon Ward and project managed by Magnus Theobald of Chester Renaissance.
A perfect companion for the millions of visitors treading one of Europe’s leading heritage trails each year, it explores the stories of the Walls, is easily readable and lavishly illustrated.
The book – believed to be the first dedicated solely to the Walls since local historian Frank Simpson published his work The Walls of Chester in 1914 – will be launched at Waterstones in Eastgate Row on Saturday, 11 August between 10.30am to 1.30pm.
It records a timeline stretching from AD 74/5 and the days of the Second Roman Legion, Adiutrix to 1966 and the building of St Martin’s Gate.
Explore the Walls invites readers to follow in the footsteps of Roman legionaries, Anglo Saxon warriors, Norman knights, medieval bowmen, civil war cavaliers and Georgian dandies.
Jane said: “The walls have incredible stories to tell. We hope that the book will help visitors and Cestrians alike to appreciate their part in the frequently turbulent life and times of an ancient city.
“Sieges, war, rebellions political riots and the plague, Chester’s Walls have experienced it all… and a great deal more; two thousand years of history all encapsulated in a two mile walk.
“The new guidebook makes a tour around the Walls more enjoyable and rewarding than ever before, and sets the standard for other historic walled cities around the world.”
And it isn’t just for adults. Explore the Walls comes with a free loose-leaf sticker sheet and a rubbing sheet, enabling youngsters to collect the rubbings of Chester icons as they march around the Walls.
Complementing the new suite of interpretation panels and the recently launched Chester Walls Quest the new book has been produced as part of the European-funded PORTICO Project in partnership with Cheshire West and Chester Council and Chester Renaissance.
Priced at £4.50, it goes on and at Chester’s Visitor Information Centre, the Grosvenor Museum and local bookshops.