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Chester, Cheshire

Historical Description

Chester, a city, the capital of the county, a municipal, parliamentary, and county borough, the head of a poor law union and county court district, and a diocese in Cheshire. The city stands on the river Dee, 5 miles SE of the head of the estuary of the Dee, 16 through Birkenhead SSE of Liverpool, and 179 by rail distant from London. An artificial channel of the Dee, navigable for vessels of 350 tons, gives it communication through the estuary of the Dee with the sea; one canal connects it northward with the Mersey at Ellesmere port, and another east-south-eastward with the Birmingham canal at Nantwich. Eailways go from it in seven directions, towards Birkenhead, Manchester, Crewe, Shrewsbury, Mold, Hawarden, and Holyhead.

The ancient Britons had a town on the site of Chester from some remote period unknown to record

The ancient Britons had a town on the site of Chester from some remote period unknown to record. It became A.D. 61 the Roman station of Castra Legionum, held by the 20th Legion (" Valeria Victrix"), and later, as is proved by numerous tombstones discovered in 1891-92, by the 2nd Legion (" Adjutrix.") The Romans gave it the name Deva (from the river Dee —the British name being Caer Leon ar Dyfr Dwy, kt the Fortress on the Dee Water"), and continued to hold it until the legions were finally withdrawn from Britain about 400. Romano-Britons remained in occupation until 828, when they were dispossessed by the Saxon King Egbert, his successor Ethelwolf being crowned there in 837. The Saxons, who called the city Lege-ceastre, a name which still recalled the Roman occupation, were driven out temporarily by the Danes in 892, but they also were in turn expelled by Ethelfleda, who built up the ruined walls. At the Norman Conquest Hugh Lupus received the city with the county as a part of his reward, and made it the seat of his Palatinate. It was an important starting-point for expeditions against the Welsh, and for this purpose it was visited by Henry II. in 1156 and 1164, by John in 1206 and 1212, by Henry III., gathering his nobles against Llewelyn, in 1257. Edward I., marching to the conquest of Wales, in 1274, 1276, 1277, 1283, 1284 (with Queen Eleanor), and 1294 paid short visits to Chester. Prince Edward of Carnarvon here received the homage of the Welsh in 1300. Edward II. visited it in 1312, the Black Prince in 1353, Richard IL in 1394 and 1398, and again as a prisoner in 1399. In 1447 the Duchess of Gloucester was confined in the castle for " practising the king's death." Margaret of Anjou was here rallying her Lancastrians in 1453 and 1459, Henry VI. in 1470, Henry VII. in 1494. Prince Arthur, Henry's elder brother, stayed here from 4th August to 9th September in 1498, James L in 1617, Charles L in 1642 and 1645, James IL in 1687, William III. in 1690. Queen Victoria, when princess, visited it in 1832, and the Prince of Wales in 1869, 1886, and 1893. The city was almost destroyed by fire in 1180, and a large portion of it on more than one subsequent occasion. It was devastated by the sweating sickness and plague inl507 and 1517. It suffered sharply more than once under the shocks of political change and military movement, and sustained a disastrous siege of three months in 1645 by the Parliamentarian forces under Brereton. It became a county of itself, with jurisdiction separate from Cheshire, in the time of Henry VIII., yet continued to be the seat of the Palatinate, and it still gives the title of earl to the eldest son of the British Sovereign.

The city stands on a rocky elevation of red sandstone

The city stands on a rocky elevation of red sandstone, half encircled by a bend of the Dee. The walls extend nearly two miles in circuit, presenting to the eye of a stranger a striking and picturesque appearance. They date, according to some authorities, from Roman times, wliile others maintain that scarcely any part of the Roman work is in situ. They are so broad as to admit, even where narrowest, of two persons walking abreast, form a fine promenade for the citizens, and afford most delightful views of the estuary of the Dee, the circumjacent country, and the distant Welsh mountains. Four main entrances and three posterns pierce the walls, and three of the many tower3 which formerly defended them are still in a nearly perfect state. The main entrances are arched gateways, and bear the names of Bridge-gate, Water-gate, East-gate, and North-gate, all rebuilt within the last hundred years. One of the three nearly perfect towers, the Bonewaldesthorne, contains a camera; another, the Water-tower, contained until 1892 a museum of local antiquities; the third, the Phoenix-tower, bears an inscription to the effect that " King Charles stood on it on 24 Sept., 1645, and saw his army defeated on Rowton-moor." A very large number of relics of the Roman occupation have been found from time to time in the process of rebuilding and alterations: urns, coins, lamps, statues, tombstones, pigs of lead with the date of Vespasian (70 A.D.), altars (among them a rare one with a Greek inscription), tiles, pottery, tessellated and " herring-bone " pavement. These are for the most part deposited in the Grosvenor Museum. A fine Basilica, with a row of Corinthian pillars, was discovered in pulling down the Feather's Inn, and a considerable part of the hypocaust still stands in a house in Bridge Street, with the sign of the " Roman Bath." Portions of another hypocaust were found in Northgate Street in 1892. The ground plan of the city still preserves the form of a Roman camp, a parallelogram, with four gates and four principal streets running from a common centre at St Peter's Church, to which was formerly attached the Pentice or Court House. Lesser streets intersect the principal ones at right angles, and divide the four quarters of the city into small squares. The carriage-way of the principal streets was supposed formerly to have been sunk by excavation from 4 to 10 feet below the original level of the ground, but with more probability it follows the natural run of the ground. Ranges of one-storey buildings, used as shops and warehouses, extend along the sides of the carriage-way; piazzas for foot-passengers with shops behind them surmount these buildings, and bear the name of "Rows;" upper storeys of houses, mostly in mediaeval style, some of them old and timbered, surmount the piazzas, and flights of steps, formerly called " greses," lead down at convenient distances from the piazzas to the carriage-way. So unique and curious an arrangement of thoroughfares has been a subject of marvel to many a writer. " Here," said Thomas Fuller, " is a peculiar property of building called the Rows, being galleries wherein the passengers go dry without coming into. The streets, having shops on both sides and underneath, the fashion whereof is somewhat hard to conceive. It is worth their pains who have money and leisure to make their own eyes the expounder of the manner thereof, the like being said not to be seen in all England; no, not in all Europe again." Much rebuilding has taken place in recent years with great enterprise and at great cost, but the old style has been generally retained. Some fine timbered houses have been restored in excellent taste, tasteful imitations of medi-\%val stone architecture have been added; and the city continues to be as curious as ever. " Queer, quaint old Chester, Grotesque and honest art thou sure, And so behind this very changeful day, So fond of antique fashions, it would seem Thou must have slept an age or two away. Thy very streets are galleries. .... Old Rome was once thy guest, beyond a doubt, And thou dost hoard her gifts with pride and care, As erst the Grecian dame displayed her jewels rare."

A castle was built in or just outside the city by Hugh Lupus soon after the Conquest

A castle was built in or just outside the city by Hugh Lupus soon after the Conquest, and appears to have included some portion of the Roman fortifications. A magnificent hall, 100 feet long, 45 feet wide, very lofty, and of great historical interest, was pulled down in 1786. Almost the only portion of the old castle now standing is a towel-called Agricola's, containing a frescoed chapel, in which. James II. heard mass. A spacious modern edifice of pure classic style, by Mr Thomas Harrison, occupies the site of the castle, and bears its name. It is a royal fortress, with a governor and other officers, including barracks, an ar-mourv, a shire hall, and assize courts. The barracks have accommodation for 120 men, the armoury contained 30,000 stand of arms and 90 pieces of ordnance. The shire hall has a twelve-columned portico, with monolithic columns in two rows, and is provided with a spacious semicircular court-room; and the county gaol comprises four suites of buildings (one of them built in 1869 at a cost of £3956), "with a capacity for 293 prisoners. The militia barracks, in close proximity to the castle-yard, built of local red sandstone with Helsby stone facings, were erected in 1860 at a cost of about £8000. The site of the old City Gaol and House of Correction is now occupied by the Queen's School. The Exchange, in Northgate Street, built in 1698, was burnt down in December, 1862, and replaced by a new town-hall;it a cost of about £30,000, which was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1869. The linen hall in Water-gate Street was built in 1780 by the Irish merchants, and is now the cheese market. The Corn Exchange is a recent erection, raised at a cost of £4000. The new general market was built in 1863, after designs by Messrs Hay of Liverpool, is covered, spacious, and convenient, and has a principal frontage 120 feet long and 50 feet high, in a somewhat bizarre Renaissance style, with attached rusticated Ionic columns. A new bank in Eastgate Street, completed in 1861, is a handsome edifice with tetrastyle Corinthian portico. To these should be added the Grosvenor Museum in Grosvenor Street with lecture hall and numerous class rooms in connection with the Natural Science Society and Schools of Science and Art, the Savings Bank, the Grosvenor Hotel, Eastgate Street. The railway station, common to the five railways which meet at the city, was erected at a cost of upwards of £220,000, after designs by Thompson of London. It has a main fa9ade 1010 feet long, and until 1891 a passenger range 1160 feet long, but now much enlarged, with separate platforms for arrival and departure. It is covered by a strong, elegant, iron roof, after a design by Wylde. The works near the station on the Holyhead line include a tunnel 300 yards long, a viaduct of 74 arches, and a long cast-iron girder bridge over the Dee, memorable for a tragical accident by the fracture of one of its girders in May, 1847. There are also two other railway stations, that of the Cheshire lines in Northgate Street, and that of the M.S. & L.R. in Liverpool Road. The picturesque seven-arched bridge across the Dee, mentioned in Domesday, and reconstructed probably in wood after being swept away in 1280, and rebuilt in stone in 1499, has undergone considerable alteration. The Grosvenor Bridge, erected in 1832 at a cost of £36,000, is 340 feet long and 33 feet wide, and is remarkable for the great width of span —200 feet in a single arch. The tolls on both bridges were taken off on January 1, 1885, and the bridges freed. The suspension bridge connecting Queen's Park with the city is light and handsome. The race-course on the Rood Eye (the island of the Rood or Cross), formerly the place of tournaments, at the base of the city wall, is 1800 yards in circuit. Grosvenor Park, of 26 acres, at a cost of £70,000 was presented to the city in 1868 by the Marquis of Westminster, and a statue of the marquis, at a cost of at least £5000, was erected by the people at its chief entrance. An equestrian statue of Viscount Comber-mere was erected at the principal entrance of the castle in 1865. Other public erections are the Music Hall, a Mechanics' Institute, General Post Office, Free Library, Training College for Masters for the dioceses of Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, and the Custom-house.

Chester is the only city in England except London

Chester is the only city in England except London (and a parallel elsewhere is to be found only in Dublin and Rome) which has two cathedrals, St Werburgh's-within-the-walls and St John's-without-the-walls; the latter at one time served as the cathedral of the See of Lichfield. The places of worship within the city in 1851 were 15 of the Church of England with 7547 sittings, 17 of dissenters with 5951 sittings, and three of other bodies with 538 sittings. In 1892 there were 18 places of worship belonging to the Church of England, 1 to the English Presbyterians, 4 to the Congregationalists, 1 to the Presbyterian Church of England, 3 to the Baptists, 1 to the Quakers, 1 to the Unitarians, 2 to the Wesleyans, 3 to the Roman Catholics; and of services in the Welsh language, 2 of Primitive Methodists, 1 Congregational, 1 Independent, 1 Baptist, 1 Calvinist, 1 Wesleyan. There is also a Roman Catholic Convent, and two mortuary chapels in the public cemetery. The livings in the city, or connected with it, are the rectories of St Bridget with St Mary-on-the-Hill and St Martin, St Peter, St Mary-witbout-the-walls, and Holy Trinity; the vicarages of St John the Baptist, St Oswald, St Michael with St Olave, Lache-with-Saltney, and the perpetual curacies of Little St John, Upton, St Paul, and Christ Church. St Martin is annexed to St Bridget, St Olave to St Michael; value of St Bridget £227, of Holy Trinity £242, of St John the Baptist £350, of St Oswald £199, of Little St John £289, of St Michael £135, of Lache-with-Saltney £190, of St Paul £350, of Christ Church £190, St Peter's £400, St Mary's-without-the-walls £245. Patron of St Bridget, St Peter, St Michael, Lache-with-Saltney, and Christ Church, the Bishop of Chester; of St Mary-without-the-walls and St John the Baptist, the Duke of Westminster; of Holy Trinity, the Earl of Derby; of St Oswald, the Dean and Chapter of Chester; of Little St John, trustees; of St Paul, the Vicar of St John's. A nunnery was founded in Northgate Street by Wulfhere, King of Mercia, A.D. 660, which was subsequently called by the name of his daughter Werburga, when her remains were removed from Handbury to Chester in 875. This was endowed by King Edgar A.D. 959 with considerable property. During the reign of Edward the Confessor Leofric, Earl of Mercia, repaired and increased the buildings, and in 1093 it was further enlarged by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, who introduced a body of Benedictine monks. An-selm laid the foundation of the new buildings, and left his chaplain Richard in charge as the first abbot. The edifice suffered severely from the inroads of the Welsh; was not completed till 1210, and sustained shocks afterwards from feuds between the monks and the nobles. Another religious house, probably also a nunnery, was founded in the city at an earlier period of the Saxon times, suffered demolition in the Saxon wars, was re-edified for secular canons by King Ethelred, and became notable, 973, for King Edgar compelling eight tributary Scotch and Welsh princes to row his royal barge to it upon the Dee. Edgar's field (made in 1892 into a public park by the gift of the Duke of Westminster) and cave are still pointed out in Handbridge. There were also in the city monasteries of St Mary and St Michael, colleges of St John and the Holy Cross, hospitals of St John the Baptist and St Giles (for lepers), and houses of Black, Grey, and White Friars. Curious pageants, of the character of religious dramas, began to be enacted in the streets commencing before the Abbey Gate in 1328, burst into notoriety for the sake of a grant of forty days' pardon from the bishop and a thousand from the Pope to every person who attended them, and were famous for ages under the name of the " Chester Mysteries." An ancient chapel, upwards of 45 feet long and 14 feet high, with beautifully groined arches, was discovered in 1839 nearly choked with rubbish. The cathedral, formerly the Benedictine Abbey of St Werburgh, did not become a cathedral till the Reformation, by the name of " The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary." It comprises Norman and Early English portions, but is chiefly Decorated and Later English. Its appearance is heavy and irregular, and its masonry consists of perishable local sandstone, requiring frequent repair. It consists of a nave witli seven bays, and aisles ornamented with fine mosaics on the north wall, a south porch, a choir of five bays with aisles, a Lady chapel (with some fine Early English carving) of three bays, with aisles of two bays, a south transept of five bays with aisles, a north transept of one bay with sacristy, a baptistery, part of the old Norman Church, a central tower, and a south-western tower. The total length from east to west is 365 feet, the nave 145 feet by 75 feet, and the height of the central tower is 127 foet. The chief monuments are St Werburgh's shrine, an altar-tomb, and three slabs to abbots of the 14th century; a fine canopied tomb to Bishop Pearson, author of " Lectures on the Creed;" a monument to Dr Samuel Peploe, by Nollekens; a monument to Dean Smith, by Banks; a monument to Captain John Napier (with epitaph by Sir Charles Napier), and several memorial windows. The Bishop's throne (which was originally St Werburgh's shrine of the time of Edward III.) has been restored by Canon Slade. The chapter-house, with a fine window depicting the legend of St Werburgh and the succession of Saxon and Norman Earls of Chester, measures 50 feet by 26 feet, and is reached through a vestibule 33 feet by 27 feet. The cloisters measure 110 feet each way, and are on the north side of the nave. The restoration of the cathedral, at an estimated, cost of —£50,000, was commenced in 1868, and has been completed, with the exception of the south transept. The deanery was formed out of St Thomas' Chapel. In the refectory is a lector's pulpit, one of the finest examples in England. St John's Church occupies the site of the house of regular canons, includes some of the oldest Saxon or early Norman architecture in the Idngdom, was rebuilt in 1075 as a cathedral, suffered destruction of its choir and the "upper part of its great tower by the fall of the latter in 1574, and was extensively restored in 1862-66 at a cost of £9073. The tower fell again on Good Friday, 1881, and is still in ruins. St Bridget's Church was built in 1828. The present building of St Peter's is of the time of Henry VII., and was thoroughly repaired in 1854: and 1890. St Mary's is Early English, and was renovated in 1861 and in 1892 at a cost of £4000. Trinity Church was rebuilt in 1869, and is in the Decorated English style. St Michael's was mainly rebuilt in 1855. St Oswald's is the south transept of the cathedral, and is still undergoing (1893) restoration. St Paul's was built in 1830. St Thomas' was founded in 1869, and cost about £10,500. St Mary's-without-the-walls, built by the Duke of Westminster, was consecrated in 1888. The Independent chapel in Queen Street has a stone front with Doric portico. The Wesleyan chapel in St John Street has a circular front. The Vnitarian chapel was built in 1700, and is associated with the labours of Matthew Henry. One Of the Roman Catholic chapels was built in 1868.

Henry VIII.'s Grammar School is supported by property attached to the cathedral and other gifts, and has several scholarships tenable in the school and at the universities. The Diocesan School and Training College was founded by Bishop Law. The Blue-coat School for boys was founded in 1700, and the Blue-coat School for girls in 1750. Old-field's charity, for apprenticing boys or sending them to universities, has an income of £405. Broughton's charity has c£74, and Owen Jones' charity £1153. St John's Hospital, founded before Edward IIL's time by Eandal Blundeville, Earl of Chester and Duke of Brittany, £1013, Green and Wardell's charity £183, Lancaster c£152 7s, Vernon £63, others £425. The general infirmary was opened in 1761, and is supported at a cost of upwards of £6000 a year. A new wing, the Humberston wing, in memory of Colonel Humberston's long connection with the infirmary, was added in 1892, costing over £3000. The House of Industry is regulated by an Act of Parliament of 1763. There are likewise a County Lunatic Asylum, a Female Penitentiary, and a House of Mercy and Shelter.

The city has a head post office

The city has a head post office, a telegraph office, four banks, possesses the traffic of a county town, is a bonding port, a seat of sessions and assizes, and publishes four weekly newspapers. It is the headquarters of the North-Western Military District, of the 22nd Regimental District, of the 3rd (1st Eoyal Cheshire Militia) Battalion and of the 2nd (Earl of Chester's) Volunteer Battalion of the Cheshire Territorial Eegiment; of the Cheshire (Earl of Chester's) YRomanry Cavalry, and of the 1st Cheshire and Carnarvonshire Artillery Volunteers. Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, cheese fan's on 23 February, 20 April, 4 July, 31 August, 8 October, and 23 November; and cattle fairs on 27 January, 24 February, 31 March, 21 April, 31 May, 5 July, 2 August, 1 September, 10 October, 24 November, and 15 December. Shipbuilding and manufactures of shot, lead pipes, paint, ropes, leather, whips, fringe, thread, tobacco, sweetmeats, and chemicals are carried on. Commerce is hampered by the bad navigation of the Dee, and has been much impaired by steam communication between Wales and Liverpool.

The Chester Port Sanitary Authority includes representatives of the city of Chester

The Chester Port Sanitary Authority includes representatives of the city of Chester 3, Hawarden Eural Sanitary Authority 1, Flint Rural Sanitary Authority 2, Holywell 5, Rhyl (urban) 1. The ports in the district include Chester, Saltney, Connah's Quay, Mostyn, Point of Ayr, Rhyl, and the anchorage of Wild Roads; of these Connah's Quay continues the most important port. An hospital is established at Mostyn for exceptional cases of illness, such as cholera, &c. The number of vessels registered as belonging to the port of Chester in 1893 was 104 (8526 tons). The entries in 1892 were 2096 (150,430 tons), and the clearances 2091 (151,591 tons).

The jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chester over the estuary of the Dee in Plantagenet and Tudor times was very considerable

The jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chester over the estuary of the Dee in Plantagenet and Tudor times was very considerable. In 1402 and again in 1407 the mayor with the sheriffs put to sea with a small fleet of 4 vessels, fully armed under duly appointed " admirals" in the service of King Henry IV., and on many other occasions he had to exercise his authority of arrest of suspicious vessels. In 1403 the mayor and citizens of Chester were pardoned for their share in the insurrection of Henry Percy on finding shipping and provisions for the transport of men going in the king's retinue to the rescue of the castle of Beaumaris. In Elizabeth's reign it became his duty to provide transport and provisions for the numerous detachments of soldiers constantly being sent over for the war in Ireland. The shipping, which in the reign of Henry VI. numbered 24 to 59, mounted in 35 Henry VIIL to 157, and in 3, 4 Philip and Mary to 189, falling in 15 Elizabeth to 105, and 42 Elizabeth to 54. The tonnage of these vessels seldom exceeded 100 tons, the majority hailing from Hilbre and Neston. The cargo consisted commonly of herrings and other fish, tallow, wheat, hides, fells of deer, brock, sheep, goat, calf, marten, and other skins, " fox-cases," frieze, chickens, flocks, blankets, wine, and iron from Spain.

Chester was first chartered by its earls in the

Chester was first chartered by its earls in the 13th century, and has sent members to Parliament since 1541. By the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, the representation has been reduced from 2 to 1. It is governed by a mayor, 10 aldermen, and 30 councillors, and is divided municipally into 5 wards. It includes as a borough the parishes of St John the Baptist, St Olave, St Michael, St Peter, St Bridget, and St Martin, the-extra-parochial places of Chester Castle, Chester Cathedral, Little St John, and Spittle-Boughton, and large portions of the parishes of St Oswald, St Mary-on-the-Hill, and Holy Trinity. The cifcy has a separafce criminal jurisdiction, and tries by its own recorder. The county assizes are held at it in both Lent and Summer, and quarter sessions four times a year, generally in April, July, October, and December, Area of city, 3037 acres; houses, 7783; of parliamentary borough, 3565 acres; houses, 8412; population of city, 37,105; of borough, 42,297.

Dr Cowper, the Bandle Holmes, the antiquaries of four generations, Middleton the voyager, Sir John Vanbrugh architect and poet, Bradshaw the poet, Molyneux the mathematician½ Higden the author of " Polychronicon," Brerewood the mathematician, Dean Whittingham the translator of the Geneva Bible, Kynaston and Downham the divines, and Brassey the railway engineer were natives. De Quincey resided in the Priory House, and Kingsley was canon of Chester Cathedral.

The See of Chester, as distinguished from the ancient See of Lichfield, Chester, and Coventry, was founded in 1541 by Henry VIII. It numbers among its bishops Walton, the editor of the " Hexapla;" Wilkins, one of the founders of the Royal Society; the learned Pearson, author of the " Lectures on the Creed;" the energetic Porteous, and Stubbs the historian. Its dignitaries include the bishop, a dean, a chancellor, 2 archdeacons, 4 residentiary canons, 24 honorary canons, and 4 minor canons. The income of the bishop is £4500, of the dean £1000, the canons £500, of each of the archdeacons £200. The diocese of Chester, in the province of York, includes the entire county, except parts of the ecclesiastical parishes of Haughton and Roughton (in. The diocese of Manchester), Whitchurch, with Dodington (in the diocese of Lichfield) and Threapwood (in the diocese of St Asaph); part of the ecclesiastical parish of Whitewell, and parts of Dodleston and Lache-cum-Saltney in Flintshire; part of the ecclesiastical parish of Christchurch Dukinfield. in Lancaster; and part of the ecclesiastical parish of Barthomley in Staffordshire. Acreage, 657,123; population, 730,052; church accommodation, 150,927; benefices, 265; parochial clergy, 408.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyCheshire 
HundredBroxton 
Poor Law unionChester 
Registration districtChester1884 - 1974

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Chester from the following:


Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cheshire is available to browse.


Maps

Online maps of Chester are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cheshire papers online:


Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Cheshire, 1580 is available on the Heraldry page.

CountyCheshire West and Chester
RegionNorth West
CountryEngland
Postal districtCH1
Post TownChester

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