Chester

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 medieval walled cities in the United Kingdom. It is the largest and most populous settlement within the wider Chester District and has a population of 80,121.

Chester is perhaps most notable for its successive historic uses and occupations, and the subsequent variety of architectural monuments found within the settlement. The most striking example of the variety of architectural monuments found are the Grade I listed medieval city walls, the most complete of any in the UK.

The patron saint of Chester is Saint Werburgh. The adjective associated with Chester is Cestrian.

[edit] History

Main article: History of Chester

Main article: Deva Victrix

The city of Chester was founded as a Roman fort at the head of the River Dee estuary in AD 79, in the territory of the Cornovii tribe. It was named Deva either after the goddess of the Dee,^[1] or directly from the British name for the river.^[2] Deverdoeu was still one of two Welsh names for Chester in the late 12th century; its other and more enduring Welsh name was Caerlleon, literally "the fortress-city of the legions", a name identical with that of the Roman fortress at the other end of the Marches at Caerleon (Mon.). The colloquial modern Welsh name is the shortened form, Caer. The early English-speaking settlers used a name which had the same meaning, Legacæstir, which was current until the 11th century, when – in a further parallel with Welsh usage – the first element fell out of use and the simplex name Chester emerged. From the 14th century to the 18th the city's prominent position in north-western England meant that it was commonly also known as Westchester.^[3]

[edit] City walls

Main article: Chester city walls

Chester is renowned in the United Kingdom as the "Medieval Walled City". It has the most complete city walls within the UK and they are a Grade I listed building.

The first walls plan dates from the Roman times, but the walls have been replaced, enlarged and repaired variously since medieval times.^[4]

[edit] Recent archaeological discoveries

Between 14 May 2007 and 6 July 2007 excavations were carried out in Grosvenor Park. The main aim being to find Cholmondeley's lost Mansion, which 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.^[5][6][7]

[edit] Governance

[edit] Future political structures and representation

The City of Chester and West Cheshire is the name for a new unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. It will come into force from April 2009, if and when the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act is enacted,^[8] and will replace the boroughs of Ellesmere Port and Neston, Vale Royal and Chester District. The equivalent unitary authority in the other half of the county will be called Cheshire East. The decision to create the Cheshire West unitary authority was announced on 25 July2007 following a consultation period, in which a proposal to create a single Cheshire unitary authority was rejected.^[9]

The 2008 elections will be postponed due to local government re-organisation, meaning councillors elected in 2004 will serve for an additional year, before the authority is disbanded, therefore (excluding the possibility of by-elections and defections), the Conservatives will remain the governing party until May 2009, when elections for City of Chester and West Cheshire Council will take place.

[edit] Geography

Chester lies at the southern end of a 2-mile Triassic sandstone ridge that rises to a height of 42m within a natural S-bend in the River Dee (before the course was altered in the 18th century). The bedrock, which is also known as the Chester Pebble Beds, is noticeable because of the many small stones trapped within its strata. Retreating glacial sheet ice also deposited quantities of sand and marl across the area where boulder clay was absent.

The eastern and northern part of Chester consisted of heathland and forest. The western side towards the Dee Estuary was marsh and wetland habitats.

[edit] City areas and surrounding villages

Bache, Blacon, Boughton, Curzon Park, Great Boughton, Handbridge, Hoole, Huntington, Lache, Newton, Newtown, Saltney, Saughall, Upton, Vicars Cross, Westminster Park

[edit] Demography

The resident population for Chester District in the 2001 Census was 118,210. This represents 17.5% of the Cheshire County total (1.8% of the North West population).^[10]

There are 77,040 living within the Greater Chester urban area (65% of the total of Chester District). This population is forecast to grow by 5% in the period 2005 to 2021.^[11]

[edit] Economy

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.

[edit] Present day

A considerable amount of land in Chester and London is owned by Duke of Westminster who owns an estate – Eaton Hall – near the village of Eccleston. He also has vast London properties in Mayfair. A clue to how influential the family has been is to be found in the name of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Indeed, the clock St. Stephen's Tower tower which houses Big Ben was copied on the Duke's estate home of Eaton Hall and can be seen from the road from Aldford to Chester today.

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, many of the buildings being modelled on the Jacobean half-timbered style and designed by John Douglas, who was employed by the Duke as his principal architect. He had a trademark of twisted chimney stacks, 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' protégé and city architect James Strong designed the then active 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.

Towards the end of WWII, a lack of affordable housing meant many problems for Chester. As a result, vast open fields on the edge of the city were transformed into residential areas. 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. In 1964, a bypass was built through and around the town centre to combat traffic congestion.

These new developments caused local concern as the physicality and therefore the feel of the city was being dramatically altered. In 1968, a report by Donald Insall^[12] in collaboration with authorities and government recommended that historic buildings be preserved in Chester. Consequently, the buildings were used in new and different ways instead of being flattened.^[13]

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 jokingly perceived as being anti-Welsh. This supposed animosity could be the reason that the Town Hall clock does not face west towards Wales so as not to give the Welsh the "time of day".^{[citation needed]} An archaic notice 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 and this urban myth may be rooted in a local byelaw).^[14]

[edit] 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.^[15]

There are currently four major developments occurring in Chester.

The Northgate Development project began in 2007. 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, a flagship department store and a hotel.^[16]

[edit] Culture

Chester is twinned with the French town of Sens, Loerrach in Germany, Lakewood, Colorado in the United States and Senigallia, Italy.

[edit] Arts and 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.^[17] In the summer, the city hosts the annual Chester Music Festival, the Chester Midsummer Watch Parade and the Chester Mystery Plays,^[16] the latter of which dates from medieval times. Numerous public houses 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.

The city features the Grosvenor Museum, which contains exhibitions about the city's Roman past as well as a reconstructed Georgian house. The Deva Roman Experience, 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 City football club play in the Coca-Cola League 2, the fourth tier of English football and the lowest fully professional division. They were elected to the Football League in 1931, and have played at their Deva Stadium, straddling the England–Wales border, since 1992. Notable former players include Ian Rush (who also managed the club), Arthur Albiston, Earl Barrett, Lee Dixon, Steve Harkness, Roberto Martinez and Stan Pearson.

The city also has 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.^[18] 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, The King's School 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.

[edit] Music

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.^[19] It is a thriving 3rd section brass band with an active training band and its members still wear a blue-jacketed uniform with an image of the Eastgate clock on the breast pocket.

Pop Band Mansun are probably the most famous Britpop band to come from Chester.

[edit] 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).

[edit] Industry

Chester played a significant part in the Industrial Revolution which began in the North-West of England in the latter part of the 18th century. The city village of Newtown, located north east of the city and bounded by the Shropshire Union Canal was at the very heart of this industry. The large Chester Cattle Market and the two Chester railway stations, Chester General and The Northgate Station, meant that Newtown with its cattle market and canal, and Hoole with its railways were responsible for providing the vast majority of workers and in turn, the vast amount of Chester's wealth production during the early and late parts of the Industrial Revolution.

[edit] 21st-century industry

The city's main industries are now the service industries, comprising 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 Airbus UK factory (formerly British Aerospace), where the wings of Airbus aircraft, including the Airbus A380 are manufactured ^[20], 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.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Canals

From about 1794 when canal building in England finished, through to the late 1950s when the canal-side flour mills were closed, canals were a popular form of goods transport, and narrowboats carried produce and supplies to and from North Wales (coal, slate, gypsum or lead ore), finished lead (for roofing, water pipes and sewerage) from the leadworks factory in Edgerton Street (Newtown). Grain arrived from Cheshire farmland and was processed in granaries on the banks of the canal at Newtown and Boughton, and salt for preserving food arrived from Northwich.

The Chester Canal flowed into the river Dee, providing access to the sea and other ports such as Liverpool, and along with the railways and the port facilities at 'Crane Wharf' by the Chester racecourse, Chester would have made an important contribution to the commercial development of the north-west region.

The original Chester Canal was constructed to run from the River Dee near Sealand Road, to Nantwich in south Cheshire, and opened in 1774. In 1805 the Wirral section of the Ellesmere Canal was opened, which ran from Netherpool (now known as Ellesmere Port) to meet the Chester Canal at Chester canal basin. Later these two canal branches became part of the Shropshire Union Canal network. This canal, which runs through the through the heart of Chester, is navigable and remains in use today.

[edit] Railways

The City Of Chester once had two major railway stations within a few hundred yards of each other. One, The main Chester General railway station is located to the North East of the city centre, and has an impressive Italianate frontage. Built in 1848, the interior is currently somewhat dilapidated, having lost a roof in the 1972 Chester General rail crash. Extensive renovations took place in September 2007 to improve pedestrian access, and parking. The town was the scene of an early disaster when a new bridge over the Dee collapsed under a local train. It had been built by Robert Stephenson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway in late 1847, and was made of cast iron beams trussed together. Five people were killed when the train fell into the river, and there was a national scandal about the design of the bridge. The Dee bridge disaster led to demolition of many new bridges of similar design.^{[citation needed]}

Trains go from here along the North Wales Coast Line, as well as to London Euston, Liverpool, Crewe, Manchester Piccadilly, Wrexham General and Shrewsbury.

The other station, Chester Northgate ended it's days in 1969 and was closed because of the Beeching Axe of railway economic 'modernisation' in the mid-1960s.^[21] As a consequence, the station was demolished and is now the site of the Northgate Arena leisure centre.

[edit] Trams

Chester had an extensive tram network during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It covered an area as far west as Saltney, on the Welsh border, to Chester General station, Tarvin Road and Great Boughton in the northwest. The 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.^{[citation needed]}

The tramway was established in 1871 by Chester Tramways Corporation. It was horse-drawn until its electrification by overhead cables 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, and a few tram-wire supports attached to buildings on Eastgate/Foregate Street.

[edit] Roads

The city is 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.

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.

[edit] Notable people

• 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
• The Revd Mark Elvins, OFMCap, Acting Warden of Greyfriars, Oxford
• 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
• Russ Morgan, a member of notable house music band K-Klass, also hails from Chester.
• 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
• Pat Sanderson Rugby Union International
• Beatrice Tinsley Cosmologist
• Anthony Thwaite Poet
• Beth Tweddle (born Johannesburg, South Africa) is World Champion Gymnast
• Helen Willetts Weather Forecast Presenter, former international Badminton Player

[edit] See also

• Church of St Mary-on-the-Hill, Chester
• Eastgate Clock
• Grade I listed buildings in Chester
• Newtown, Chester
• St John the Baptist's Church, Chester
• St Peter's Church, Chester
• St Michael's Church, Chester

[edit] Gallery of images

Bridge Street Rows Authentic Tudor House, Chester (2007).

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

• Chester Wiki
• A Virtual Tour (of the Roman Walls)
• Reprint of paper on Dee bridge disaster
• Chester Scenics (Images of Chester by Night and Day)

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