Chester

Understand

thumb|Chester art gallery facade Chester originated in the Romano-British period at the latest, when it formed the settlement known as Deva or Castra Devana, the fortress city of the 20th Legion (Legio XX Valeria Victrix). As a result, some parts of Chester are around two thousand years old. It was a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War in the 1640s, and along the walls, one can see the tower from which King Charles I watched his troops do battle.

A native of Chester is called a 'Cestrian'. Just as Cockneys must be born within earshot of the Bow Bells to be classed a 'true' Cockney, local tradition dictates that to be strictly deemed a 'Cestrian' the person must have been born within the boundaries of the city's Roman walls. However, the last maternity ward within those defined limits was relocated to its current site a couple of miles outside the city walls in the early 1970s.

Visit Chester tourist information.

Get around

The city centre is relatively small with everything within walking distance. For areas a little further away, there are good bus services from the bus station on Gorse Stacks on the north side of the city to nearby villages like Blacon and Saltney, as well as more distant towns such as Mold, Wrexham and Liverpool. Or one can take a taxi.

See

thumb|upright=1.3|Interior of Chester's imposing cathedral, which was left untouched by Henry VIII during his dissolution of all the monasteries because he rather liked it!

Do

The Groves is one of Chester’s premier open spaces, running along the city bank of the River Dee. It became a promenade in the early 1700s and is now part of a longer Riverside Promenade. In 1726, the area was leased to Charles Croughton who secured the river bank and planted an avenue of trees. By the late 18th century it had become known as The Groves. The City Walls also became a fashionable place and during the 18th century, the circuit was modified and the Groves and the walls were connected through the construction of Recorder’s Steps. In Roman times, this section of the riverside was a series of quarries where stone was extracted for building the fortress. In Saxon times, The Groves was probably the main port area and may have had a concentration of leatherworking. The Groves is also the best place to go to take a trip down the river itself through all manner of vessels from motorised tour-boats to row boats and, in warm weather, even pedaloes. thumb|The River Dee, which runs through Chester Grosvenor Park was one of the first public parks in Britain outside of the big industrial cities and was given to the city of Chester in 1867 by Richard Grosvenor, the Second Marquess of Westminster.