:''For the larger local government district, see
Chester (district).''
'Chester' is the
county town of
Cheshire,
England. Situated on the
River Dee, on the border with
Wales, Chester is one of the best-preserved
walled cities in the
United Kingdom. It is the main settlement of the wider
Chester District, and has a total population of 80,121. Its name in
Welsh is Caer.
Chester is perhaps most notable for its successive historic uses and occupations, and the subsequent variety of architectural monuments found within the settlement.
The
patron saint of Chester is
Saint Werburgh. The city's motto is 'Antiqui Colant Antiquum Dierum', which translates as 'Let the Ancients worship the Ancient of Days'. The adjective associated with the
city is 'Cestrian'.
Geography and administration
The resident population for
Chester District in the 2001 Census was 118,210, which represents 17.5% of the Cheshire County total, 1.8% of the North West population.
[1]
77,040 lived in the Greater Chester urban area (65% of the total of Chester District). Population is forecast to grow by 5% in the period of time from 2005 to 2021).
[2]
History
Main articles: History of Chester Main articles: Deva Victrix
The history of Chester extends back nearly two millennia, covering all periods of British history in between then and the present day. The city of Chester was founded as a fort, known as Deva, by the Romans in AD 79, and named after the goddess of the River Dee.
[3] The city was the scene of battles between warring Welsh and Saxon kingdoms throughout the post-Roman years until the Saxons strengthened the fort against raiding Danes.
Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, Chester came under the Earl of Chester. It became a centre of the defence against Welsh raiders and a launch point for raids on Ireland.
The city grew as a trading port until the power of the Port of Liverpool and "silting up" of the river overtook it. However the city did not decline and during the Georgian and Victorian periods was seen as a place of escape from the more industrial cities of Manchester and Liverpool.
Chester City Walls
Main articles: Chester city walls
Chester is renowned in the United Kingdom as the "Walled City". It has the most complete city walls within the UK and they are a Grade I listed building. The first walls date from the Roman times, but they have been replaced, enlarged and repared at various times since then.
[4]
Present day
The Falcon Inn after restoration
The Cross as seen from The Rows
A considerable amount of land in Chester is owned by
Duke of Westminster who owns an estate - Eaton Hall - near the village of
Eccleston. Grosvenor is the Duke's family name, which explains such features in the City such as the Grosvenor Bridge, the Grosvenor Hotel, and Grosvenor Park. Much of Chester's architecture dates from the Victorian era, with many of the buildings modelled on the Jacobean half timbered style of the medieval times being designed by
John Douglas, who was employed by the Duke as his principal architect. He had a trademark of twisted chimneystacks, many of which can be seen on the buildings in the City centre. Douglas designed amongst other buildings the Grosvenor Hotel and the City Baths. In 1911, Douglas' protege and city architect James Strong designed the former fire station on the west side of Northgate Street. Another feature of all buildings belonging to the estate of Westminster is the 'Grey Diamonds'--a weaving pattern of grey bricks in the red brickwork laid out in a diamond formation. By 1945 two problems needed attention: first, affordable housing and second, traffic congestion. As a result vast areas of slums were cleared and in 1964 an inner by-pass ring road was built to direct traffic through and around the City centre. Large areas of open fields on the outskirts of the City were turned into residential areas in the 1950s and early 1960s producing, for instance, the suburb of
Blacon.
The weir on the River Dee, Chester, England (2002)
In the late 1960s the City authorities realised that new developments were radically altering the look of the City centre. In 1968 Donald Insall published a report in collaboration with the City authorities and central government, which recommended preserving historic buildings and finding new uses for them, rather than simply tearing them down.
In 1969 the City Conservation Area was designated. Over the next 20 years the emphasis was placed on saving historic buildings, such as The Falcon Inn, Dutch Houses and Kings Buildings.
On
January 13,
2002, Chester was granted
Fairtrade City status. This status was renewed by the
Fairtrade Foundation on
August 20,
2003.
Cestrians are often perceived (partly-jokingly) as being 'anti-Welsh' (although many have Welsh ancestors). This is exemplified by the fact that the Town Hall clock does not face west towards Wales (so as not to give the Welsh the "time of day"), and an archaic law which states any Cestrian may shoot a Welshman with a longbow if he loiters within the
walls after sunset when the curfew bell chimes (although this law no-longer offers legal protection against prosecution for murder). However, many Cestrians work and shop in Wales, and Chester shares a radio station with
Wrexham, Wales.
Chester Renaissance
In 2007 Chester Council announced a 10 year plan to see Chester become a "must see European destination". At a cost of £1.3 billion it has been nicknamed Chester Renaissance.
[5]
There are currently four major developments occurring in Chester.
In 2007, the Northgate Development project began. At a cost of £400 million, Chester City Council and developers ING, hope to create a new quarter for Chester. The development will see the demolition of the current market hall, bus station, theatre and NCP car park and the local Northgate Arena leisure centre. In its place will be a new multi-storey car park, bus exchange, performing arts centre, homes, retail space and a flagship department store and a hotel.
[Northgate Development News. Retrieval Date: 10 July 2007.]
Culture
Chester is twinned with the
French town of
Sens,
Loerrach in
Germany,
Lakewood,
Colorado in the
United States and
Senigallia,
Italy.
Shops in Chester
Shopping
The city is a popular shopping centre, with its unique 'Rows' or galleries (basically two levels of shops) which date from
medieval times. The city is heavily populated by chain stores both in the centre and on retail parks to the west, and also features two indoor shopping centres, an indoor market and a department store,
Browns of Chester, now absorbed by the
Debenhams chain. There are two main indoor shopping centres: The Grosvenor Mall and the Forum (a reference to the City's Roman past). The Forum, which houses stores and the Chester Market, will be demolished in the Northgate Development scheme to make way for new shopping streets, a new indoor market, an enlarged library, a car park and bus station, and a performing arts centre.
Arts & Sport
In 2007, Chester's cultural sector was going through a major transformation. The
Gateway Theatre had closed as part of the Northgate Development and so too had the Odeon cinema. The site was earmarked for redevelopment, with the closed Odeon cinema being the subject of a proposal to re-open it as part of an arts complex with a cinema at its heart; or its current owners, Brook Leisure, may pursue planning permission to turn it into a nightclub
[6]. In the summer the city hosts the annual
Chester Music Festival, the
Chester Midsummer Watch Parade and the
Chester Mystery Plays,
the latter of which dates from medieval times. Numerous pubs and wine bars, some of which date from medieval times, populate the city. Chester also has some nightclubs, which are soon going to be added to by the development of two new clubs in the next eighteen months. Also to the east side of the city are the UK's largest
zoological gardens,
Chester Zoo. Chester has its own film society.
Chester City FC in action
The city features the
Grosvenor Museum, which contains exhibitions about the city's Roman past as well as a reconstructed Georgian house. The Dewa Roman Experience, completely dedicated to the city's Roman heritage, is also based in the centre of the city, as is the Chester Heritage Centre and the Cheshire Military Museum. Chester also has it's own roman ghost tour
The city has a football team,
Chester City F.C. (Coca-Cola League 2), who play at the
Deva Stadium; a national basketball team, the newly named, BiG Storage
Cheshire Jets Champions, who play in the city's
Northgate Arena leisure centre; and a wheelchair basketball team, the Chester Wheelchair Jets.
[7] Chester also has a successful Hockey Club
Chester HC who play at the County Officers' Club on Plas Newton Lane, and also an American Football team, the
Chester Romans, who are part of the British American Football League.
The River Dee is also home to several rowing clubs, notably Grosvenor Rowing Club and Royal Chester Rowing Club, as well as two school clubs, 'King's Chester Rowing Club' and 'Queen's Park High Rowing Club'. The weir is regularly used by a number of local canoe and kayak clubs. Each July a charity raft race is held on the River Dee.
Chester Golf Club can also be found near the banks of the Dee.
Music
Britpop band
Mansun are probably the most famous band to come from Chester. Forming in 1995 and disbanding in 2003, their most recognised hit was 'Wide Open Space', which peaked at number 15 in the UK charts in 1996.
Russ Morgan, a member of notable house music band
K-Klass, also hails from Chester.
Chester has a brass band that was formed in 1853. It was known as the Blue Coat Band and today as The City of Chester Band.
[8] It is a thriving 3rd section brass band with an active training band and it still wears a blue-jacketed uniform with an image of the famous Eastgate clock on the breast pocket.
Media
Chester's newspapers are the daily
Chester Evening Leader, and the weekly
Chester Chronicle. It also has various free publications: the free newspapers
Chester Mail and
Chester Standard.
Dee 106.3 is the city's own radio station, with
Wrexham's Marcher Sound and
BBC Radio Merseyside also broadcasting locally. Chester is the city where
Channel 4's soap-opera
Hollyoaks is set (although most filming takes place around Liverpool).
Industry
The city's main industries are retail, tourism and financial services. Chester's main employer is
Bank of America, formerly
MBNA Europe. There is also a large
Shell oil refinery (in Ellesmere Port), several large financial firms including
HBOS plc and
M&S Money. Just over the
Welsh border to the west near the village of
Broughton there is an aerospace factory (formerly
British Aerospace), where the wings of
Airbus aircraft, including the
Airbus A380 super-jumbo are manufactured
[9], and there are food processing plants to the north and west. The
Iceland frozen food company is based in nearby Deeside.
Chester has its own
university, the
University of Chester, and a major hospital, the
Countess of Chester Hospital, named after the late
Diana, Princess of Wales and Countess of Chester.
Transport
Chester has a
railway station to the North East of the city centre. Designed by Francis Thompson with an impressive Italianate frontage in 1848, the interior is currently somewhat dilapidated, having lost a roof in the
Chester General rail crash. Trains go from here along the
North Wales Coast Line, as well as to
London Euston,
Liverpool,
Crewe,
Manchester Piccadilly,
Wrexham General and
Shrewsbury.
Chester Northgate station closed in 1969, was demolished and is now the site of the Northgate Arena leisure centre.
Bus transport in the city is provided by
First Group and
Arriva, the council owned and operated
ChesterBus (formerly Chester City Transport) having been sold to
First Group in mid-2007. There are plans to build a new bus exchange in the city as well as a new coach station.
The city is also a hub for major roads, including the
M53 from Liverpool, the
M56 towards Manchester, and the
A55 which runs along the North Wales coast to
Holyhead.and tha A483 to
Wrexham
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Chester had an extensive tram network from Saltney in the west at the Welsh border to Chester General station, Tarvin Road and Great Boughton in the North West. This network featured the narrowest gauge trams (3'6) in mainland Britain, due to an act of Parliament which deemed that they must be "''The least obstructive possible''". The tramway was established in 1871 by Chester Tramways Corporation. At first, the tramway was horse-drawn, although this was replaced by overhead-wired electric in 1903. The tramway was closed like most others in the UK in February, 1930. The only remains are small areas of uncovered track inside the bus depot, a few tram wire supports attached to buildings on Eastgate/Foregate Street and a wire support.
Recent Discoveries
Between 14 May 2007 and 6th July 2007 excavations were carried out in Grosvernor Park. The main aim being to find Cholmondeley's lost Mansion, that was demolished in 1867.
A number of interesting finds have come to light including :
- Plaster work from the mansion ceiling.
- Civil War musket balls
- Clay Tobacco Pipes (17th - 18th Century)
- Clay Tobacco Pipe waster clay from manufacture
- A base of a small Roman Statue of Venus
- A Roman votive offering in the form of a lead axe head.
[10][11][12]
City areas and surrounding villages
★
Bache
★
Newton
★
Blacon
★
Boughton
★
Great Boughton
★
Curzon Park
★
Handbridge
★
Hoole
★
Huntington
★
Lache
★
Saltney
★
Upton
★
Westminster Park
★
Vicars Cross
Famous Cestrians
★
Russ Abbot Actor, Musician
★
Emily Booth Actress
★
Thomas Brassey Civil Engineer, railway contractor
★ Sir
Adrian Boult Orchestral Conductor
★
Randolph Caldecott Artist and Illustrator
★
Daniel Craig Actor
★
Andy Dorman MLS Footballer
★
William De Morgan Potter
★
Doug Ellis Former chairman of
Aston Villa Football Club
★
Jeff Green Comedian
★
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor Duke of Westminster
★
Keith Harris Ventriloquist famous for puppet Orville
★
Thomas Heaton Footballer
★
A. S. Hornby Lexicographer
★
Hugh Lloyd Actor
★
Mansun Successful Britpop band who scored a number one album in 1997
★
Eveleigh Moore-Dutton Conservative Politician
★
Danny Murphy Footballer
★
Michael Owen Footballer
★
Ronald Pickup Actor
★
Basil Radford Actor
★
David Roberts, Inventor of the
caterpillar track
★
L. T. C. Rolt Biographer, Engineer, Canal enthusiast, Writer
★
Alex Sanderson Rugby Union player
★
Beatrice Tinsley Cosmologist
★
Anthony Thwaite Poet
★
Beth Tweddle World Champion Gymnast
★
Helen Willetts Weather Forecast Presenter, former international Badminton Player
See also
★
Eastgate Clock
★
St John the Baptist's Church, Chester
Gallery of images
Notes
1. Chester District Council Website. Retrieval Date: 17 July 2007.
2. Cheshire County Council. Retrieval Date: 17 July 2007.
3. Salway, P. (1993) ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Roman Britain''. ISBN: CN 1634
4. Chester District Council Website. Retrieval Date: 17 July 2007.
5. Chester Renaissance. Retrieval Date: 10 July 2007.
6. Chester Chronicle newspaper report Retrieval Date: 10 August 2007
7. Chester Wheelchair Jets website. Retrieval Date: 10 July 2007
8. City of Chester Band website. Retrieval Date: 10 July 2007
9. BBC News: A380 wings roll off production line at Airbus Broughton Retrieval date: 22 August 2007
10. The Past Uncovered. ''Chester Archaeology Newsletter''.
February 2007. ISSN 1364-324x
11. The Past Uncovered. ''Chester Archaeology Newsletter''. June 2007. ISSN 1364-324x
12. Chester City Council News Item. Retrieval Date: 9 July 2007.
References
★ Emery, G. (1999). ''Curious Chester'' ISBN 1-872265-94-4.
★ Emery, G. (1998). 'Chester Inside Out'' ISBN 1-872265-92-8.
★ Emery, G. (2003). ''The Chester Guide'' ISBN 1-872265-89-8.
★ Emery, G. (Ed.). ''The Old Chester Canal'' ISBN 1-872265-88-X.
★ Emery, G. (2002). ''Chester Electric Lighting Station'' ISBN 1-872265-48-0.
★ Lewis, P.R. (2007). ''Disaster on the Dee: Robert Stephenson's Nemesis of 1847'', Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978 0 7524 4266 2.
★ Marshall, A. E. (1966).''Myths and Legends of Chester'' ISBN 0-951178-30-x.
★ Morton, H. V. (1929). ''In Search of England''.
★ Place, G.W. (1994). ''The Rise and Fall of Parkgate, Passenger Port for Ireland'' .
★ Wall, B. ''Tales of Chester'' ISBN 1-870708-72-5.
★ Wilding, R. (1997).''Miller of Dee'' ISBN 1-872265-95-2.
★ Wilding, R. (2003). ''Death in Chester'' ISBN 1-872265-44-8.
External links
★
A Virtual Tour (of the Roman Walls)
★
The Chester Wiki
★
The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire
★
Reprint of paper on Dee bridge disaster
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