Sick to Death is a history of medicine attraction based in the Grade I listed 13th century Water Tower on the city walls. The attraction is operated by the award-winning heritage agency, Big Heritage, and has been supported by Wellcome Trust as a means of sharing the history of medicine and biomedical science with a new audience.
Thousands of visitors have enjoyed the attraction, which is already ranked in the top 16 things to do in Chester on Trip Advisor after only five months of opening. Visitors can explore medieval Chester through learning about the diseases, injuries, treatments and diet of its past occupants. It also includes entry into the Bonewaldesthorne Tower with its fully refurbished and functioning Victorian Camera Obscura – one of the few remaining in the world.
Dean Paton, founder of Big Heritage said: “St Valentine was a Roman chap that got beaten to death by clubs and beheaded. It’s hardly romantic unless you have some odd tendencies. We are offering an alternative to couples who don’t like roses and mush, single people who don’t need another person to validate how awesome they are or those who have recently felt the sting of an ended relationship.”
“The great 16th century anatomist Vesalius knew that the quickest way to a person’s heart was not a dozen roses, but a large scalpel blade through the sternum, where the heart could be easily removed, dissected and examined for the benefit of medical science. If you want to give the traditional stuff a miss, come and visit Sick to Death and learn all about heart dissection, plague, scurvy and much more.” said Dean.
Over the Valentine’s Day period, adult visitors will get half price entry with the password “I’d rather kiss a plague doctor” and each visitor will receive a free postcard gift featuring either the plague doctor or a partially dissected corpse.
The Valentine offer is available on 14th February and 18th and 19th February weekend.
For more information visit SicktoDeath website.
