Chester 2025
In April we had a nice break away with our friend Jo in Chester. On one of the days we had an interesting visit to the model village of Port Sunlight. Built in the late 1880’s by the Lever family for its workers, I thought it showed the Victorian industrial treatment of workers in a good light. It’s a long journey to Chester from London, so we had a stop to visit Wightwick Manor on the way up & Hartlebury Castle on the return journey. Wightwick Manor is a late Victorian grand house built in the competing styles of the Arts & Crafts and the Aesthetic movements. It has a lot of William Morris furniture & decorations as well as quite a few Pre-Raphaelite works. Hartlebury is not really a castle but a fortified 13th century manor house used by the Bishops of Worcester right up until the this century.
Wightwick Manor
Chester
Chester Cathedral
An imposing cathedral with a very low-visibility entrance. The photo below shows the back of the cathedral – the front is tucked in behind shops.
Port Sunlight
The model village of Port Sunlight was developed by the 1st Viscount Leverhulme to provide housing for the workers in the nearby Lever soap-making factory. Between 1899 and 1914, 800 houses were built to house a population of 3,500. About a quarter of these houses are listed. The houses were built in blocks and each block of houses was designed by a different architect (including the likes of Lutyens). Each block was surrounded by green space, and each family was provided with an allotment for growing their own food. If only such urban planning could have continued throughout the country in the following decades!
Hartlebury Castle
