"England is like the margin of a spring-run: near its source, always green, always cool, always moist, comparatively free from frost in winter and from drought in summer.'’
-– John Burroughs==================================================================
(in northwestern England) Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the England-Wales border. It is also the historic county town of Cheshire and the second-largest settlement in Cheshire after Warrington. The town’s location was chosen by the Romans as headquarters of Legion XX. Known as Deva, or Castra Devana, it was an important Roman town but was deserted by the early 5th century. There are a number of Roman remains, including the foundations of the north and east walls. By the 10th century Chester was a flourishing Mercian settlement, trading with northern Wales, Ireland, and the Wirral peninsula -- with its own mint, established in 970. William I (the Conqueror) made it the center of a palatinate earldom in 1071, virtually independent of royal government, but in 1237 the earldom reverted to the crown. The earliest city charter dates from 1176. Chester was an important port in the 13th and 14th centuries, trading especially with Ireland. The gradual silting of the River Dee led to its decline, and by the 18th century Liverpool had outstripped it.
+ In the 19th century the coming of the railways made Chester again a thriving commercial center, and the many black-and-white buildings dating from that period reflect its prosperity. Chester became a cathedral city in 1541 when the Benedictine abbey of St. Werburgh was dissolved. The cathedral and the buildings grouped around the cloisters are important examples of medieval architecture. The city was (and remains) a commercial and ecclesiastical center. Chester still has its walls intact in their entire circuit of two miles (3 km). The street plan of the central area is Roman in origin, with four main streets radiating at right angles. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the town is the Rows, a double tier of shops with the lower ones set back and the upper ones projecting over them.
+ The city extends far beyond the Chester urban area to include an expansive rural area adjoining the Welsh border. The countryside is important for dairying and includes a number of small settlements.
+ Toward the end of World War II, 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. These new developments caused local concern as the feel of the city was being altered.
+ In 1968, a report by Donald Insall in collaboration with authorities and government recommended that historic buildings be preserved in Chester. In 1969, the City Conservation Area was designated.
+ On 13 January 2002, Chester was granted Fairtrade City status.( This status was renewed by the Fairtrade Foundation on 20 August 2003.)
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