There were 13 of us who met at the Cathedral for our guided tour. There were several different methods of travel to get there and some of us had coffees prior to the meeting time and others spent their time looking around the town hall, although parts of it weren’t open there was still plenty of interest.
At ll:00am we all gathered under the blue window in the Cathedral, where our guide, John, introduced himself and explained what the tour involved. He also said that although parts of the building originated in Roman times that various repairs and updates were made in Victorian times, so it was difficult to go through the building by age.
We started at the North Transept which is generally the oldest part of the building and was part of the original monastery which predated the Cathedral, pointing out that the roof on this part had been considerably lower that it is now. We then went through to the cloisters. Now enclosed, these would have been open to the elements in the monk’s day and as they faced north, would have been extremely cold in the winter. We then went through to the Chapter House where the large, pointed window had double supports to them as the builders of the day didn’t believe that the arched glass windows would support the roof.
Following that we went to the chapel dedicated to St Werburgh where we were told a little about the saint herself. When we reached the south transept, I was able to point out the statue of St Christopher sculpted by Suzanne’s father in the 1930s
Finally, our guide showed us a model of the Cathedral made in Lego which he had helped to create.We then went into the refectory for lunch. This was followed by a stroll from the Cathedral along the city walls to the River Dee
We then crossed the river via the foot bridge and returning along the farthest bank before recrossing on the Old Dee Bridge and return to the town via Lower Bridge Street.
Thanks to John who provided a very interesting, guided tour of the cathedral and also to Norman who organised the whole trip
