St John the Baptist's Church, Chester 3.3

St John the Baptist's Church is in Vicar's Lane, Chester, Cheshire, England. The church was a cathedral during the Middle Ages, though only the seat of the bishop in practice from 1075 to 1095. It lies outside the city walls on a cliff above the north bank of the River Dee. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester. Its benefice is combined with that of St Peter, Chester. Alec Clifton-Taylor includes it in his list of 'best' English parish churches, and it is considered to be the best example of 11th–12th century church architecture in Cheshire.HistoryThe church was reputedly founded by King Aethelred in 689. In 973, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle records that, after his coronation at Bath, King Edgar of England, came to Chester where he held his court in a palace in a place now known as Edgar’s field near the old Dee bridge in Handbridge. Taking the helm of a barge, he was rowed the short distance up the River Dee from Edgar’s field to St John the Baptist's Church by six (the monk Henry Bradshaw records he was rowed by eight kings) tributary kings.