The Roodee in Chester
The Roodee lies on the banks of the River Dee. The site, now a famous racecourse, was a harbour during the Roman settlement of the city during the Dark Ages, but was closed as the river silted up thus making navigation impossible.
A raised mound close to the eastern-walled side of the Roodee is decorated by a small sandstone landmark known as a "rood". It is from this that the race course derives the name "Roodee". Roodee is a corruption of "Rood Eye", meaning "The Island of the Cross".
There are two legends attached to the Roodee. The first claims the Rood is the burial site of a statue of the Virgin Mary, sentenced to hang after causing the death of the wife of the Governor of Hawarden. According to this legend, she had gone to church to pray for rain but when her prayers were answered by a tremendous thunderstorm the statue was loosened and fell, killing her. As a holy object, hanging or burning the statue would be sacrilege so the statue was left by the banks of the river and the tide carried it down to Chester.
In an alternate version of the legend, the statue was instead carried to St John's church nearby. The statue was thrown down as a relic of popery, used as a whipping post for scholars and burned.
The east of the race course abuts directly onto Chester's ancient city walls which were once used to moor Roman trading vessels. However this ceased when the course of the River Dee changed due to silting. The Grosvenor bridge passes over the south-eastern corner. The north of the course is bordered by a long railway bridge carrying the North Wales Coast Line over the River Dee. The course is overlooked from the opposite bank of the river by the mansions of Curzon Park, which can be seen dominating the skyline from any of the three grandstands.
Horse racing at the Roodee
Horse Racing Races originally took place on Goteddsday (Shrove Tuesday) and St George's Day, both major festivals during the medieval period. Before this the site was home to the famous and bloody Goteddsday football match. Due to its violent nature the match was eventually banned by the city in 1533, to be replaced in 1539 by horse racing. Winners were awarded the "Chester Bells", a set of decorative bells for decorating the horse's bridle. Later the "Grosvenor Gold Cup", a small tumbler made from solid gold, was awarded.
The first grandstand was built in 1817 and the first admittance-fee was taken in 1897. The old stand was destroyed by fire in 1900 and replaced by a wooden stand that was totally destroyed by a second fire set by an arsonist in 1985.
Today The racecourse is unique in that it is the second only racecourse in the UK along with York that lies within a city. This makes race meetings at Chester very popular as it is only a very short stroll to all the hotels, bars, shopping and restaurants.
A great free view of the course can be had from the old Roman wall that circumnavigates Chester. The racecourse itself is just over 1 mile long, flat and raced anti-clockwise or left-handed. The main characteristic of the course is the very short straight (239 yards). As such, long-strided horses, which perform better on straights, are at a distinct disadvantage.
Read more about The Roodee; Chester's Pudding basin Racecourse
