It is said that one of Chester’s most distinguishing features is its Rows. We like distinguishing features. They’re distinguishable, they distinguish, they… hmmm, no other derivates come to mind.

Rows are, in the strictest sense, the physical look of a group of buildings collected together along street frontages.

Rows are not unique to Chester but can be found up and down the country, in medieval towns and cities. That said, Chester’s Rows are distinctive, a system of galleried walkways that run along four of its high streets and meet at the High Cross.

As the centuries have passed, the Row buildings have chopped and changed, knocked down and rebuilt and altered here and there. But their character hasn’t been lost and they still maintain a physical and metaphorical link to a building form that originated in the late 13th and early 14th century.

But their history goes further back to Roman times, which you can fully appreciate when you’re next on a cottage holiday in Chester.

The Roman aspect is, in some ways, very fundamental, foundational even, as three of the main streets, Eastgate Street, Watergate Street and Bridge Street, match up with Roman Streets. Northgate Street meanwhile seems like a wildcard, as if the Romans said “we like three streets, not four” only for some planning committee to say “we like four streets, not four”. Whoever rules the day rules the number of streets.

Today, although many of shops on the Row possess a throwback quality to the past – there’s a heavy feel of Tudor-style aesthetic – the shops are anything but. There’s a healthy mix of small local shops, big name brands, and petite eateries, bars and restaurants.

Such is their repute, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport announced last year that it was considering putting up Chester Rows as an applicant for the United Kingdom Tentative List for World Heritage Status.

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