Chester is around 2,000 years old, dating back to Roman times, with parts of the Walls just as old. The Romans, who developed Chester as a major city in the North West, called the city Deva. Chester was builtas a fortress, safe in the loop of the River Dee. Back in those times Chester was the principal town of Roman Britain, and many relics can still be seen today as parts of the original Roman walls.

Contary to popular belief, the weir below the Old Dee Bridge was not actually built by the Romans but by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester (1077-1101) to hold water to power his river mills.

The most popular historic features of Chester include the ‘cross’, where the four main streets intersect, as well as remains of a strong room and hypocaust system beneath Chester shops and, controversially, half of Chester’s original amphitheatre. The other half of the amphitheatre is covered by a listed building.

The Middle Ages

This period saw Chester Castle built after the 1066 Norman Conquest, adding to Chester’s defence against the Celts. The Normans also built what is now Chester Cathedral which still stands tall in the city centre today. Chester was then the largest port in North West England, bringing quite a lot of affluence to the city.

Georgian & Victorian periods

The port of Chester suffered serious decline from 1762. By 1840 Chester could no longer effectively compete as a port with Liverpool, however significant shipbuilding and ropemaking continued. It was the increasing use of large ocean ships which led to the diversion of the trade to the relatively young town of Liverpool amongst other locations along the Mersey.

During the Georgian era, Chester grew in affluence once again, becoming a town with elegant terraces where the landed aristocracy lived. This trend continued into the Industrial Revolution, when the city was populated with the upper classes who had moved from the now industrial sprawls of Manchester and Liverpool.

The Industrial Revolution also brought the Chester Canal to the city, failing to bring industry to Chester however. Two large central railway stations were also constructed, one of which remains today as Chester station.

Later, the Victorians built Chester’s Gothic Town Hall, dominating the city’s skyline along with the nearby Cathedral. The original Guild Hall had burnt down. The Victorian Town Hall features a clock tower with only three faces, with the Welsh facing side remaining blank. Apparently the architects declared “Chester won’t give the Welsh the time of day”.

The famous Eastgate clock was also built at the end of the 19th century, a central feature overlooking Eastgate street as part of the city walls.The clock was to constructed to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and is very popular with tourists, who have consequently given it the impressive title as the second most photographed clock in the UK after Big Ben.

The Present Day

A considerable amount of land in Chester is owned by Duke of Westminster who owns an estate at Eaton near the village of Eccleston. Grosvenor is the Duke’s family name, which explains such features in the City such as the Grosvenor Hotel and Grosvenor Park. Much of Chester’s architecture dates from the Victorian era, with many of the buildings that aren’t modelled on the Jacobean half timbered style of the medieval times being designed by John Douglas, employed by the Duke as his principal architect. He had a trademark of twisted chimneystacks, 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. His protege James Strong a city architect in 1911 designed the former 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. By 1945 two problems needed attention, namely affordable housing and traffic congestion. As a result vast areas of slums were cleared and in 1964 an inner by-pass was driven through and around the City centre. Large areas of open fields on the outskirts of the City were turned into residential areas in the 1950s and early 1960s.

In the late 1960s the City authorities realised that new developments were radically altering the look of the City centre. In 1968 Donald Inshall published a report in collaboration with the City authorities and central government. His report recommended preserving historic buildings and finding new uses for them, rather than tearing them down.

In 1969 the City Conservation Area was designated. Over the next 20 years the emphasis was placed on saving historic buildings, such as The Falcon Inn, Dutch Houses and Kings Buildings.

On January 13, 2002, Chester was granted Fairtrade City status. This status was renewed by the Fairtrade Foundation on August 20, 2003.

In August 2005 the council announced plans to demolish the police station, an unsightly edifice built in the 1960s. However, the replacement building, a cylindrical glass hotel/cafe, has sparked controversy, partly due to the large number of other glass structures planned within the city, especially the new council offices.

The Northgate development will demolish the old Council Offices, which will move into a new building on an old car-park. This structure was unpopular with many of the older citizens of Chester, leading to the local press dubbing it the ‘Glass Slug’.

Cestrians are often perceived (partly-jokingly) of being ‘anti-Welsh’ although many have Welsh ancestors. This is exemplified by the fact that the Town Hall clock does not face west, towards Wales, and an archaic law which states any Cestrian may shoot a Welshman with a longbow if he loiters within the walls after sunset when the curfew bell chimes (although this law no-longer offers legal protection against prosecution for murder). However, many Cestrians work and shop in Wales, and Chester shares a radio station with Wrexham, Wales.

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