Sights in Chichester
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Chichester Cathedral
This understated cathedral was begun in 1075 and largely rebuilt in the 13th century. The freestanding church tower, now in fairly bad shape, was built in the 15th century and the spire dates from the 19th century when its predecessor famously toppled over. Inside, three storeys of beautiful arches sweep upwards, and Romanesque carvings are dotted around. Interesting features to track down include a smudgy stained-glass window added by Marc Chagall in 1978 and a glassed-over section of Roman mosaic flooring about a metre below ground level.
Guided tours operate at 11.15am and 2.30pm Monday to Saturday, Easter to October, and the excellent cathedral choir is guaranteed to …
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B
Pallant House
Based in a wonderful Queen Anne town house once owned by a wealthy wine merchant, Pallant House is now an outstanding art gallery. Reopened with a swish new wing in 2006, it houses a superb collection of 20th-century British art, with names such as Caulfield, Freud, Sutherland and Moore represented. There are also historic works from British and international artists, from Picasso to Cézanne, Gainsborough to Rembrandt.
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Church of the Greyfriars
If you fancy a stroll in the park, it's worth a peek at the remains of this Franciscan church, built in the northeastern corner of the town in 1269. After dissolution in 1536 the structure became the guildhall and later a court of law, where William Blake was tried for sedition in 1804.
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D
Pallant House Gallery
A Queen Anne mansion built by a local wine merchant, handsome Pallant House, along with a recently opened modern wing, hosts this superb gallery that focuses on 20th-century, mostly British, art. Showstoppers such as Caulfield, Freud, Sutherland, Auerbach and Moore are interspersed with international names such as Filla, Le Corbusier and Kitaj. Most of these older works are in the mansion while the new wing is packed with pop art and temporary shows of modern and contemporary work.
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E
Market Cross
Chichester's epicentre is marked by a dinky market building constructed in 1501 by the bishop of the time to enable impoverished locals to sell their wares without paying hefty market fees.
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Guildhall
This church building is all that remains of a Franciscan monastery, which didn't survive Henry VIII's 1536 Dissolution. The church later served as a court of law, where William Blake was tried for sedition in 1804, and Chichester's first museum.
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District Museum
The eclectic collections once housed at the Guildhall can now be viewed at this somewhat ramshackle museum where the ground-floor Roman finds and mosaic fragments are the clear-cut winners.
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