Chester is a
cathedral city and the county town of
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, England. It is located on the
River Dee, close to the
English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,
["2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Locality"; downloaded fro]
Cheshire West and Chester: Population Profiles
, 17 May 2019 it is the most populous settlement of
Cheshire West and Chester
Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 str ...
(a
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
which had a population of 329,608 in 2011)
and serves as its administrative headquarters. It is also the historic
county town
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...
of Cheshire and the
second-largest settlement in Cheshire after
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
.
Chester was founded in 79 AD as a "
castrum" or
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
fort with the name
Deva Victrix during the reign of
Emperor Vespasian. One of the main army camps in
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...
, Deva later became a major civilian settlement. In 689,
King Æthelred of Mercia founded the Minster Church of West Mercia, which later became Chester's first cathedral, and the
Angles extended and strengthened the walls to protect the city against the
Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
. Chester was one of the last cities in England to
fall to the
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
, and
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
ordered the construction of a castle to dominate the town and the nearby Welsh border. Chester was granted
city status in 1541.
The
city walls of Chester are some of the best-preserved in the country and have
Grade I listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
status. It has a number of medieval buildings, but many of the black-and-white buildings within the city centre are
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literature ...
restorations, originating from the
Black-and-white Revival
The Black-and-white Revival was an architectural movement from the middle of the 19th century that re-used the vernacular elements of the past, using timber framing. The wooden framing is painted black and the panels between the frames are p ...
movement. Apart from a section, the walls are almost complete.
[ The ]Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
brought railways, canals, and new roads to the city, which saw substantial expansion and development; Chester Town Hall
Chester Town Hall is in Northgate Street in the centre of the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
History
In 1698 an exchange was built to ...
and the Grosvenor Museum
Grosvenor Museum is a museum in Chester, Cheshire, in the United Kingdom. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. Its full title is The Grosvenor Museum of Natural History and Archa ...
are examples of Victorian architecture
Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...
from this period. Tourism, the retail industry, public administration, and financial services are important to the modern economy. Chester signs itself as ''Chester International Heritage City'' on road signs on the main roads entering the city.
History
Roman
The Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
Legio II Adiutrix during the reign of the Emperor Vespasian founded Chester in AD 79, as a " castrum" or Roman fort with the name '' Deva Victrix''. It was established in the land of the Celtic Cornovii
The Cornovii is the name by which two, or three, tribes were known in Roman Britain. One tribe was in the area centred on present-day Shropshire, one was in Caithness in northernmost Scotland, and there was probably one in Cornwall. The name has a ...
, according to ancient cartographer
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
, as a fortress
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
during the Roman expansion northward, and was named Deva either after the goddess of the Dee, or directly from the British name for the river. The 'victrix' part of the name was taken from the title of the Legio XX ''Valeria Victrix'' which was based at Deva. Central Chester's four main roads, Eastgate, Northgate, Watergate and Bridgegate, follow routes laid out at this time.
A civilian settlement grew around the military base, probably originating from trade with the fortress. The fortress was 20% larger than other fortresses in the Roman province of Britannia
Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...
built around the same time at York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
( Eboracum) and Caerleon
Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman ...
( Isca Augusta); this has led to the suggestion that the fortress, rather than London (Londinium
Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. It was originally a settlement established on the current site of the City of London around AD 47–50. It sat at a key cross ...
), was intended to become the capital of the Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
of Britannia Superior
Britannia Superior (Latin for "Upper Britain") was a province of Roman Britain created after the civil war between Septimius Severus and Claudius Albinus. Although Herodian credits Severus with dividing Roman Britain into the Northern territory ...
. The civilian amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
, which was built in the 1st century, could seat between 8,000 and 10,000 people. It is the largest known military amphitheatre in Britain, and is also a Scheduled Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
. The Minerva Shrine in the Roman quarry is the only rock cut Roman shrine still in situ in Britain.
The fortress was garrisoned by the legion until at least the late 4th century. Although the army had abandoned the fortress by 410 when the Romans retreated from Britannia, the Romano-British civilian settlement continued (probably with some Roman veterans staying behind with their wives and children) and its occupants probably continued to use the fortress and its defences as protection from raiders from the Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
.
Medieval
After the Roman troops withdrew, the Romano-British established a number of petty kingdoms. Chester is thought to have become part of Powys. ''Deverdoeu'' was a Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
name
A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal ...
for Chester as late as the 12th century (cf ''Dyfrdwy'', Welsh for the river Dee). Another, attested in the 9th-century '' History of the Britons'' traditionally attributed to Nennius
Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...
, is 'Nennius
Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...
(). Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th cent ...
(). ''Historia Brittonum'', VI. Composed after AD 830. Hosted at Latin Wikisource.[Ford, David Nash.]
The 28 Cities of Britain
" at Britannia. 2000.[Newman, John Henry & al]
''Lives of the English Saints: St. German, Bishop of Auxerre'', Ch. X: "Britain in 429, A. D.", p. 92.
James Toovey (London), 1844. (" Fort" or "City
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of the Legion"); this later developed into ' and then the modern Welsh '. (The town's importance is noted by its taking the simpler form in each case, while Isca Augusta in Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...
, another important legionary base, was known first as Caerleon on the Usk
Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and Community (Wales), community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site ...
, and now as Caerleon
Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman ...
). King Arthur is said to have fought his ninth battle at the "city of the legions" (''Caerlleon'') and later St Augustine came to the city to try to unite the church, and held his synod with the Welsh Bishops.
In 616, Æthelfrith of Northumbria defeated a Welsh army at the brutal and decisive Battle of Chester
The Battle of Chester (Old Welsh: ''Guaith Caer Legion''; Welsh: ''Brwydr Caer'') was a major victory for the Anglo-Saxons over the native Britons near the city of Chester, England in the early 7th century. Æthelfrith of Northumbria annihilated ...
, and probably established the Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
position in the area from then on. The Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
n Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
used an Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
equivalent of the British name, ', which was current until the 11th century, when, in a further parallel with Welsh usage, the first element fell out of use and the simple name Chester emerged. In 689, King Æthelred of Mercia founded the Minster Church of West Mercia on what is considered to be an early Christian site: it is known as the Minster of St John the Baptist, Chester (now St John's Church) which later became the first cathedral. Much later, the body of Æthelred's niece, St Werburgh, was removed from Hanbury in Staffordshire in the 9th century and, to save it from desecration by Danish marauders, was reburied in the Church of SS Peter & Paul – later to become the Abbey Church (the present cathedral). Her name is still remembered in St Werburgh's Street which passes alongside the cathedral, and near the city walls.
The Anglo-Saxons extended and strengthened the walls of Chester to protect the city against the Danes, who occupied it for a short time until Alfred seized all the cattle and laid waste the surrounding land to drive them out. It was Alfred's daughter Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, that built the new Anglo-Saxon ''burh''. A new Church dedicated to St Peter alone was founded in AD 907 by the Lady Æthelfleda at what was to become the Cross. In 973, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that, two years after his coronation at Bath, King Edgar of England came to Chester where he held his court in a palace in a place now known as Edgar's Field near the old Dee bridge in Handbridge. Taking the helm of a barge, he was rowed the short distance up the River Dee from Edgar's Field to the great Minster Church of St John the Baptist by six (the monk Henry Bradshaw records he was rowed by eight kings) tributary kings called ''reguli''.
In 1071, King William the Conqueror made Hugh d'Avranches
Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England.
Early life and career
Hugh d'Avra ...
, who built Chester Castle, the first Earl of Chester (second creation). From the 14th century to the 18th century the city's prominent position in North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
meant that it was commonly also known as Westchester. This name was used by Celia Fiennes when she visited the city in 1698. and is also used in ''Moll Flanders
''Moll Flanders'' is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age.
By 1721, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, wit ...
''.
Early modern period
In the English Civil War, Chester sided with the royalist cause of King Charles I, but was subdued by the Parliamentarians in 1643. The Mayor of Chester, Charles Walley, was removed from office and replaced by Alderman William Edwards. Another alderman, Francis Gamull
Sir Francis Gamull, 1st Baronet (1606–1654) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1644. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War and was active in the defence of Chester.
Gamull was the son of Th ...
, a royalist MP and former Mayor, was ordered to surrender Dee Mills: they were to be demolished, and new mills built on city land.
Industrial history
Chester played a significant part in the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
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
The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales.
The canal lies in ...
was at the very heart of this industry. The large Chester Cattle Market and the two Chester railway stations, Chester General and Chester Northgate Station, meant that Newtown with its cattle market and canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
, and Hoole
Hoole is a suburb in the east of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The area is contiguous with Newton to the north and Vicars Cross to the south. The A41 road marks t ...
with its railways were responsible for providing the vast majority of workers and in turn, the vast amount of Chester's wealth production throughout the Industrial Revolution.
The population was 23,115 by 1841.
Modern era
A considerable amount of land in Chester is owned by The 7th Duke of Westminster who owns an estate, Eaton Hall, near the village of Eccleston. He also has London properties in Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
.
Grosvenor
Grosvenor may refer to:
People
* Grosvenor (surname)
* Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster
* Grosvenor Francis (1873–1944), Australian politician
* Grosvenor Hodgkinson (1818–1881), English lawyer and politician
Places, buildings and ...
is the Duke's family name, which explains such features in the city as the Grosvenor Bridge, the Grosvenor Hotel, and Grosvenor Park. Much of Chester's architecture dates from the Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
, many of the buildings being modeled 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 World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, a lack of affordable housing meant many problems for Chester. Large areas of farmland on the outskirts of the city were developed as residential areas in the 1950s and early 1960s, producing, for instance, the suburb of Blacon
Blacon is a council estate on the outskirts of Chester, England. It was once one of the largest council housing estates in Europe.
Geography
Blacon is next to the Welsh border, on a hill one mile north-west of and overlooking Chester. The vill ...
. In 1964, a bypass was built through and around the city 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 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 demolished.
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 13 January 2002, Chester was granted Fairtrade City
The Fair Trade Towns campaign is the result of a grass-roots citizens movement that started in the UK in 2001 (see below). It allows citizens to get together in order to self-proclaim their town (or other local geographical area) as a region that ...
status. This status was renewed by the Fairtrade Foundation
A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, Asi ...
on 20 August 2003.
Governance
Chester is an unparished area within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester
Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 str ...
as of 1 April 2009 replacing the old Chester City Council and the local ward is the City ward electing three councillors. A small area around Chester Castle remains a civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of Chester Castle. The Member of Parliament for the City of Chester is Samantha Dixon
Samantha Kate Dixon is a British politician of the Labour Party who serves as Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of Chester, winning the seat in the 2022 City of Chester by-election. Between 2015 and 2019, Dixon was the leader of Cheshi ...
(Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
), who has held the seat since a by-election in 2022.
Chester is twinned with: Sens
Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris.
Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second city of the d ...
, France; Lörrach
Lörrach () is a town in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the capital of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, including the ...
, Germany; Lakewood, Colorado
The City of Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Col ...
, USA; and Senigallia
Senigallia (or Sinigaglia in Old Italian, Romagnol: ''S’nigaja'') is a ''comune'' and port town on Italy's Adriatic coast. It is situated in the province of Ancona in the Marche region and lies approximately 30 kilometers north-west of the pro ...
, Italy.
Geography
Chester lies at the southern end of a Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
ridge that rises to a height of 42 m 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
Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.
Marl makes up the lower part o ...
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
The Dee Estuary ( cy, Aber Dyfrdwy) is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles ...
was marsh and wetland habitats.
Climate
Chester has an oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
( Köppen: ''Cfb''), typical of the British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
but more susceptible to cold than the extreme south. Despite its proximity to the Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
, the temperature regime is similar to areas further inland, owing to the shelter provided by the Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...
to the northeast and the Welsh Mountains to the southwest. The nearest official weather station is at Hawarden Airport, about west of the city centre.
The absolute maximum temperature recorded was on 18 July 2022, the highest temperature reported in Wales. In an average year, the warmest day should reach , and 12.0 days in total should attain a temperature of or higher. Often given the correctly aligned breezy conditions, a föhn
A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the leeward, lee (downwind side) of a mountain range.
It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped m ...
effect will operate, meaning local temperatures are somewhat higher than surrounding area.
The absolute minimum temperature recorded was during January 1982. Annually, an average of 42.2 air frosts should be recorded.
Annual rainfall is barely over 700mm due to a rain shadow
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side.
Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...
effect caused by the Welsh Mountains. Over 1mm of rain is reported on 135.5 days.[
]
Divisions and suburbs
The Chester Urban Area is an urban area surrounding the city of Chester. The urban area includes the town of Saltney in Flintshire, North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
and the outlying suburbs of Bache, Blacon
Blacon is a council estate on the outskirts of Chester, England. It was once one of the largest council housing estates in Europe.
Geography
Blacon is next to the Welsh border, on a hill one mile north-west of and overlooking Chester. The vill ...
, Boughton, Curzon Park, Great Boughton
Great Boughton is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It includes the villages of Boughton Heath and Vicars Cross. It had a population of 2,627 according to the 20 ...
, Handbridge, Huntington, Hoole
Hoole is a suburb in the east of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The area is contiguous with Newton to the north and Vicars Cross to the south. The A41 road marks t ...
, Kingsway, Lache
The Lache ( ; sometimes simply Lache) is a housing estate in the city of Chester, in Cheshire, United Kingdom, with a population of around 10,000. It is located approximately southwest of the ancient city, with good local transport links en ...
, Moston, Newton
Newton most commonly refers to:
* Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist
* Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton
Newton may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film
* Newton ( ...
, Newtown, Queens Park, Upton
Upton may refer to:
Places United Kingdom England
* Upton, Slough, Berkshire (in Buckinghamshire until 1974)
* Upton, Buckinghamshire, a hamlet near Aylesbury
* Upton, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough
* Upton, Huntingdonshire, a location in Cambridge ...
, Vicars Cross
A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
, and Westminster Park
Westminster Park is both a suburb to the west of Chester in England, and a large park the area takes its name after. Chester residents do not consider the area as a part of the Lache (an adjacent suburb consisting largely of council housing) ...
.
Areas just outside the city include: Christleton, Eccleston, Guilden Sutton
Guilden Sutton is a civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies approximately to the east of Chester and is south of the village of Mickle Traff ...
, Littleton, Mickle Trafford, Mollington, Saughall and Waverton.
Landmarks and tourist attractions
The more unusual landmarks in the city are the city walls
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
, the Rows and the black-and-white architecture. The walls encircle the bounds of the medieval city and constitute the most complete city walls in Britain, the full circuit measuring nearly . The only break in the circuit is in the southwest section in front of County Hall. A footpath runs along the top of the walls, crossing roads by bridges over Eastgate, Northgate, St Martin's Gate, Watergate
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
, Bridgegate Bridgegate may refer to:
* Bridgegate, Chester, part of the city walls of Chester, U.K.
* The Fort Lee lane closure scandal under New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's administration
See also
* Drawbridge, a type of bridge stereotypically employ ...
, Newgate
Newgate was one of the historic seven gates of the London Wall around the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. Newgate lay on the west side of the wall and the road issuing from it headed over the River Fleet to Mid ...
, and the Wolf Gate, and passing a series of structures, namely Phoenix Tower (or King Charles' Tower), Morgan's Mount
Morgan's Mount is a structure extending from the north side of the city walls of Chester, in Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
History
It was constructed ...
, the Goblin Tower (or Pemberton's Parlour
Pemberton's Parlour is a structure on the northern part of the Chester city walls, and it was formerly known as the Goblin Tower. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
History
T ...
), and Bonewaldesthorne's Tower
Bonewaldesthorne's Tower is a medieval structure on the northwest corner of the city walls of Chester, Cheshire, England; it is attached by a spur wall to the Water Tower. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated ...
with a spur leading to the Water Tower
A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...
, and Thimbleby's Tower
Thimbleby's Tower, formerly known as Wolf's Tower, is a structure in the city walls of Chester, Cheshire, England. It stands on the eastern section of the walls, between Eastgate and Newgate. The tower is recorded in the National Heritage ...
. On Eastgate is Eastgate Clock
Eastgate, Chester is a permanently open gate through the Chester city walls, on the site of the original entrance to the Roman fortress of ''Deva Victrix'' in Chester, Cheshire, England. It is a prominent landmark in the city of Chester and the ...
which is said to be the most photographed clock face in England after those that share the tower with Big Ben
Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...
.
The Rows are unique in Britain. They consist of buildings with shops or dwellings on the lowest two storeys. The shops or dwellings on the ground floor are often lower than the street and are entered by steps, which sometimes lead to a crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
-like vault. Those on the first floor are entered behind a continuous walkway, often with a sloping shelf between the walkway and the railings overlooking the street. Much of the architecture of central Chester looks medieval and some of it is, but by far the greater part of it, including most of the black-and-white buildings, is Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literature ...
, a result of what Pevsner termed the "black-and-white revival
The Black-and-white Revival was an architectural movement from the middle of the 19th century that re-used the vernacular elements of the past, using timber framing. The wooden framing is painted black and the panels between the frames are p ...
".
The most prominent buildings in the city centre are the town hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
and the cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
. The town hall was opened in 1869. It is in Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style and has a tower and a short spire. The cathedral was formerly the church of St Werburgh's Abbey
Chester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Sai ...
. Its architecture dates back to the Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
era, with additions made most centuries since. A series of major restorations took place in the 19th century and in 1975 a separate bell tower was opened. The elaborately carved canopies of the choir stalls are considered to be among the finest in the country. Also in the cathedral is the shrine
A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...
of St Werburgh
Werburgh (also ''Wærburh'', ''Werburh'', ''Werburga'', meaning "true city"; ; c. AD 650 – 3 February 699/700) was an Anglo-Saxon princess who became the patron saint of the city of Chester in Cheshire. Her feast day is 3 February.
Life
Wer ...
. To the north of the cathedral are the former monastic buildings. The oldest church in the city is St John's, which is outside the city walls and was at one time the cathedral church. The church was shortened after the dissolution of the monasteries and ruins of the former east end remain outside the church. Much of the interior is in Norman style and this is considered to be the best example of 11th–12th-century church architecture in Cheshire. At the intersection of the former Roman roads is Chester Cross, to the north of which is the small church of St Peter's, which is in use as an ecumenical centre. Other churches are now redundant and have other uses: St Michael's in Bridge Street is a heritage centre, St Mary-on-the-Hill is an educational centre, and Holy Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
now acts as the Guildhall. Other notable buildings include the preserved shot tower, the highest structure in Chester, and St Thomas of Canterbury Church.
Roman remains can still be found in the city, particularly in the basements of some of the buildings and in the lower parts of the northern section of the city walls. The most important Roman feature is the amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
just outside the walls, which underwent archaeological investigation in the early 21st century. Roman artefacts are on display in the Roman Gardens which run parallel to the city walls from Newgate to the River Dee, where there's also a reconstructed hypocaust system. An original hypocaust system discovered in the 1720s can be seen in the basement of 39 Bridge Street, which is open to the public.
Of the medieval city, the most important surviving structure is Chester Castle, particularly the Agricola Tower. Much of the rest of the castle has been replaced by the neoclassical county court and its entrance, the Propyleum. To the south of the city runs the River Dee, with its 11th-century weir
A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
. The river is crossed by the Old Dee Bridge
The Old Dee Bridge in Chester, Cheshire, England, is the oldest bridge in the city. It crosses the River Dee carrying the road that leads from the bottom of Lower Bridge Street and the Bridgegate to Handbridge. A bridge on this site was firs ...
, dating from the 13th century, the Grosvenor Bridge of 1832, and Queen's Park suspension bridge (for pedestrians). To the south-west of the city, the River Dee curves towards the north. The area between the river and the city walls here is known as the Roodee, and contains Chester Racecourse
Chester Racecourse, also known as the Roodee, is a racecourse located in Chester, England. The horse racing venue is officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the "oldest racecourse still in operation". Horse racing in Chester dates ...
which holds a series of horse races and other events. The first recorded race meet in England at Roodee Fields was on 9 February 1540. The Shropshire Union Canal runs to the north of the city and a branch leads from it to the River Dee.
The major museum in Chester is the Grosvenor Museum, which includes a collection of Roman tombstones and an art gallery
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
. Associated with the museum is 20 Castle Street in which rooms are furnished in different historical styles. The Deva Roman Experience has hands-on exhibits and a reconstructed Roman street. One of the blocks in the forecourt of the Castle houses the Cheshire Military Museum.
The major public park in Chester is Grosvenor Park. On the south side of the River Dee, in Handbridge, is Edgar's Field, another public park, which contains Minerva's Shrine, a Roman shrine to the goddess Minerva
Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Roma ...
. A war memorial to those who died in the world wars is in the town hall and it contains the names of all Chester servicemen who died in the First World War.
There are cruises on the River Dee and on the Shropshire Union Canal, and guided open-air bus tours. The river cruises and bus tours start from a riverside area known as the Groves, which contains seating and a bandstand. A series of festivals is organised in the city, including mystery play
Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represen ...
s, a summer music festival and a literature festival
A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings ...
. There is a Tourist Information Centre at the town hall.
The Cheshire Police constabulary was historically based in the city from its foundation in 1857. Originally on Seller Street, its headquarters moved to Egerton Street (both since redeveloped), and then from 1870 to 113 Foregate Street, where Parkers Buildings now stand. In 1883, the police headquarters moved to 142 Foregate Street, Chester
142 Foregate Street is a building on the south side of Foregate Street, Chester, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
History
It was built in 1884 for Ch ...
, now preserved as a Grade II listed building. The county police headquarters has since moved again, in 1967 to Nuns Road before leaving the city in 2003 for Clemonds Hey, Winsford
Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industry ...
.
Demography
According to the 2011 census, Chester had a large White British
White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...
proportion of around 110,000 or 90.9% of the population. 1.0% described themselves as Irish. 3.6% as Other White
The term Other White is a classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom and has been used in documents such as the 2011 UK Census to describe people who self-identify as white (chiefly European) persons who are not of the English, Welsh, S ...
. 2.2% described themselves as Asian. 1.3% described themselves as Mixed Race. 0.6% described themselves as Black or Black British
Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76–7 ...
and 0.3% are classed as other. Cheshire West and Chester also has a large number of Christians at 76.4%. 14% have no religion and 8.2% are not stated. 0.7% are Muslim. 0.1% are Sikhs. 0.1% are Jewish. 0.2% are Buddhists.
The population was forecast to grow by 5% in the period 2005 to 2021. The resident population for Chester District in the 2001 Census was 118,200. This represents 17.5% of the Cheshire County total (1.8% of the North West population).[ Also: ]
Education
The city is home to the University of Chester
, mottoeng = "He that teacheth, on teaching"
, former_names =
, established = (gained university status in 2005)
, type = Public
, endowment = £395,000 (2018)
, budget = £118.3 million
, chancellor = Gyles Brandreth
, vice_chancello ...
. Formerly a teacher training college, it gained full university status in 2005 and is the county's main provider of tertiary education. The University of Law
, motto_lang = lat
, mottoeng = Let us know the laws and rights
, established = ,2012 (university status)
, closed =
, type = Private, for-profit
, endowment ...
also has a campus in nearby Christleton.
Cheshire College – South & West
Cheshire College – South & West is a post-16 further education and vocational college in Cheshire, England, formed in 2017 by the merger of West Cheshire College and South Cheshire College. Its main campus is in Crewe (60%), with other sites in E ...
is a vocational college with campuses in Handbridge as well as Ellesmere Port and Crewe.
The King's School, an independent school
An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...
, was established by King Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...
in 1541. The girls-only Queen's School, another independent school, was founded in 1878.
Other secondary schools include:
* Bishops' Blue Coat C of E
* Catholic High School
*Queens Park High School
Queen's Park High School or QPHS is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Queens Park, Chester, England. The school symbol is the heraldic lion, and the school uniform consists of a blue blazer with a small white lion on t ...
* Upton-by-Chester High School
*Blacon High School
Blacon High School, officially Blacon High School, A Specialist Sports College, is a coeducational secondary school located in Blacon in the English county of Cheshire.
As a foundation school, Blacon is administered by Cheshire West and Ch ...
* Christleton High School
Culture
The major museum in Chester is the Grosvenor Museum
Grosvenor Museum is a museum in Chester, Cheshire, in the United Kingdom. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. Its full title is The Grosvenor Museum of Natural History and Archa ...
which includes a collection of Roman tombstones and an art gallery
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
. Associated with the museum is 20 Castle Street in which rooms are furnished in different historical styles. The Dewa Roman Experience has hands-on exhibits and a reconstructed Roman street. One of the blocks in the forecourt of Chester Castle houses the Cheshire Military Museum
The Cheshire Military Museum is a military museum in Chester, Cheshire, England.
History
The museum has been housed in the former A Block in Chester Castle since 1972. It covers the history of four British Army regiments connected with the Cou ...
.
The £37m Storyhouse
Storyhouse is a large, mixed-use cultural building in Chester, England, which opened in May 2017. The complex includes a theatre, cinema, restaurant and the city library. It is housed in the remodelled 1936 Odeon Cinema, a grade-II-listed buildin ...
arts centre opened in the city centre in 2017, and includes a theatre, cinema, restaurant and the city's main library. It is housed in the city's remodelled 1936 Odeon Cinema, and replaces the Gateway Theatre and the former library on Northgate Street.
Chester Little Theatre is based in Newtown and run by Chester Theatre Club. It generally stages 5 or 6 plays each year. Chester Music Theatre is based in a converted church in Boughton. There was a multiplex cinema and a ten pin bowling alley at Greyhound Retail Park on the edge of the city but these have closed and the cinema has moved to Broughton, just over the border in North Wales. A new Picturehouse multi-screen cinema is being built in the city centre as part of the Northgate Project, due for completion in 2022. Chester has its own film society, a number of amateur dramatic societies and theatre schools.
The Groves area of Chester is the location of a Grade II listed bandstand, built in 1913. A programme of afternoon performances runs every weekend and Bank Holiday from May to August each year, which usually includes brass bands, choirs, jazz, blues and acoustic performers. The current Bandstand Coordinator is Luke Moore, who was appointed in 2018 and has expanded the programme to include a mixture of visual art, theatre, poetry and community events, alongside a variety of musical performances.
Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre holds an eight week annual repertory season in Chester, United Kingdom. The productions are staged in the round, in a purpose built theatre constructed each summer in Grosvenor Park.
The theatre
The company was f ...
, founded in 2010, is the only site-specific professional open-air theatre company outside London. It has an eight-week annual summer repertory season.
To the east side of the city is Chester Zoo
Chester Zoo is a zoo at Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire, England. Chester Zoo was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family. It is one of the UK's largest zoos at . The zoo has a total land holding of approximately .
Chester Zoo is operate ...
, the UK's largest zoo
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological g ...
with over 11,000 animals in 110 acres of award-winning gardens.
Numerous pubs, nightclubs and bars, some of which are based in medieval buildings, populate the city.
Music
Chester has had a professional classical music festival – the Chester Summer Music Festival, since 1967 and regularly from 1978. The festival went into liquidation in 2012. A major new music festival was launched in March 2013 (previously known as Chester Performs), running annually every summer. The Chester Music Festival features the professional music group ''Ensemble Deva'' led by Giovanni Guzzo and Music Director Clark Rundell. Ensemble Deva regularly features soloists and section leaders from the country's leading symphony orchestras including Liverpool Philharmonic, the Hallé and Manchester Camerata.
The composer Howard Skempton
Howard While Skempton (born 31 October 1947) is an English composer, pianist, and accordionist.
Since the late 1960s, when he helped to organise the Scratch Orchestra, he has been associated with the English school of experimental music. Skempt ...
was born in Chester in 1947.
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. It is a third section brass band with a training band. Its members wear a blue-jacketed uniform with an image of the Eastgate clock on the breast pocket of the blazer.
Chester Music Society
was founded in 1948 as a small choral society. It now encompasses four sections: The Choir has 170 members drawn from Chester and the surrounding district; The Youth Choirs support three choirs: Youth Choir, Preludes, and the Alumni Choir; Celebrity Concerts promote a season of six high quality concerts each year; The club is a long established section which aims to encourage young musicians and in many cases offers the first opportunity to perform in public.
The Chester Philharmonic Orchestra
(CPO) was founded in 1884 and is one of the premier non-professional orchestras in North West England. Formerly the Chester Orchestral Society they perform music from a wide repertoire. The Orchestra is a registered charity and usually perform four or five concerts, under the direction of well known professional conductors, each year (including an annual carol concert), which take place in the magnificent setting of Chester's ancient Cathedral.
Telford's Warehouse, Alexander's Jazz Bar and The Live Rooms are the city's main live music venues.
An annual popular music festival started in 2011 called Chester Rocks. It is held on the grounds of the Chester Racecourse.
The founder members of the band River City People
River City People were a folk rock quartet formed in Liverpool, England, in 1986, by vocalist Siobhan Maher, guitarist Tim Speed, his drummer brother Paul Speed, and bassist Dave Snell. Siobhan, Tim and Dave had all been with Liverpool Band " ...
(guitarist Tim Speed, his drummer brother Paul Speed) are from Chester. They had a number of hits in the early 1990s. Later into the same decade, Mansun
Mansun were an English alternative rock band, formed in Chester in 1995. The band comprised vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Draper, bassist Stove King, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dominic Chad, and drummer Andie Rathbone.
It was announc ...
formed in the city, after singer Paul Draper met guitarist Dominic Chad whilst working in the local former Fat Cat Bar. More recently, Shy and the Fight
Shy and The Fight were a seven-piece Welsh acoustic folk / indie rock band from Llangollen, Wales and Chester, England. The band included Tom Hyndman (guitar, lead vocals), Carrie Anderson (violin, backing vocals), Christopher Done ( bass, bac ...
, featuring Chester-based musicians, have achieved national attention via airplay on Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to:
*BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC
** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music
*CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...
and Radio 2, also appearing at Wychwood
Wychwood or Wychwood Forest is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Witney in Oxfordshire. It is also a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 1, and an area of is a national nature reserve The site contains a long barrow ...
and Swn festivals. Other bands that have gone on to achieve a degree of success outside of the city include The Suns, The Wayriders, Motion Empire, Casino and Face Of Christ and The Lovelies.
Media
Chester's newspapers include the weekly paid-for ''Chester Chronicle
''Chester Chronicle'' is a local weekly newspaper distributed in Chester, Cheshire and North Wales. The first edition was published by founder John Poole on 2 May 1775. Editions are published every Thursday. In 2018, it had a circulation of 7,023. ...
'' and freesheet ''Chester Standard
The ''Chester Standard'' is a weekly free newspaper. It is distributed within the Chester area and since NWN Media deregistered from ABC the readership is unknown.
The paper was delivered free to residents, with that ceasing in July 2017 to pic ...
''. The ''Chester Evening Leader
The ''Leader'' (formerly ''The Wrexham Evening Leader'') is a daily newspaper in Wales which is distributed on weekday mornings, combining both local and national news.
There are two ''Leader'' editions in the north-east of Wales: in Wrexha ...
'' and ''Midweek Chronicle
Chronicle Xtra (formerly the ''Chester Mail'' and ''Midweek Chronicle'') is a free weekly newspaper in Chester, England, by Trinity Mirror. The paper is produced in conjunction with the weekly ''Chester Chronicle''. It frequently advertises compe ...
'' are no longer in publication.
Chester's Dee Radio is the city's radio station, with Heart North West, Capital North West and Wales
Capital North West and Wales is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cheshire, the Wirral Peninsula & North Wales. The station broadcasts from its studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexh ...
and BBC Radio Merseyside
BBC Radio Merseyside is the BBC's local radio station serving Merseyside.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds, from studios on Hanover Street in Liverpool.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 203,000 ...
also broadcasting locally. Lache FM
The Lache ( ; sometimes simply Lache) is a housing estate in the city of Chester, in Cheshire, United Kingdom, with a population of around 10,000. It is located approximately southwest of the ancient city, with good local transport links en ...
is currently Chester's only Community radio station.
Television in Chester is usually served by BBC North West Tonight
''BBC North West Tonight'' is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 1.30pm (as ''North West Today''), 6.30pm and 10.30pm, with shorter bu ...
and ITV Granada
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
, and with its close proximity with North Wales, viewers can also receive BBC Wales Today and ITV Cymru Wales rather than their local relays, Chester is where Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's soap-opera '' Hollyoaks'' is set (although most filming takes place around Liverpool).
Economy
Chester's main industries are now the service industries comprising tourism, retail, public administration and financial services. Many domestic and international tourists visit to view the city's landmarks and heritage with a complementary benefit to hotels and restaurants.
The city's central shopping area includes its unique Rows or galleries (two levels of shops) which date from medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
times and are believed to include the oldest shop front in England. The city has many chain stores, and also features an indoor market, a department store (Browns of Chester
Browns was a department store in Chester established in 1780 by Susannah Brown. The store traded from its site on Chester's Eastgate Street from 1791 until 2021. Once regarded as the "Harrods of the North", the building interior contains many orn ...
, now absorbed by the Debenhams chain), and two main indoor shopping centres: The Grosvenor Shopping Centre and the Forum (a reference to the city's Roman past). There are retail parks to the west and south. Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet and Broughton Retail Park
Broughton Shopping Park (), also known as Broughton Centre (), is a retail park in Broughton, Flintshire, Wales. It is the busiest retail park in North Wales, recording an average annual footfall of 10 million. Branches of many popular high st ...
are near the city.
Chester has a relatively large financial sector including Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
, MBNA, NFU Mutual
NFU Mutual (NFUM) is a UK insurance composite, its directors and executives are directly answerable to customers/ policyholders (who own the business) for conduct of business as NFUM is and mutual and so has no shareholders to hold it to acc ...
, Lloyds Bank, Virgin Money
Virgin Money is a financial services brand used by two independent brand-licensees worldwide from the Virgin Group. Virgin Money branded services are currently available in Australia and the United Kingdom. The brand formerly operated in South Af ...
, Quilter
Quilting is the term given to the process of joining a minimum of three layers of fabric together either through stitching manually using a needle and thread, or mechanically with a sewing machine or specialised longarm quilting system. ...
, Diners Club International
Diners Club International (DCI), founded as Diners Club, is a charge card company owned by Discover Financial Services. Formed in 1950 by Frank X. McNamara, Ralph Schneider, Matty Simmons, and Alfred S. Bloomingdale, it was the first independent ...
and M&S Bank. The price comparison website moneysupermarket.com
Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC is a British price comparison website-based business specialising in financial services. The website enables consumers to compare prices on a range of products, including energy, car insurance, home insurance, tr ...
is based over the Welsh border in Ewloe
Ewloe (; cy, Ewlo, ) is a village and electoral ward in the community of Hawarden in Flintshire, Wales. It is situated close to the Flintshire/Cheshire sector of the Wales-England border. The A55 expressway passes through Ewloe and its most n ...
. Chester has its own university, the University of Chester
, mottoeng = "He that teacheth, on teaching"
, former_names =
, established = (gained university status in 2005)
, type = Public
, endowment = £395,000 (2018)
, budget = £118.3 million
, chancellor = Gyles Brandreth
, vice_chancello ...
, and a major hospital, the Countess of Chester Hospital
The Countess of Chester is the main NHS hospital for Chester and its surrounding area. It currently has 625 beds, general medical departments and a 24-hour accident and emergency unit. It is managed by the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Founda ...
, named after Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
and Countess of Chester.
Just over the Welsh border to the west, Broughton is home to a large Airbus UK factory (formerly British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...
), employing around 6,000 staff, where the wings of the Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
aeroplanes are manufactured, and there are food processing plants to the north and west. The Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
frozen food company is based in nearby Deeside.
Developments
In 2007 Chester City Council announced a 10-year plan to see Chester become a "must see European destination". At a cost of £1.3 billion it was branded Chester Renaissance.
The Northgate Development project began in 2007 with the demolition of St. Martin's House on the city's ring road. At a cost of £460 million, Chester City Council and developers ING hoped to create a new quarter for Chester. The development was intended see the demolition of the market hall, bus station, theatre and NCP car park. They were to be replaced with a multi-storey car park
A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...
, bus exchange, performing arts centre, library, homes, retail space and a department store which will be anchored by House of Fraser. There project was put on hold in 2008 due to the economic downturn. However a number of Chester's other Renaissance projects continued, including a new health centre, offices and apartments in the Delamere Street development, and a hotel and new headquarters for Cheshire West and Chester Council in the £60million HQ development. Work on a new bus station started in October 2015 and it opened in June 2017. The Northgate Project is now being led by the council and is due to include a new market hall, cinema, multi-storey car park and restaurant units on the site of the former bus exchange. Building work has begun and is due to be completed in 2022.
Transport
Roads
The city is a hub for major roads, including the M53 motorway towards the Wirral Peninsula and Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
and the M56 motorway
The M56 motorway, also known as the North Cheshire motorway, serves the Cheshire and Greater Manchester areas of England. It runs east to west from junction 4 of the M60 at Gatley, south of Manchester, to Dunkirk, approximately north of Chester ...
towards Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. The A55 road runs along the North Wales coast to Holyhead
Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
and the A483 links the city to nearby Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
and Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
in Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
.
Bus transport in the city is provided by Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire
Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire is a major operator of bus services in North West England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, and has its origins in the purchase of Ribble Motor Services in 1988 from the National Bus Company ( ...
and Arriva Buses Wales, the council owned and operated (formerly Chester City Transport) having been sold to First Chester & The Wirral
First Chester & Wirral was a British bus operator operating in the Cheshire and Merseyside regions between February 1990 and January 2013. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
History
In February 1990, the Chester, Ellesmere Port and Rock Ferry d ...
in mid-2007. A new bus exchange is being built in the city at Gorse Stacks is scheduled for completion in early 2017. In October 2016, a new regular EasyBus
easyBus is part of the EasyGroup. It was founded by entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2003. It initially also offered intercity services within the UK in addition to city to airport low-cost bus transfers.
History
easyGroup first announce ...
service began from Chester to Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...
.
Railways
Chester formerly had two railway stations: Chester General remains in, use but Chester Northgate closed in 1969 as a result of the Beeching cuts. Chester Northgate, which was north-east of the city centre, opened in 1875 as a terminus for the Cheshire Lines Committee. Trains travelled via Northwich
{{Infobox UK place
, static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg
, static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church
, official_name = Northwich
, country ...
to Manchester Central. Later services also went to Seacombe (Wallasey) and Wrexham Central via . It was demolished in the 1970s and the site is now part of the Northgate Arena leisure centre.
Chester General, which opened in 1848, was designed with an Italianate frontage. It now has seven designated platforms but once had fourteen. The station lost its original roof in the 1972 Chester General rail crash
The Chester General rail crash occurred on 8 May 1972 at Chester, northwest England, resulting in extensive fire damage, but no casualties. It was caused by brake failure through human error.
Course of events
The 19:31 freight train from Ellesm ...
. In September 2007, extensive renovations took place to improve pedestrian access, and parking. The present station has staffed ticket offices and barriers, waiting rooms, toilets, shops and a pedestrian bridge with lifts. Chester General also had a large marshalling yard and a motive power depot
The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...
, most of which has now been replaced with housing.
Normal scheduled departures from Chester station are: a quarter-hourly Merseyrail
Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...
electric service on the Wirral Line
The Wirral line is one of two commuter rail routes operated by Merseyrail and centred on Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern line.
The Wirral line connects Liverpool to the Wirral Peninsula via the Mersey Railway Tunnel, with b ...
to Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, half-hourly in the evenings and on Sundays; frequent services on the North Wales Coast Line
The North Wales Coast Line ( cy, Llinell Arfordir Gogledd Cymru), also known as the North Wales Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell Gogledd Cymru or cy, label=none, Prif Linell y Gogledd), is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, ...
(thereby connecting with Holyhead
Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
for ferries to Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
); Avanti West Coast to London Euston via Crewe
Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
and to Holyhead
Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
; Transport for Wales
Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...
to Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...
via Warrington Bank Quay and Cardiff Central/ Birmingham International via Wrexham General as well as North Wales Coast Line
The North Wales Coast Line ( cy, Llinell Arfordir Gogledd Cymru), also known as the North Wales Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell Gogledd Cymru or cy, label=none, Prif Linell y Gogledd), is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, ...
trains to Crewe
Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
, Llandudno Junction, Llandudno
Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigsi ...
, Holyhead
Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
; and Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
to Manchester Piccadilly via Northwich
{{Infobox UK place
, static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg
, static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church
, official_name = Northwich
, country ...
.
In May 2019, Northern introduced a Chester to Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
via Warrington Bank Quay, Manchester Victoria and Bradford Interchange
Bradford Interchange is a transport interchange in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, which consists of a railway station and combined bus and coach station adjacent. The Interchange, which was designed in 1962, was hailed as a showpiece of Eur ...
. In May 2019, Transport for Wales introduced a service to Liverpool Lime Street, via the reopened Halton Curve
Halton Curve (now formally known as the Frodsham Single Line) is a short bi-directional railway line which links the Chester–Warrington line to the Weaver Junction–Liverpool line within the borough of Halton, Cheshire. The route, which is ...
and offering a rail connection to Liverpool Airport at Liverpool South Parkway
Liverpool South Parkway station (Formerly Allerton railway station), is a railway station and bus interchange in the Garston district of Liverpool, England. It serves, via a bus link, Liverpool John Lennon Airport in the neighbouring suburb of ...
.
In late 1847, the Dee bridge disaster occurred when a bridge span collapsed as a train passed over the River Dee by the Roodee
Chester Racecourse, also known as the Roodee, is a racecourse located in Chester, England. The horse racing venue is officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the "oldest racecourse still in operation". Horse racing in Chester dat ...
. Five people were killed in the accident. The bridge had been designed and built by famed-railway engineer Robert Stephenson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway. A Royal Commission inquiry found that the truss
A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure.
In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...
es were made of cast iron beams that had inadequate strength for their purpose. A national scandal ensued and many new bridges of similar design were either taken down or heavily altered.
Cycling
There are a series of colour-coded signposted cycling routes around the city.
On 19 June 2008, then Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent i ...
Ruth Kelly named Chester as a cycling demonstration town
Cycling demonstration towns were part of a UK policy initiative to promote cycling that ran from 2005-2011.
2005: launch
In 2005, 6 towns in England were chosen to be cycling demonstration towns to promote the use of cycling as a means of transp ...
. This initiative allowed for substantial financial support to improve cycling facilities, and a number of schemes were planned.[> Also:]
Potential schemes included a new pedestrian and cycling bridge across the River Dee, linking the Meadows with Huntington and Great Boughton
Great Boughton is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It includes the villages of Boughton Heath and Vicars Cross. It had a population of 2,627 according to the 20 ...
, an access route between Curzon Park and the Roodee
Chester Racecourse, also known as the Roodee, is a racecourse located in Chester, England. The horse racing venue is officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the "oldest racecourse still in operation". Horse racing in Chester dat ...
, an extension to the existing greenway route from Hoole
Hoole is a suburb in the east of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The area is contiguous with Newton to the north and Vicars Cross to the south. The A41 road marks t ...
to Guilden Sutton
Guilden Sutton is a civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies approximately to the east of Chester and is south of the village of Mickle Traff ...
and Mickle Trafford, and an access route between the Millennium cycle route and Deva Link. However following a reorganisation of the local authorities effective 1 April 2009 the Conservative-led administration of the newly established Cheshire West and Chester
Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 str ...
council was not very supportive, so comparatively little was actually achieved.
Many of the ideas generated at the time were captured in a ''Cycle Chester Masterplan'' document.
Canals
The Chester Canal
The Chester Canal was an English canal linking the south Cheshire town of Nantwich with the River Dee at Chester. It was intended to link Chester to Middlewich, with a branch to Nantwich, but the Trent and Mersey Canal were unco-operative a ...
had locks down to the River Dee. Canal boats could enter the river at high tide to load goods directly onto seagoing vessels. The port facilities at Crane Wharf, by Chester racecourse, 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
The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales an ...
was opened, which ran from Netherpool (now known as Ellesmere Port) to meet the Chester Canal at Chester canal basin. Later, those two canal branches became part of the Shropshire Union Canal network. This canal, which runs beneath the northern section of the city walls of Chester, is navigable and remains in use today.
From about 1794 to the late 1950s, when the canal-side flour mills were closed, narrowboat
A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commerc ...
s carried cargo such as coal, slate, gypsum or lead ore as well as finished lead (for roofing, water pipes and sewerage) from the leadworks in Egerton Street (Newtown). Grain from Cheshire was stored in granaries on the banks of the canal at Newtown and Boughton and salt for preserving food arrived from Northwich
{{Infobox UK place
, static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg
, static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church
, official_name = Northwich
, country ...
.
Proposed canal
The original plan to complete the Ellesmere Canal was to connect Chester directly to the Wrexham coalfields by building a broad-gauge waterway with a branch to the River Dee at Holt
Holt or holte may refer to:
Natural world
*Holt (den), an otter den
* Holt, an area of woodland
Places Australia
* Holt, Australian Capital Territory
* Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...
. If the waterway had been built, canal traffic would have crossed the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct heading north to Chester and the River Dee.
As the route was never completed, the short length of canal north of Trevor
Trevor (Trefor (disambiguation), Trefor in the Welsh language) is a common given name or surname of Welsh language, Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh ''tre(f)'', meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and ''fawr'', ...
, near Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
was infilled. The Llangollen Canal, although designed to be primarily a water source from the River Dee, became a cruising waterway despite its inherent narrow nature.
However, although Wrexham itself was bypassed, the plan to join the rivers Severn, Mersey and Dee was completed, first by cutting the Wirral Arm from Chester to Ellesmere Port (Whitby wharf) then by extending the Llangollen Arm via Ellesmere, Whitchurch and Bettisfield Moss through to the Chester Canal
The Chester Canal was an English canal linking the south Cheshire town of Nantwich with the River Dee at Chester. It was intended to link Chester to Middlewich, with a branch to Nantwich, but the Trent and Mersey Canal were unco-operative a ...
at Hurleston. The network became the Shropshire Union Canal
The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales.
The canal lies in ...
.
Trams
Chester had a tram service during the late 19th and early 20th centuries which ran from Saltney, on the Welsh border in the west, to Chester General station, and thence also to Tarvin Road and Great Boughton. It 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 Company. It was horse-drawn until it was taken over by the council in 1903. Renamed as Chester Corporation Tramways
Chester Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in ...
, it was reconstructed to the 3'6" gauge, and electrified with overhead cables. The tramway was closed in February 1930, a fate experienced by most other systems in the UK. All that remains are small areas of uncovered track inside the former bus depot, and a few tram-wire supports attached to buildings on Eastgate/Foregate Street, although substantial sections of the track remain buried beneath the current road surface.
Chester electric tram number 4, built by G.F. Milnes & Co. in 1903, has been preserved by Hooton Park Trust and is currently undergoing restoration.
Sport
Football
Chester was home to Chester City F.C.
Chester City Football Club was an association football team from Chester, England that played in a variety of leagues between 1885 and 2010. The club played its home games at Sealand Road from 1906 to 1991 and moved to the Deva Stadium in 1992 ...
, who were founded in 1885 and elected to the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
in 1931, and played at their Sealand Road stadium until 1990, spending two years playing in Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...
before returning to the city to the new Deva Stadium – which straddles the border of England and Wales – in 1992. The club first lost its Football League status in 2000, only to reclaim it four years later as Conference
A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic.
Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...
champions, but were relegated again in 2009 and went out of business in March 2010 after 125 years in existence.
Notable former players of the club include Ian Rush
Ian James Rush (born 20 October 1961) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward. At club level Rush played for Liverpool from 1980–1987 and 1988–1996. He is the club's all-time leading goalscorer, having scored a to ...
(who later managed the club), Cyrille Regis, Arthur Albiston, Earl Barrett
Earl Delisser Barrett (born 28 April 1967) is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a defender, featuring in the Premier League for Oldham Athletic, Aston Villa, Everton and Sheffield Wednesday and in the Football Leagu ...
, Lee Dixon
Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English retired professional footballer and pundit who played as a right-back for Arsenal. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England.
A childhood Manchester City fan, Dixon began his footballing ca ...
, Steve Harkness, Roberto Martínez and Stan Pearson
Stanley Clare Pearson (11 January 1919 – 20 February 1997) was an English footballer.
Born in Salford, Lancashire, Pearson was signed by Manchester United as an amateur in December 1935 and turned professional in May 1937. His first senior ga ...
.
Following their demise, a new team – Chester FC
Chester Football Club is an association football club based in Chester. They are currently members of and play at the Deva Stadium.
The club was founded in 2010 following the liquidation of Chester City. In its inaugural season it competed ...
– was founded. They play at Chester City's Deva Stadium, also known as the Chester Swansway Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and were elected to the Northern Premier League Division One North
The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...
for the 2010–11 season, ending their first season as that division's champions, securing a place in the Northern Premier League Premier Division for the 2011–12 season. The club achieved promotion for the next two consecutive seasons and currently play in the National League Premier Division.
Basketball
The city also has a professional basketball team in the country's top competition, the British Basketball League
The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...
. Cheshire Phoenix
The Cheshire Phoenix are a professional basketball team based in Ellesmere Port, England. Founded in 1984, they are members of the British Basketball League and play their home games at the Cheshire Oaks Arena. From 1993 until 2015 the team was ...
– formerly known as Cheshire Jets – play at the Cheshire Oaks Arena at nearby Ellesmere Port; and a wheelchair basketball team, Celtic Warriors, formerly known as the Chester Wheelchair Jets.
Rugby Union
Chester Rugby Club (union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
) plays in the English National League 2 North, having been promoted in 2012. It won the EDF Energy Intermediate Cup in the 2007–08 season and has also won the Cheshire Cup several times.
Watersports on the River Dee
The River Dee is home to rowing clubs, notably Grosvenor Rowing Club
__NOTOC__
Grosvenor Rowing Club is based on the Groves in Chester. It rows on the River Dee and has around 30 km of rowable river, much of which straight and broad.
The club colours are dark blue
and orange.
History
Grosvenor or is n ...
and Royal Chester Rowing Club
Royal Chester Rowing Club is a rowing club based on the Groves in Chester. It rows on the River Dee with both men's and women's squads and members ranging from juniors of 14 upwards to Veteran oarsmen and women.
History
Founded in 1838, the cl ...
, as well as two school clubs, The King's School Chester
The King's School, Chester, is a British co-educational independent day school for children aged 4 to 18. It is one of the seven 'King's Schools' established (or re-endowed and renamed) by King Henry VIII in 1541 after the Dissolution of ...
Rowing Club and Queen's Park High Rowing Club. The weir is used by a number of local canoe and kayak clubs. Each July the Chester Raft Race
The Chester Raft Race is an annual charity event taking place every July on the River Dee in Chester, organised by Chester Round Table
The rafts race against the clock over a quarter mile (400 m) course, starting by the rowing club, and p ...
is held on the River Dee in aid of charity.
Horseracing
Chester Racecourse
Chester Racecourse, also known as the Roodee, is a racecourse located in Chester, England. The horse racing venue is officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the "oldest racecourse still in operation". Horse racing in Chester dates ...
hosts several flat race National Hunt flat races, informally known as bumper races, are a type of flat racing but run under National Hunt racing rules in Britain and Ireland.
National Hunt flat races were created on 15 July 1891 when a conference between the stewards of ...
meetings from the spring to the autumn. The races take place within view of the City walls and attract tens of thousands of visitors. The May meeting includes several nationally significant races such as the Chester Vase, which is recognised as a trial for The Derby.
Other sports
There is a successful hockey club, Chester HC
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
, who play at the County Officers' Club on Plas Newton Lane, a Handball team Deva Handball Club
Deva may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film
* ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film
* ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film
* Deva (2007 Telugu film)
* ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film
* Deva ...
, who boast to be the largest handball team in the country. Deva handball club play in National league 1 of handball, and also an American Football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
team, the Chester Romans
The Chester Romans are an American Football team based in Chester, Cheshire, England, who compete in the BAFA National Leagues NFC 1 South, the second level of British American football. The club operate from Cheshire County Sports Club an ...
, part of the British American Football League.
Chester Golf Club is near the banks of the Dee, and there are numerous private golf courses near the city, as well as a 9-hole municipal course at Westminster Park.
The Northgate Arena is the city's main leisure centre, there are smaller sports centres in Christleton and Upton. The Victorian City Baths are in the city centre.
December 2011 saw the firs
Chester Santa Dash
A run around the streets of Chester in aid of local charities, the Santa Dash is a festive event open to everyone of all ages and abilities.
The city has hosted the RAC Rally eight times.
Twin towns
Chester is twinned with:
* Sens
Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris.
Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second city of the d ...
, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
* Lörrach
Lörrach () is a town in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the capital of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, including the ...
, Loerrach International
Loerrach International e.V. (Registered_association_(Germany), registered association) is an association of citizens, educational, sport and cultural institutions, service clubs, municipal administration and local council in Lörrach in southwester ...
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
* Senigallia
Senigallia (or Sinigaglia in Old Italian, Romagnol: ''S’nigaja'') is a ''comune'' and port town on Italy's Adriatic coast. It is situated in the province of Ancona in the Marche region and lies approximately 30 kilometers north-west of the pro ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
Notable people
* Waheed Arian
Waheed Arian (born 1983) is a British doctor and radiologist, born in Afghanistan, who founded a telemedicine charity called Arian Teleheal. The charity enables doctors in conflict zones and low-resource countries to use their smartphones to rece ...
, Afghan born, British doctor and radiologist
* Ian Blair
Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, (born 19 March 1953) is a British retired policeman who held the position of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2005 to 2008 and was the highest-ranking officer within the Metropolitan Pol ...
(born 1953), retired Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police
* Sir Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, wi ...
(1889–1983), musical conductor, born in Liverpool Road
* Randolph Caldecott (1846–86), artist and book illustrator, was born in Bridge Street, Chester
* Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO and Two Bars, DFC (1917–1992), Second World War RAF bomber pilot and founder of the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity, was born in Hoole Road, Hoole
Hoole is a suburb in the east of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The area is contiguous with Newton to the north and Vicars Cross to the south. The A41 road marks t ...
, Chester (although he was brought up in Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
); the house where he was born (now a guest house
A guest house (also guesthouse) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), guest houses are a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the exclusive use o ...
) bears a blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
attesting to this
* Eileen de Coppet, Princess of Albania
Princess Eileen of Wied, Hereditary Princess of Albania (2 September 1922 – 1 September 1985), was an Englishwoman who became the wife of Carol Victor, Hereditary Prince of Albania. She is known in Albanian as ( Albanian: ''Princesha trashëgi ...
(1922–1985), the wife to the pretender of the throne of the Principality of Albania was born in Chester.
* John Douglas (1830–1911), architect, lived in and had his practice in Chester, and designed many of its Victorian buildings
*David Evans David, Dave, or Dai Evans may refer to:
Academics
* Sir David Emrys Evans (1891–1966), Welsh classicist and university principal
* David Evans (microbiologist) (1909–1984), British microbiologist
* David Stanley Evans (1916–2004), British a ...
, General Secretary of the Labour Party
* Leo Gradwell
Joseph Leo Anthony Gradwell Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom), DSC (28 July 1899 – 8 November 1969) was a British barrister, a magistrate and a Second World War Royal Navy volunteer, who in July 1942 against orders, led his own RN-ad ...
DSC (1899–1969), barrister and Arctic Convoys war hero
* A. S. Hornby
Albert Sidney (or Sydney A. P. Cowie‘Hornby, Albert Sydney (1898–1978)’ ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004) Hornby, usually just A. S. Hornby (1898–1978), was an English grammarian, lexicographer, and ...
(1898–1978), notable grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
ian and lexicographer
* Conor Kostick
Conor Kostick (born 26 June 1964) is an Irish historian and writer living in Dublin. He is the author of many works of history and fiction.
Works
''Epic'' was his first novel and was awarded a place on the International Board on Books for Young ...
(born 1964), writer and historian
* Rory Lewis
Rory Lewis (born 5 October 1982 in Chester, England) is a British photographer known for his celebrity portrait photography. Lewis's inspirations include the works of the artists Hans Holbein the younger, Caravaggio, Titian and Thomas Lawrenc ...
(born 1982), portrait photographer
* Frank Eric Lloyd
Sergeant Frank Eric Lloyd (20 August 1909 – 21 October 1992) was a member of the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia from 1932 to 1955. He is best known as author of ''Rhodesian Patrol'', an autobiographical account of his time in ...
(1909–1992), author of ''Rhodesian Patrol'', born in Chester
* William Monk
Inspector William Monk is a fictional character created by the writer Anne Perry and hero of a series of books.
Monk was born in Northumberland shortly before the Victorian era, accession of Queen Victoria, the son of a fisherman. Before he jo ...
R.E. (1863–1937), etcher, woodcut engraver and painter
* Peter Newbrook
Peter Austin Harley Newbrook BSC (29 June 1920 – 19 June 2009) was an English cinematographer, director, producer and writer.
Newbrook was born in Chester and educated at the Chester, and Worcester Cathedral schools, and the Ewell Castle Scho ...
(1920–2009), cinematographer, director, producer and writer
* Simon Nixon
Simon Justin Nixon (born August 1967) is a British billionaire businessman, the co-founder of and former deputy chairman of Moneysupermarket.com.
Early life
Nixon was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1967. He was educated at St Richard Gwyn ...
(born 1967), billionaire businessman, co-founder of Moneysupermarket.com
Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC is a British price comparison website-based business specialising in financial services. The website enables consumers to compare prices on a range of products, including energy, car insurance, home insurance, tr ...
* David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to:
Arts and literature
* David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter
* David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector
* David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...
(1859–1928), engineer who invented the caterpillar track
Continuous track is a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle b ...
, grew up in Great Boughton
Great Boughton is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It includes the villages of Boughton Heath and Vicars Cross. It had a population of 2,627 according to the 20 ...
* L. T. C. Rolt
Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt (usually abbreviated to Tom Rolt or L. T. C. Rolt) (11 February 1910 – 9 May 1974) was a prolific English writer and the biographer of major civil engineering figures including Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Te ...
(1910–74), engineering historian, born in Chester
* Anthony Thwaite
Anthony Simon Thwaite (23 June 1930 – 22 April 2021) was an English poet and critic, widely known as the editor of his friend Philip Larkin's collected poems and letters.
Early years and education
Born in Chester, England, to Yorkshire par ...
(1930–2021), poet and writer
* Beatrice Tinsley (née Hill) (1941–1981), astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...
and cosmologist, professor of astronomy at Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
; was born in the city but was brought up in New Zealand
* Sir John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restorati ...
(1664–1726), architect and dramatist, raised in Chester
Actors
* Randle Ayrton
Frederick Randle Ayrton (9 August 1869 – 28 May 1940) was a British actor of stage and screen, and was also a producer and director.
Early life
Ayrton was born in Chester to William Frances Ayrton, a wealthy wine-merchant who was a p ...
(1869-1940)
* Emily Booth
Emily Katherine Booth (born 26 April 1976), also known by her stage name Emily "Bouff" Bouffante, is an English actress and television presenter.
Early life
Booth was born 26 April 1976 in Chester, Cheshire, growing up in Hastings, East Susse ...
(born 1976), actress and writer
* Adrian Bower (born 1970)
* Ray Coulthard
Raymond Anthony Coulthard (born 3 September 1968) is a British actor. He is best known for portraying Alasdair Sinclair in ''Emmerdale'' and restaurant manager James Schofield in '' Hotel Babylon''.
Career
Coulthard's television appearances i ...
(born 1968)
* Daniel Craig (born 1968 in Liverpool Road)
* Emma Cunniffe
Emma Cunniffe (born 3 July 1973) is an English film, stage and television actress.
Early life
Cunniffe was raised in Frodsham, Cheshire and attended Frodsham High School. She was in the local Frodsham panto group whilst growing up and was onc ...
(born 1973)
* Malcolm Hebden (born 1939 in Chester)
* Tom Hughes (born 1985)
* Hugh Lloyd (1923–2008)
* Ronald Pickup (1940–2021)
* Basil Radford (1897–1952)
* Graham Roberts
Graham Paul Roberts (born 3 July 1959) is an English retired footballer and manager who played as a defender for numerous clubs including Tottenham Hotspur (where he won the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup), Rangers (where he won the Scottish League ...
(1929–2004)
* John Steiner (1941–2022)
Comedians
* Russ Abbot (born 1947) (birth name Russell Allan Roberts), musician, comedian and actor
* Jeff Green (born 1964), comedian
* Bob Mills (born 1957), comedian and gameshow host
* Stevie Riks (born 1967), comedian, impressionist, and musician
Sport
* Paul Butler (born 1988), IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
Bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from Ba ...
World champion boxer
* Danny Collins
Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to:
People
* Danny Altmann, British immunologist
*Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer
*Danny Baker (born 1957), English journal ...
(born 1980), Sunderland A.F.C.
Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...
footballer
* Steven Cousins
Steven Cousins (born 24 May 1972) is a British former competitive men's singles figure skater. He is the 1993 Skate Canada International bronze medalist and an eight-time British national champion. He finished as high as 6th at the Olympics (1 ...
(born 1972), skater
* Andy Dorman (born 1982), Crystal Palace F.C. footballer
* Doug Ellis
Sir Herbert Douglas Ellis, (3 January 1924 – 11 October 2018) was an English entrepreneur. He was the chairman of Aston Villa Football Club from 1968 to 1975, and again from 1982 until 2006. Ellis was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours L ...
(1924–2018), former owner of Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their ho ...
, born in Hooton and educated in Chester
* Ben Foden (born 1985), rugby player England and Northampton Saints
* Tom Heaton (born 1986), Burnley F.C. goalkeeper
* Danny Murphy (born 1977), footballer and former England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
international
* Michael Owen (born 1979), former English football international and Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...
player
* Antonio Pedroza
Antonio Michael Pedroza Whitham (born 20 February 1991) is an English-Mexican professional footballer who plays as a forward.
Early life
Antonio Pedroza was born in Chester to a Mexican father and an English mother. At the age of two years ...
(born 1991), former Crystal Palace footballer
* Alex Sanderson
Alexander Sanderson (born 7 October 1979 in Chester) is an English former rugby union footballer who played in the back row during the 1990s and 2000s for Saracens and Sale Sharks. He is the brother of Pat Sanderson who also played rugby fo ...
(born 1979), international rugby union player and younger brother of Pat
* Pat Sanderson
Pat Sanderson (born 6 September 1977 in Chester) is a former England international rugby union player and a former flanker for Worcester. He is the brother of the former England player Alex Sanderson.
His early rugby union career blossomed ...
(born 1977), international rugby union player
* Ryan Shawcross
Ryan James Shawcross (born 4 October 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is currently an assistant coach with MLS Next Pro club Inter Miami II.
Shawcross began his career with Manchester United ...
(born 1987), Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
footballer
* Stuart Tomlinson
Stuart Charles Tomlinson (born 22 May 1985) is an English former professional wrestler and professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
As a footballer, Tomlinson progressed from the Crewe Alexandra youth team to turn professional in 200 ...
(born 1985), former professional footballer, now professional wrestler at WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
* Stuart Turner (born 1943), former Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
cricketer
* Beth Tweddle (born 1985 in Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
, South Africa), World champion gymnast, attended The Queen's School, Chester
The Queen's School is an independent day school for girls aged 4–18 located in Chester, England. Founded in 1878 as "The Chester School for Girls", Queen Victoria, who was the school's first patron, issued a royal decree naming the school as " ...
* Martin Tyler
Martin Tyler (born 14 September 1945) is an English football commentator. He has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports since 1990, covering the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, as well as other domestic and international competitions. T ...
(born 1945), English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
commentator
* Ricky Walden (born 1982), professional snooker
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...
player
* Helen Willetts (born 1972), former badminton international and weather forecasting, weather forecaster
Music
* Kutski (born 1982), DJ and BBC Radio 1 presenter
* Lee Latchford-Evans (born 1975), singer of 1990s pop group Steps (group), Steps
* Nemone, Nemone Metaxas (born 1973), DJ and radio presenter
* Stephen Oliver (composer), Stephen Oliver (1950–92), composer
* Andie Rathbone (born 1969), drummer of Chester-based indie band Mansun
Mansun were an English alternative rock band, formed in Chester in 1995. The band comprised vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Draper, bassist Stove King, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dominic Chad, and drummer Andie Rathbone.
It was announc ...
* Howard Skempton
Howard While Skempton (born 31 October 1947) is an English composer, pianist, and accordionist.
Since the late 1960s, when he helped to organise the Scratch Orchestra, he has been associated with the English school of experimental music. Skempt ...
(born 1947), composer
* Steve Wright, singer of Juveniles, Fiat Lux (band), Fiat Lux, Camera Obscura (electronic duo), Camera Obscura and Hoi Poloi
Freedom of the City
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Chester.
Individuals
* Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet, Sir Thomas Grosvenor: 1677.
* Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Grace (style), His Grace Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, Duke of Westminster : 1973.
Military Units
* The Cheshire Regiment: 1948.
* The Cheshire Yeomanry: 1996.
* , Royal Navy, RN: 2003.
* 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment: 26 March 2008.
* 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh
See also
* Grade I listed buildings in Chester
* All Saints Church, Hoole
* St Barnabas' Church, Chester
* St Mary's Church, Handbridge
* St Paul's Church, Boughton
* Chester (placename element) for other place names containing 'Chester', 'Cester', 'Caster' etc.
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
An illustrated guide to Chester
* – a detailed historical record about the Fortress Baths, Chester
{{Authority control
Chester,
Populated places established in the 1st century
County towns in England
Towns of the Welsh Marches
Fortified settlements
Rally GB
Unparished areas in Cheshire
Cities in North West England
Towns in Cheshire