The name Roodee for Chester Racecourse in Chester, England, is a corruption of its earlier name, Rood eye, thought to mean Island of the Cross. It is derived from a combination of the Saxon word ‘rood’ for ‘cross’, and the Norse ‘eye’, meaning ‘island’.
The racecourse sits on the banks of the River Dee and much of it was under tidal waters in medieval times save for an area of elevated ground, upon which a holy cross, or rood, apparently stood at one time.
At the centre of the present-day racecourse there is a grassy mound upon which a stone plinth sits, which is said to be the base and part of the original cross.
