Chester Civic Trust Golden Jubilee - Chester, UK
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dtrebilc
N 53° 11.335 W 002° 53.272
30U E 507492 N 5893292
This mosaic at the entrance to Chester's Roman Gardens was commissioned by the Chester Civic Trust on the occasion of their Golden Jubilee.
Waymark Code: WMWYY5
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/01/2017
Views: 2
The City of Chester
"Chester is a walled city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales. With a population of 118,200 in 2011, it is the most populous settlement of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 332,200 in 2014. Chester was granted city status in 1541.
Chester was founded as a "castrum" or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian in 79 AD. One of the main army camps in Roman Britain, Deva later became a major civilian settlement. In 689, King Æthelred of Mercia founded the Minster Church of West Mercia, which later became Chester's first cathedral, and the Saxons extended and strengthened the walls to protect the city against the Danes. Chester was one of the last cities in England to fall to the Normans. William the Conqueror ordered the construction of a castle, to dominate the town and the nearby Welsh border.
Chester is one of the best preserved walled cities in Britain. It has a number of medieval buildings, but some of the black-and-white buildings within the city centre are Victorian restorations. Apart from a 100-metre (330 ft) section, the listed Grade I walls are almost complete."
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The Civic Trust
"The Chester Civic Trust aims to be the leading local voluntary organisation dedicated to the preservation and improvement of
the built environment in and around Chester.
Their aims are
To raise awareness of and stimulate public interest in the built environment: buildings
and their settings;
To encourage and promote high standards of architecture, planning and design, including practices that are more sustainable;
To secure the conservation and enhancement of buildings, sites, streetscapes and open
spaces that have historic and/or public interest."
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The trust was formed in 1960 and celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2010.
The Mosaic
The mosaic reflects Chester's Roman history and is based on the designs of real Roman Mosaics found in sites across the old Roman Empire.
The Roman Gardens in Chester were originally created in 1949 as a site to hold various bits of Roman architecture that had been found around Chester, but had no permanent home.
The entrance to the garden was therefore an ideal place to lay down this mosaic.
An information board has the following information about the mosaic.
Roman Gardens
Celebrating Nature's
Glory in Art
Land was the major source of wealth in the Roman world, and art
in the houses of the rich celebrated the source of their income.
This replica mosaic, sponsored by the Chester Civic Tidy, commemorates Roman gardens and includes scenes from mosaics across the Empire.
The four full-length figures, based on an original mosaic from North Africa, depict the Four Seasons in an anticlockwise sequence, starting with spring at the front left. Between them, the scenes of d man milking a goat and the labourer with a digging hoe are based on mosaics from the Great Palace in Constantinople (Istanbul); the lady sitting on a garden bench is based on a mosaic from Carthage, again in North Africa; and the apple picking scene and the men carrying a tray of manure come from Vienne in southern France. The encircling scroll is taken from a mosaic in the villa at Woodchester, Gloucestershire and the central rosette from one at Bradford upon Avon, Wiltshire.
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The size and appearance of Roman gardens depended on the wealth of their owners and on the regional climate. Most would have been devoted to vegetables, herbs and fruit for consumption at home or for sale in nearby towns or forts. Plants were also grown for their medicinal properties, to attract bees, or to make garlands or perfume. Only the rich could afford large pleasure gardens as well as kitchen gardens. Primitive varieties of most of the plants in the Roman Gardens could have been found across the Empire.
The Romans introduced the cultivation of many new plants into Britain. After early popultirity some became rare or disappeared altogether; others became established, including plum, pear, walnut and mustard. More native wild plants also began to be eaten. Exotic foods were most commonly found in large towns and forts; herbs in particular are found at forts.
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