St John the Baptist's, Chester

My feet first led me to St John the Baptist's some two decades ago. I had seen enough of Chester's shops for one afternoon and, as if drawn by some subtle instinct, I found myself wandering around the sandstone ruins of what must have once been an impressive Norman church built close to the shores of the River Dee.

Early churches were often built on top of pre-existing sacred sites, earlier even than the Roman shrine which once stood where the Norman ruins now lie. With the Roman ampitheatre just yards away, this may have been a shrine to Mithras.

A person can only speculate about what may have been here prior to the Roman structure. During the Reformation, St John's received far worse treatment than the nearby, and much bigger, St Werburgh's Cathedral which legend places directly over an ancient Druidic Grove. It seems unlikely that those same Druids would have overlooked this energy-rich focal point.

Norman ruins of an earlier St John the Baptist's, Chester.

Those with a penchant for ley lines will adore the energy readily found at St John's. It's a rather special place; my favourite church, in fact, and whenever I'm in Chester I invariably spend some time within this Grade 1 Listed Building. There is a wealth of symbolism within its walls for those with the eyes to see it, also - some obvious, like the stained glass window photographed below; and some of it more discrete.

Masonic symbolism in St John's the Baptist's Church, Chester.

More about St John the Baptists's: http://www.parishofchester.com/johns.html

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