Handbridge is a district of
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 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
, England on the south bank of the
River Dee. A settlement has existed on the site since the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, but the site saw major expansion during the collapse of the
Roman occupation of 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 ...
, as the city grew too large for its
wall
A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including:
* Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...
s. The site was originally mainly a quarry for the abundant red
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) ...
that much Chester is built from,
[BW Pics – History of Bridgegate](_blank)
/ref> but in later years became a centre for salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
fishing in the Dee.
The area runs continuously into Queens Park. Within Handbridge there is a primary school, Overleigh St Mary's, and two secondary schools: Chester Catholic High School
Chester Catholic High School or CHSC but officially called The Catholic High School, Chester is a co-educational Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located on the outskirts of Handbridge, Chester, England.
T ...
and 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 ...
. There are also colleges, Cheshire College - South and West, formerly known as West Cheshire College
West Cheshire College was a further education, vocational college in the North West of England. It had over 20,000 students at its two main campuses in Ellesmere Port and Chester as well as in workplaces and community venues. In March 2017 i ...
and Chester International School (CIS) that provides a range of courses including International Baccalaureate.
History
Roman era
Although there has been some activity on the site since the Iron Age, the first settlement on the site was built around 74 CE shortly after the foundation of the fort at Deva
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 ...
, now the Chester city centre. The site was used as a quarry; Handbridge is built on a large sandstone outcrop, material from which was used to construct the city walls and buildings, although the quarry ceased production at the end of the fourth century CE. The quarry was also the site of a small 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 ...
which is still visible in what is known as Edgar's Field. The shrine is protected as a Grade I listed building but has suffered from weathering.
Post-Roman
After the Romans left Britain, the city fell into disrepair. Little is known of Handbridge from this time, as Chester was repeatedly attacked by Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
raiders, leading one commentator to describe it as "an abandoned city on The Wirral
Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee, Wales, River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the Ri ...
". Nevertheless, by the time of the Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
, the site had grown large enough to be divided into three manors: Overleigh, Netherleigh and Royal Handbridge.[Chester City Council (Web Archive)](_blank)
URL accessed 13 August 2010 The book also tells of the constant repairs that had to be made to the river crossing there, the first written record of what would eventually become known as the Old Dee Bridge.
By the Old Dee Bridge is a large field known as Edgar's field; this is one of a few sites that may have been the royal palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
of Edgar of England
Edgar ( ang, Ēadgār ; 8 July 975), known as the Peaceful or the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. The younger son of King Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, he came to the throne as a teenager following ...
. There is no archaeological evidence of this however. Legend tells that, to pledge an oath to him, six lesser kings rowed him up the Dee to his palace, where they pledged allegiance to the king "on both land and sea".
Middle Ages
The Welsh name for Handbridge is ''Treboeth'', meaning either "the hot town" or "the burnt town". The latter meaning has traditionally been thought to suggest that the town was burnt at some point in its medieval history. However, research in the 21st century suggests that the settlement may have been referred to as "the hot town" because of its long history of metal working.
During the medieval period, multiple river crossings were built on the site of the bridge noted in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
to replace others lost to flooding; the current Old Dee Bridge dates from 1353, but at least four other bridges existed on the site beforehand. The bridge became a choke point
In military strategy, a choke point (or chokepoint) is a geographical feature on land such as a valley, defile or bridge, or maritime passage through a critical waterway such as a strait, which an armed force is forced to pass through in ord ...
in Welsh invasions, leading to both ends of the bridge being fitted with sentry posts. Although the bridge formed the only crossing at that point, residents were reluctant to repair the bridge, leading Richard II of England
Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father die ...
to pay for the crossing to be restored in 1374 "for consideration that as many have been drowned in the water of the Dee since the bridge has been destroyed and broken", being rebuilt with large towers and a drawbridge to further deter Welsh raids.
Chester Weir
Chester Weir is a weir which crosses the River Dee at Chester, Cheshire, England, slightly upstream from the Old Dee Bridge (). The weir and the associated salmon leap are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Gr ...
across the river was built in 1093, under the orders of Hugh Lupus
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 ...
, to provide power to water powered mills along the banks of the river, and to improve the navigability of the river, which was still a major trade route at the time. The mills ran a legally enforced monopoly, with all Cestrians being forced to have their corn ground at these mills. The millers were reputed to be lazy and greedy, taking many times what they should in tithes. The song "Miller of Dee
"There Was a Jolly Miller Once" is a traditional folk song (Roud #503) from the Chester area in northwest England. It is often titled "The Miller of the Dee" or "The Jolly Miller".
The song was originally part of Isaac Bickerstaffe's play, ' ...
" was written about these millers, which led to "Miller of the Dee" becoming an insult in Mediaeval culture, meaning a thief or a cheat.
English Civil War
During the English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
, Chester was one of the last Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
strongholds, and as such was heavily besieged. Handbridge was burnt once again and the bridge heavily damaged to impede the progress of the Roundhead
Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...
armies. This forced the Parliamentarians to cross the river at a ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
upstream, leading to the Battle of Rowton Heath
The Battle of Rowton Heath, also known as the Battle of Rowton Moor, occurred on 24 September 1645 during the English Civil War. Fought by the Parliamentarians, commanded by Sydnam Poyntz, and the Royalists under the personal command of King C ...
, at which the Royalists lost and Chester became invested.[Battlefields Trust – Rowton Heath](_blank)
URL accessed 19 August 2006
In the summer of 1645, with the siege less close, the Royalist defenders built a new fort at Handbridge to protect the approaches to the Dee Bridge. By September, the besieging Parliamentarian forces had closed in and linked their positions on either side of the River Dee with a bridge of boats from Dee Lane to the Earl's Eye in Handbridge (the "Welsh side"), protected by gun emplacements at the south end.
Victorian era
During 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 corn mills which lined the river closed down, to be replaced with hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
power stations to provide electricity to the growing city. However, the suburb itself was considered a poor area, with one contemporary commentator, John Hemingway, describing the area as "almost exclusively inhabited by the lower orders". The population were primarily industrial workers who worked in the many factories that surrounded Chester, including several tobacco works on the Dee banks, and the neighbouring area of Saltney
Saltney is a cross-border town, split between Flintshire, Wales and Cheshire, England. The town is intersected by the England–Wales border, with its larger part being a community of Wales in the historic county of Clwyd. The town forms par ...
. However, many of the larger properties in the east of Handbridge, towards Queens Park, were middle and upper class residents who desired attractive riverside properties.
In the extreme west of Handbridge, the Grosvenor Bridge
Grosvenor Bridge, originally known as, and alternatively called Victoria Railway Bridge, is a railway bridge over the River Thames in London, between Vauxhall Bridge and Chelsea Bridge. Originally constructed in 1860, and widened in 1865 and 19 ...
, connecting the city to the main roads to Wales, was built by Thomas Harrison and opened by Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
in November 1833, as part of a larger trade route 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 Irish ports. At long and tall, it was the largest single-span bridge in the world for 30 years until 1864.[BW Pics – History of Grosvenor Bridge](_blank)
/ref>
20th century
Handbridge continued to grow in the 20th century with several large schools and a college being built to serve the population of Handbridge and Queen's Park, which both underwent major expansion. Among the buildings built were the "Salmon Leap" flats, designed by Gilling Dod and Partners and constructed in 1967/68. On the riverside is a small cottage named "Nowhere", believed to have originally been a secret tavern. However, during a 1963 gig in Chester by The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
, John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
heard about the house and was intrigued by the name, with the song " Nowhere Man" being inspired by this cottage.
Governance
Cheshire West and Chester
Since 1 April 2009 Handbridge is within the new 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 ...
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 ...
area; prior to that it was within both Chester City Council
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 ...
and Cheshire County Council
Cheshire County Council was the county council of Cheshire. Founded on 1 April 1889, it was officially dissolved on 31 March 2009, when it and its districts were superseded by two unitary authorities; Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire Eas ...
boundaries.
Handbridge forms part of the Handbridge Park 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 ...
ward, which is represented by two councillors:
* Razia Daniels (Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
)
* Neil Sullivan (Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
)
The first elections to the council were held on 1 May 2008, with the council acting as a shadow council until the abolition of the Chester City Council and Cheshire County Council authorities on 1 April 2009. The wards of the authority are identical to the previous county council electoral divisions.
Handbridge and Queens Park were formerly a single Chester City Council
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 ...
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
, Handbridge & St Mary's.
United Kingdom Parliament
Handbridge is in the City of Chester parliamentary constituency and is represented by 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 ...
of the Labour Party, who held the seat in a by-election in 2022 with an increased majority.
See also
*Minerva's Shrine, Chester
Minerva's Shrine is a shrine to the Roman goddess Minerva in Edgar's Field, Handbridge, Chester, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The shrine dates from the early 2nd ...
*St Mary's Church, Handbridge
St Mary's Church is located on Overleigh Road in Handbridge, an area south of the River Dee, in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is also known as the Church of St Mary-without-the-Walls. The church is recorded in the National Heritag ...
References
External links
{{Commons category, Handbridge
Handbridge.com – Local Community Website
Populated places established in the 1st century
Areas of Chester
70s establishments in the Roman Empire
1st-century establishments in Roman Britain