William the conqueror

Chester’s city walls are the oldest, longest, and most complete city walls in Britain – and they are completely free to walk around

There’s only one English city that can boast the most complete city walls in the country, where visitors can stroll their entire length – two miles of history and ancient charm just a stone’s throw away.

These are considered the oldest, longest, and most complete city walls in Britain. The initial parts of the walls were erected by the Romans, and later they were expanded and developed during the Saxon (10th century) and Norman (12th century) eras.

However, from the 18th century onwards, the walls were no longer required for defence and were transformed into a popular public walkway and tourist hotspot. You can traverse the full length of the Roman Wall, which is open all year round and free to access.

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The route includes four main gateways: Northgate, Eastgate, Watergate and Bridgegate and with a few well-deserved rest stops along the way, it can be completed in a couple of hours.

Best of all, it’s completely free to access the walls’ walkway at any time. However, there is a small fee if you wish to join an organised tour, which departs from the Town Hall Visitor Information Centre and lasts approximately 90 minutes.

Of course, we’re talking about Chester City Walls, which encircle a small rectangular area in the very heart of this stunning historic city. The Grade I listed walls are the best preserved city walls in Britain and encompass the site of the medieval city, reports the Express.

A footpath runs atop the walls, with only a small 100-metre section incomplete. As you stroll along, you’ll have the opportunity to take in Chester’s many attractions, including the castle, cathedral, and racecourse.

The city is dotted with historic sites and eateries where you can extend your day out. The trail follows the paved path on top of the walls. Historically, many significant towns and cities were fortified by walls, but today, only Chester boasts a complete circuit around the city. Throughout the Middle Ages, Chester was one of the most fortified and strategically crucial cities in the county.

Over time, these walls have been continuously modified, repaired and occasionally attacked. One reason they still stand today is that from the 18th century onwards, they were no longer required for defence and were transformed into a fashionable walkway and public amenity.

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Some of the historic sites visible from the walls include the Cathedral, the King Charles Tower, the Roman Amphitheatre, the Eastgate Clock, the River Dee and the city’s unique Rows. The 12th-century Agricola Tower served as the first stone gateway to Chester Castle, which was established by William the Conqueror in 1070. The South-west part of the city also deserves a mention.

All restoration work on the walls requires approval from Historic England. In 2020, a portion of Chester’s City Walls crumbled near the renowned Eastgate Clock, with repair efforts currently ongoing. Several tragic incidents have occurred with people plummeting from the walls, so exercise caution!

Over 400 years ago, in 1615, William Webb described it as “a very delectable walk, feeding the eye, with the sweet gardens and fine buildings of the city.” Much more recently, one local resident described the route they like to take when walking the walls. Speaking on TripAdvisor they said: “I always start at the East Gate because it’s the first part of the wall I get to when I walk from the railway station.”

They added: “I then go around the walls clockwise. After about 150 metres, you can then come down off the walls and see the amphitheatre and Roman Gardens. Then further around is the river; but I don’t usually get past Bridgegate because I come off the wall there and go in to the Bear & Billet pub!”

Once the capital of England for almost 200 years, today it is a quiet town with a rich history and a castle that dates back to the 11th century

When you think of the capital of England, London’s iconic landmarks like Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament immediately spring to mind.

But this wasn’t always the case — 300 years before London took the title, a humble market town northeast of Birmingham in Staffordshire held the honour. Tamworth, spanning just 12 square miles, is not only Staffordshire’s smallest borough but also one of the tiniest in the country.

However, don’t underestimate its historical significance — Tamworth was once the capital of England. In the 8th century, King Offa declared Tamworth as the seat of Royal power, a status it maintained for nearly two centuries, reports the Express.

While Tamworth was the centre of power, and even boasted a palace during King Offa’s reign, it wasn’t until the 11th century that Tamworth Castle was constructed by Robert Despenser, steward of William the Conqueror.

Before and after the renowned Norman conquest of England, Tamworth experienced a period of prosperity as local lords built castles in and around the town.

In the 8th century, England was divided into kingdoms: Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex, with Mercia being the largest and most influential.

Tamworth was at the heart of the Mercian Kingdom, and the Mercian Kings spent more time here than anywhere else.

However, London’s status as the capital city was solidified in 1066 when William the Conqueror marched on the city following his victory in the Battle of Hastings.

Today, the market town retains its historical charm and offers locals a tranquil lifestyle, with independent shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants dotting the streets of the traditional town centre.

It might shock many, but England has had a number of capitals before London was finally chosen.

In the 10th Century, Athelstan, the first king of (all) England and grandson of Alfred the Great, declared Malmesbury his capital after vanquishing an army of northern English and Scots.

Not only does Colchester claim to be Britain’s oldest recorded town, but it also became the nation’s Roman capital in AD49.

EXCLUSIVE: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau stars as William, Duke of Normandy, in upcoming BBC series King & Conqueror.

Most will recognise Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for his role of Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones but for his latest venture, he’s transformed into William, Duke of Normandy – or as many will know him, William the Conqueror.

The Danish actor will go head to head against James Norton in the BBC historical drama which follows the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

King and Conqueror also marks the first time Nikolaj has directed. And funnily enough, his directorial debut saw him choreograph a scene which sees the leading actor fight bare-chested.

Speaking of filming the fight, which fans will get the chance to see in episode five, he recalled: “That was tough. I was spending a lot of time planning that because we only had so much time to do it.

“The stunt team was incredible. The trick, or the challenge, when you do something like that, of course, because everyone’s bare-chested, you can’t hide anything. You know you’re going to hurt yourself when you do these things, so we had to be very careful.”

Heaping praise on the stunt team, which included UFC and MMA fighters, Nikolaj shared: “These guys insane. The Icelandic guys, they’re brilliant. I mean, there’s one scene, the guy I’m fighting – he’s in fights in the the big stuff – which is why I wanted to be the guy choking him out.

“There’s this big, big guy – at one point, he lifts up James [Norton] – early in the fight, he takes one of the other stunt guys and he throws him against this wagon.

“And that was planned but what wasn’t planned was that he’s thrown him so hard that he went through the wagon and he like completely crashed the whole thing. The sound you hear, it’s literally a guy being thrown through. But they just took it.”

He went on to share that during filming, everyone got so involved, one member of the team was knocked out.

“We had rehearsals where there was a guy knocked out. I mean they go so close, right? And it was a mistake both of them. I mean you should always be able to hold your fist but the other guy, he instead like holding the distance, he kind of moved forward right as he was swinging.

“And they were also you know MMA fighters. So his tooth went out, blood out. And then the other guy, of course, because he hit the tooth, broke [his knuckle], he had to have stitches in his hand as well.”

King and Conqueror is the story of a clash that defined the future of a country for a thousand years.

The synopsis reads: “Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy were two men destined to meet at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; two allies with no design on the English throne, who found themselves forced by circumstance and personal obsession into a war for possession of its crown.”

King and Conqueror airs Sunday 24 August on BBC One at 9pm.

The Pop Idol winner discovered on this week’s episode of BBC1’s Who Do You Think You Are? that he is related to King Edward I and William the Conquerer – so Mirror man Matt decided to dig into his ancestors too

As if Will Young didn’t already have reason to be smug, the Pop Idol and two-time Brit Award winner now has something else he can boast about – he’s related to royalty.

Specifically, King Edward I, his 20-times great-grandfather. Oh, and William the Conquerer too.

The singer found out about his kingly lineage filming this week’s episode of BBC1’s Who Do You Think You Are? And he’s not the only celebrity who, besides being blessed with success, can also add royal blood to their claims to fame.

Josh Widdecombe is another, having learned he’s also directly descended from Edward I. Before him there was Danny Dyer, who discovered his ancestors include King Edward III, William the Conquerer and French king Louis IX.

Then there’s Matthew Pinsent – four-time Olympic gold medallist and, it turns out, also related to Edward I, William the Conqueror and one of Henry VIII’s wives.

What is it about being a celebrity, I wondered, that makes you more likely to have royal relatives? Knowing Will was going to be the latest to fill me with jealousy, I set out to find out if mere mortals like me had any remotely interesting ancestors.

In my case, the chances of even finding anyone slightly aristocratic in my family tree seemed pretty bleak. Will was already born with a silver spoon in his mouth, a boarding school boy whose dad was a company director and whose grandad was an RAF flight lieutenant.

Most of the relatives I knew about, on the other hand, were proud yet poor Nottinghamshire coal miners and their wives.

Still, I set up an account on FindMyPast and added the names of the relatives I knew about over the last 150 years. As the site suggested potential matches based on birth, marriage, baptism and census records, I gradually worked my way back around 12 generations to the mid-1600s.

Alas, what I discovered only confirmed my suspicions. My family were paupers, not princes – grafters who toiled for centuries in coal mines, stables, forges and along canals.

My great-grandfather, I discovered, was a coal miner loader who had worked his way up to coal hewer – hacking coal from the mine bed by hand, hundreds of metres underground – just like his father and grandfather before him.

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Earlier still were nailmakers, boatmen, stonemasons and stablemen. Almost all lived and died in Derbyshire, Yorkshire or Lancashire. We were clearly the servants, not the masters. I had more in common with Baldrick than Blackadder.

But just as I was about to give up, I stumbled on something unexpected. In the late 1500s, Derbyshire man William Gilbert, my 13th great-grandfather, married Anne Clere – and into a well-known family.

The Cleres, it turned out, were an ancient family from Norfolk whose patriarch, Sir Robert Clere, was the High Sheriff of Norfolk and known for his great wealth.

Anne’s father, Sir Edward Clere, was an MP, but apparently not a very articulate one when speaking in the House of Commons. One diarist wrote how he made “”a staggering [stumbling] speech… I could not understand what reason he made.”

He was knighted in 1578 after having Queen Elizabeth I stay over at his home in Thetford, Norfolk, when he entertained her with a theatrical performance and jousting.

Fascinated that my family was at least good friends with royalty, I kept digging. Edward’s father was Sir John Clere, an MP and naval commander who drowned in August 1557 when his fleet tried to conquer the Orkney Islands, but was beaten back to sea by 3,000 angry islanders.

But it was her mother, Alice Boleyn, my 14th great-grandmother, whose name jumped out at me. Sure enough, as I followed the tree, her niece was none other than Anne Boleyn, Queen of England until she was beheaded in 1533 by Henry VIII – and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

I was astounded – that makes me Elizabeth I’s first cousin, 16 times removed.

On the other side of the Clere family, however, things were taking a more sinister – but no less fascinating – turn.

Sir John Clere’s wife, Anne Tyrell, also had royal connections, it turned out, but ones that probably changed the line of succession forever.

On her father’s side, her grandfather was Sir James Tyrell, a trusted servant of Richard III, who allegedly confessed to the murders of the Princes in the Tower under Richard’s orders.

James is also portrayed in Shakespeare’s Richard III. I was astounded – I studied the play at school and had no idea I was reading about my 17th great-grandfather.

Treason and treachery, it seems, ran in the family. His father William was beheaded on Tower Hill in 1462 for plotting against King Edward IV.

William’s father, Sir John Tyrell of Heron, was High Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire and knight of Essex, and three times Speaker of the House of Commons. That my 19th great-grandfather basically once ruled Essex is something I won’t be letting people forget in Stansted, where I now live.

But it was also through Anne Tyrell’s mother’s side that I found something even more astonishing. As I followed her line, the names began to get more and more aristocratic, through the Willoughbys, De Welles, Greystokes and Longsprees, until I found…. My 26th great-grandfather, King Henry II.

His father was Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou and his grandfather, King Henry I. And Henry’s father? No other than William the Conquerer – my 29th great-grandfather.

And perhaps even more bizarrely, that would make Will Young my 9th cousin, 9 times removed. I’ll be inviting him round for tea next week.

Genealogists will tell me to calm down – apparently there are about five million people who are descended from William the Conquerer. Establishing myself as the true heir to the British throne could certainly be tricky.

But just being as special as Will, Danny Dyer and Matthew Pinsent is enough for me. And not bad for the son of Nottinghamshire nailmakers, stablemen and coal miners.

How to trace your family tree on Findmypast:

Register for a free Findmypast account and create your tree.

Add your own information, then details about your parents, grandparents and other relatives that you know. You don’t need every detail such as date or place of birth, but the more you have the better.

Findmypast then searches its records and provides hints about your ancestors, helping you expand your tree. To access the records you’ll need to pay a subscription.

Most of the records go back to the 1700s, but family trees created by other people can help you trace back even further.

Use the internet to search some of the key names – you might find more clues and other historical connections.