Watergate Row SouthWP1Our journey through the Rows continues at Watergate Corner, overlooking The Cross, the junction of the old city’s four main streets. This is one of Chester’s architectural highlights, just like the magnificent black-and-white Eastgate Corner across the square.DotWaypointsvSisJYEB (1).jpgimage/jpegWP2Head west along Watergate Street – once the route to the port – to be treated to three of Chester’s finest timber-framed buildings. The first is God’s Providence House (no 9), its location revealed on the Row by a beamed ceiling. The building features an inscription ‘God’s providence is mine inheritance’. This was a thank you from the owner for being spared the plague, which ravaged Chester’s inhabitants in the late 17th century.DotWaypointsIMG_8217.jpgimage/jpegWP3The next beamed ceiling along this Row announces the presence of Leche House (no 21), the first parts of which appeared on this street in the 1300s. Inside the first-floor shop, one of the house’s astonishing internal treasures is the remains of plasterwork frieze that some say carries a coded message about a secret visit to the city by Catherine of Aragon.DotWaypointsIMG_8238.jpgimage/jpegWP4The third jewel of this stretch is Bishop Lloyd’s House (nos 51-53), two properties that became one in the 17th century and named after George Lloyd, Bishop of Chester from 1605 to 1615. The remodelled Row-front includes posts with brackets carved in Jacobean times with bearded giants and beastsDotWaypointsIMG_8185.jpgimage/jpegWP5Continue along the Row to its end at the 17th-century Ye Olde Custom House Inn, then cross to the top of Trinity Street for the next part of our circular journey through the Chester Rows.DotWaypointsIMG_8150.jpgimage/jpeg