The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, Earl and Countess of Chester, will visit Chester Cathedral and unveil a plaque to officially open the city’s new visitor attraction, Cathedral at Height.
The cathedral’s new tower tour, launched in April 2014, is already proving popular with locals and tourists and has had thousands of visitors since it opened.
The Cathedral at Height project, made possible by a generous grant from Cheshire West and Chester Council, took years to plan and seven months onsite to complete and allows visitors to go behind the scenes at Chester Cathedral via a tour route never before accessed by the public.
Tour groups are invited to take a journey through 900 years of history, past locked doors and via hidden rooms, enjoying breath-taking views, medieval mysteries and ancient bells on their way.
The Royal couple will meet with the team that was responsible for the development of the new attraction including representatives from restoration specialists William Anelay Ltd., project managers Turner and Townsend and chartered architects Donald Insall Associates.
The Earl and Countess of Chester will be given a tour of the cathedral’s other highlights - including the building’s fourteenth century Quire, sixteenth century Consistory Court and eleventh century Norman columns. These are now all free to enter. They will enjoy a performance by Chester Cathedral Choir and a short excerpt from the city’s historic Mystery Plays, hosted by the cathedral in 2013.
Vice Dean, Canon Peter Howell-Jones, said: “We are honoured to welcome The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall to Chester Cathedral and are delighted that they are able to officially open our new visitor attraction. We are very much looking forward to talking to them about the Cathedral at Height project and our future plans for the building and the wider estate.”
Image via Chester Chronicle.
