Chester, England, by Valery Collins, Chester, England

“Go ahead, stroke it”. I looked suspiciously at the brick wall beside me and wondered why I would want to touch it. Abbie encouraged me again so I peeled off my glove and ran a tentative finger-tip across the rough surface. But it was not rough it was soft and furry because of the horsehair that had been used in medieval times to bind the clay they had used as a building material. We really were exploring the fabric of Chester cathedral led by our enthusiastic guide Abbie.

Her heels had already disappeared round the curve of the narrow winding staircase spiralling above me so I gripped the rail and hastened after her until we emerged in the gallery behind the Romanesque section of Chester Cathedral our next stop on the Cathedral at Height tour. We were standing right beside some old stained glass windows and could see how the soft lead had buckled under the weight of the glass creating a wavy effect. Below us through the spaces between the pillars we see two sections of the huge organ that had towered above us before we started the tour and now one section of the pipes was just a few metres away. The cathedral has just embarked on a programme to raise money to restore the organ and it includes daily recitals. The aim was to finish our tour before the walls began to reverberate to its notes. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).