Liverpool and Chester

LIVERPOOL

• METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST THE KING – a very modern cathedral built in a dramatic circular style.
• LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL – the largest Anglican cathedral in Britain, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
• ALBERT DOCK – surrounded by five warehouses designed by Jesse Hartley in 1846 and now restored in a development which includes television studios, museums, galleries, shops, restaurants and businesses.
• TATE GALLERY – opened in 1988 as the London Tate’s first outstation, the museum displays one of the best selections of contemporary art outside London. Marked by bright blue and orange panels, the gallery was converted from its warehouse setting by contemporary architect James Stirling. Three spacious floors provide an ideal setting for changing exhibitions of painting and sculpture.
• WALKER ART GALLERY – housing one of the finest art collections in the North. Paintings range from early Italian and Flemish works to Rubens, Rembrandt, Poussin,  French Impressionists and British artists from the 18th century onwards
• ST GEORGE’S HALL – designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes and one of the best assembly halls in England, it represents the prosperity of Liverpool in the 19th century.
• ULLET ROAD UNITARIAN CHURCH – constructed in the late 1890s to accommodate a newly founded congregation following the 1662 Act of Uniformity. It combines Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau as well as Arts and Crafts styles in its architecture and ornamentation, and boasts stained glass windows designed by Sir Edward Burne Jones from the workshop of William Morris.
• PHILHARMONIC PUBLIC HOUSE – the most ornate pub in England. Commissioned between 1898 and 1900 it features an extremely ornate Art Deco interior.
• SEFTON PARK PALM HOUSE – commissioned as a gift to the city by Henry Yates Thompson to designs by an Edinburgh firm, MacKenzie and Moncur, the Palm House was completed in 1896. It was originally stocked with exotic plants with marble statues on display inside and bronze statues of famous explorers and naturalists around the outside.
• PORT SUNLIGHT (Bebington) – built by William Hesketh Lever alongside his new factory in 1889. Originally with 28 houses, it eventually grew to 800 houses by 1914.
• LADY LEVER ART GALLERY – named in memory of Lord Leverhulme’s late wife. The magnificent collection boasts romantic masterpieces by the great Pre-Raphaelites and dramatic landscape paintings by Constable and Turner, as well as outstanding Chippendale furniture, sculpture, tapestries, delicate Chinese porcelain and English Wedgwood.

CHESTER

• CHESTER ROWS – fine timber buildings originally constructed in the 13th and 14th centuries, although the decorative timberwork we see today is mostly from the 19th century.
• CHESTER CATHEDRAL – construction spanned almost five centuries, from the 11th to the 16th century, and the Cathedral comprises a range of architectural styles from Norman to Perpendicular Gothic. A free-standing bell tower was added in the 20th century and today the cathedral is used for worship, exhibitions and concerts.
• BOAT TRIP – we will travel upriver on the River Dee, beneath the suspension bridge, past Grosvenor Park and the Earls Eye, a conservation area bordering the river.
• A full day visit to Port Sunlight and the Lady Lever Art Gallery is also included from Chester.