Chester Racecourse (The Roodee)
About
The world's oldest racecourse still holding meetings, recognised by Guinness World Records, and Britain's smallest at just a mile and a furlong around. Racing began here in 1539 when Chester's mayor, Henry Gee, organised the city's first formal annual meeting (winners took home silver bells, and Gee's own surname is the root of the racing slang 'the gee-gees'). The ground, known as the Roodee from an old Norse and Saxon name meaning the Island of the Cross, was Roman-era harbour before the Dee silted up around it. The racecourse sits immediately outside the walls on the western stretch, so even a non-race day gives a clear view of the track from the wall walk above.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Guinness World Records' oldest racecourse still holding meetings
- ✓Racing traced back to 1539
- ✓Visible free from the city walls on any day, race day or not
Tips
- →The main fixture, the Boodles May Festival, is the biggest date on Chester's social calendar and accommodation books out around it; the racecourse also runs an autumn meeting each September.
- →You can see the whole track for free from the wall walk above Watergate without a race-day ticket.
- →Check chester-races.com for the current season's fixture list before planning a race-day visit.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
The Rows
Chester's unique two-tier covered shopping galleries, first recorded in 1293 and found nowhere else in England at this scale. Free, no booking.
Chester Cathedral
A working cathedral with over a thousand years of history, on the site of an Anglo-Saxon minster, just inside the walls near Eastgate.
Chester Zoo
A large, conservation-focused zoo a few miles north of central Chester. Book online ahead; open daily except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.