Sick To Death

Sick to Death stands inside St Michael’s Church, a redundant 17th-century building on Chester’s Bridge Street Rows. The attraction tells the story of medicine from ancient times to today, with special attention to pandemics and plagues. It opened in May 2021 and quickly rose to become one of Chester’s most visited sites. By October 2021 it ranked second on Tripadvisor’s list of things to do in the city. Funding came from the Wellcome Trust, while Big Heritage took charge of running the project. The exhibition uses objects, images and interactive displays to show how plagues shaped society. Visitors follow a timeline that begins with medieval remedies and moves through the Black Death to modern vaccines. Key moments include the 19th-century cholera outbreaks and the 1918 influenza pandemic. The displays explain how fear and science shaped responses to disease across the centuries. Inside the church, the nave holds life-size scenes of historical sickrooms and quarantine tents. Audio points let visitors hear readings from diaries of plague doctors and nurses. Outside, the Bridge Street Rows provide views over the medieval rows and the River Dee. The setting itself reflects Chester’s layered past, linking the church’s history with the city’s trading routes.