News

March 2026

Cheshire's Greatest Poem - 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'

The 14th Century Arthurian Romance and the Poet who wrote it in Chester Castle

On Wednesday 18th March Andrew Breeze, Professor of Philology at the University of Navarra, introduced us to the famous late medieval poem written in alliterative verse, 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'. As an introduction there was a trailer to the 2021 film, 'The Green Knight', followed by a summary of the story. At King Arthur’s court, a mysterious Green Knight challenges anyone to strike him with his axe if he may return the blow in a year and a day. Sir Gawain accepts, beheads him, and later journeys to the Green Chapel, where he survives the return blow and learns the whole episode was a test of his honour and honesty. On the way, Gawain stays at a castle, where he is tempted by the lord’s wife and given a magical green girdle which he hides from his host. When the Green Knight reveals himself as the lord, Gawain is ashamed of his failure, but he returns to Camelot wearing the girdle as a sign of human weakness.

Andrew Breeze then gave his conclusions about the setting and authorship of the poem about which there has been much debate but no firm agreement. The language of the poem is written in a north western dialect and the Green Chapel has been identified as Lud's Church, a narrow chasm in the Staffordshire Peak District. Andrew Breeze is now confident that the poem was written by the Cheshire magnate, Sir John Stanley, in late 1387 for that year's Christmas celebrations at Chester Castle. 

There followed an extended question and answer session with much of the discussion around the historicity of King Arthur, a subject tackled in Professor Breeze's latest book, 'King Arthur - Medieval British Literature & Modern Critical Tradition'.

February 2026

Our Local Weather from the Middle Ages to Today

How local weather patterns have changed over the centuries

On Wednesday 18th February Paul Williams gave a talk explaining how the weather has changed over the years. With today's concerns over the effects of Climate Change we were reminded about the Little Ice Ages that occurred between the 14th and 19th centuries. These were not true ice ages extending globally but they caused regional cooling and were separated by slightly warmer intervals.

Chester Uncovered

A virtual tour of the City of Chester

For the first time the History Group held a day-time meeting in the afternoon of Thursday 15th January especially for those who find it difficult to attend evening meetings in the winter and it proved very popular, and not just because of the sumptuous tea and cake spread that followed a fascinating talk by Stephen Shakeshaft, a Chester City Blue Badge Guide. He introduced us to hidden secrets of Chester on this virtual tour of the city that included many features that even life-long Cestrians were not aware of.  He made a strong case for the rich history of Chester from the Roman period onwards that is often understated and generated real interest in the large audience to explore the city further themselves.