City's historic painting restored

The painting shows spectators at the Roodee racecourse

The first-known oil painting of Chester has gone back on display in the city's Grosvenor Museum after being restored.

Chester and the Roodee, which shows a view of the city from the south-west, was painted by Pieter Tillemans some time between 1710 and 1734.

It was presented to the museum in 1894 by the first Duke of Westminster, becoming the first painting to enter the museum's collection.

Heavily-discoloured varnish and old re-touchings were removed.

The knoll in the foreground of the painting rises high above the River Dee.

Between the river and the city is an expanse of low-lying land called the Roodee.

The painting depicts horse-racing on the Roodee, the course marked by posts and crowds of spectators lining the western city wall.

Organised horse-racing began on the Roodee in 1540, giving Chester a longer continuous history than any other racecourse in the British Isles, a museum spokesman said.

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The oil painting of Chester dates from the early 1700s