Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CHESTER

CHESTER, a city and two sub-districts in Great Boughton district, Cheshire; and a diocese in Cheshire and part of Lancashire. The city stands on the river Dee and on the Via Devana, 5 miles SE of the head of the Dee's estuary, and 16, through Birkenhead, SSE of Liverpool. An artificial channel of the Dee, navigable for vessels of 350 tons, gives it communication, through the Dee's estuary, 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; and railways go from it in five directions, toward Birkenhead, Manchester, Crewe, Shrewsbury, and Holyhead.

History.—The ancient Britons had a town on the site of Chester from some remote period unknown to record. The Romans took possession of it in 61; built fortifications round it; placed in it their twentieth legion, "Valens Victrix;" called it Deva or Deunana; and held it till the last hour of their sway in England. The Britons, on gaining repossession, called it Caer-Lleon-Vawr, signifying "the fort of the great legion. " The Saxons took it from the Britons in 828, and called it Legeceaster. The Danes got possession of it in 894; but were expelled by Ethelfreda in 908. Hugh Lupus obtained it, with the county, from the Conqueror; and made it the seat of his palatinate. Henry II. visited it in 1156; John in 1212; Henry III., gathering his nobles against Llewelyn, in 1260; Edward I., marching to the conquest of Wales, in 1274, 1276, and 1294; Queen Eleanor, in 1284; Prince Edward of Carnarvon, receiving the homage of the Welsh, in 1300; Edward II., in 1312; the Black Prince, in 1353; Richard II., in 1394, -and again, as a prisoner, in 1399; Margaret of Anjou, rallying her Lancastrians, in 1455; Henry VI., in 1470; Henry VII., in 1495; Prince Arthur, in 1499; James I., in 1617; Charles I., retreating from Benton Heath, in 1645; and James II., in 1687. 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 parliamentary forces under Brereton. It became a county of itself, with jurisdiction separate from Cheshire, in the time of Henry VII.; 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.

Walls and Streets.—The city stands on a rocky elevation, half encircled by a bend of the Dee; is engirt with walls 1¾ mile and 101 yards in circuit; and presents to the eye of a stranger a striking and picturesque appearance. The walls date from the Roman times; underwent extensive repair and improvement, in 908, by the Princess Ethelfleda; retain, to the present day, portions of both Roman and Saxon masonry; 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 Dee's estuary, the circumjacent country, and the distant Welsh mountains. Four main entrances and three posterns pierce the walls; and three of many towers 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. One of the three nearly perfect towers, the Bonewaldesthorne, contains a camera; another, the Water-tower, has been converted into a museum for the mechanics' institution; and the third, the Phœnix-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. " Many Roman relics, including altars, urns, coins, lamps, weapons, statues, pottery, and pieces of pavement, have been found near the wall and under the streets, in the course of excavations; and a considerable part of a hypocaust or sudatory still stands at an inn, with the sign of the "Roman Bath, " in Bridge-street.

Four principal streets run from a common centre, called here the pentise-elsewhere it would be called the cross -to the four cardinal points of the compass, and terminate at the gates. Lesser streets intersect the principal ones at right angles, and divide the four quarters of the city into lesser squares. The carriage-way of the priucipal streets is sunk, by excavation, from 4 to 10 feet below the original level of the ground: ranges of one-story 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 the mediæval style, some of them old and timbered, surmount the piazzas; and flights of steps 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 enterprize and at great cost; but it retains the old style, includes some restoration of timbered houses, adds tasteful imitations of mediæval stone architecture, and leaves the city 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.

Public Buildings.—A castle was built in the city by Hugh Lupus, soon after the Conquest; and appears to have included some portion of the Roman fortifications. A magnificent hall of it, 100 feet long, 45 feet wide, very lofty, and of great historical interest, was pulled down in 1786; and the chief part of it now standing is a tower, called Agricola's, containing a frescoed chapel, in which James II. heard mass. A spacious modern edifice occupies the castle's site and bears its name; is a royal fortress, with a governor and other officers; includes barracks, armoury, shire hall, and county jail; presents a grand classical exterior, much admired; and equals or surpasses every edifice of its kind, in the convenience of its interior arrangements. The barracks have accommodation for 120 men; the armoury contains 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 contains a spacious semicircular court-room; and the county-jail comprises four suites of buildings, one of them of 1869 at a cost of £3, 956, and has capacity for 293 prisoners. The militia barracks stand in close proximity to the castle-yard; are structures of local red sandstone, with Helsby stone facings; and were erected in 1860, at a cost of about £8, 000. The city jail and house of correction are two-storey edifices, surrounded by a brick wall; and have capacity for 32 debtors, and for 102 male and 36 female criminals. The exchange, in Northgate-street, was burnt down in Dec. 1862; but a new town-hall, at a cost of about £30, 000, was completed 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 £4, 000. 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-handsome edifice with tetrastyle Corinthian portico. The railway station is 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; has a main faç ade 1, 010 feet long, and a passenger range 1, 160 feet long; and 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 the tragical accident by the fracture of one of its girders in May 1847. The old bridge across the Dee was originally constructed by Edward the Elder, but has undergone considerable alteration; and is seven-arched, narrow, inconvenient, and picturesque. The new bridge was erected in 1832, at a cost of £36, 000; is 340 feet long and 33 feet wide; and has a single arch, 200 feet in span. The suspension bridge is light and handsome. The race-course, on low ground at the base of the city wall, is 1,800 yards in circuit. A public park of 26 acres, at a cost of £70, 000, was presented to the city by the Marquis of Westminster in 1868; and a statue of the Marquis, at a cost of at least £5, 000, was to be erected by the people at its chief entrance. An equestrian statue of Viscount Combermere was erected at the principal entrance of the castle in 1865. Other public erections are the music hall, a lecture hall, a mechanics' institute, commercial halls, markets, baths, wash-houses, and the custom-house.

Ecclesiastical Affairs.—The places of worship within the city, in 1851, were 15 of the Church of England, with 7, 547 sittings; 17 of dissenters, with 5, 951 s.; and 3 of other bodies, with 538 s. Those in 1869, besides the cathedral and some in the suburban parts, were 11 of the Church of England, 1 of English Presbyterians, 4 of independents, 1 of Baptists, 1 of Quakers, 1 of Unitarians, 2 of Wesleyans, 1 of N.Methodists, 1 of P. Methodists, 1 of Welsh Calvinists, 1 of Christians, 1 of Brethren, and 3 of Roman Catholics. There was also a Roman Catholic convent; and there were two mortuary chapels in the public cemetery. The livings in the city, or connected with it, are the rectories of St. Bridget, St. Martin, St. Peter, St. Mary-on-the-Hill, and Holy Trinity; the vicarages of St. John the Baptist, St. Oswald, St. Michael, St. Olave, Lache-with-Saltney, and Bruera; and the p. curacies of Little St. John, Upton, St. Paul, and Christ-Church. St. Martin is annexed to St. Bridget; St. Olave to St. Michael; Upton to St. Mary. on-the-Hill. Value of St. Bridget, £200; of St. Mary-on-the Hill, £400; * of Holy Trinity, £290; of St. John the Baptist, £300; of St. Oswald, £323; of Little St. John, £230; of St. Michael, £230; of Lache-with-Saltney, £72; * of St. Paul, £150; of Christ-Church, £300; of Bruera, £180. Patron of St. Bridget, St. Peter, St. Michael, Lache-with-Saltney, and Christ Church, the Bishop of Chester; of St. Mary-on-the-Hill and St. John the Baptist, the Marquis of Westminster; of Holy Trinity, the Earl of Derby; of St. Oswald and Bruera, the Dean I and Chapter of Chester; of Little St. John, not reported; I of St. Paul, the Vicar of St. John's.

A nunnery was founded in Northgate-street, by Walphenes, King of Mercia, and dedicated to his daughter, St. Werburgh; and it gave place, in 1053, to a Benedictine abbey, founded by Hugh Lupus. The edifice suffered severely from inroads by the Welsh; was not completed till 1210; and sustained shocks afterwards by 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, in 960, for King Edgar compelling eight tributary Scotch and Welsh princes to row his royal barge to it upon the Dee. 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; and houses of Black, Grey, and White Friars. Curious pageants, of the character of religious dramas, began to be enacted on the streets in 1328; burst into notoriety for 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 up with rubbish.

The cathedral belonged to the Benedictine abbey; and did not become a cathedral till the Reformation. 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 perish able local sandstone, requiring frequent repair. Its parts are a nave of seven bays, with aisles; a south porch; a choir of five bays, with aisles; a Lady chapel of three bays, with aisles of two bays; a south transept of five bays, with aisles; a north transept of one bay, with eastern sacristy; a central tower, and a south-western tower. The total length, from east to west, is 365 feet; the length along the transept is 180 feet; the breadth of nave and choir is 74½ feet; and the height of the central tower is 127 feet. The chief monuments are an altar-tomb and three slabs to abbots of the 14th century; 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 a memorial window, of 1852, to Mrs. Richards. The bishop's throne was originally St. Werburgh's shrine, of the time Edward III.; and has been restored by Canon Slade. The chapter-house measures 50 feet by 26; and is reached through a vestibule 33 feet by 27. The cloisters measure 110 feet each way; and are on the north side of the nave. A restoration of the cathedral, at an estimated cost of £50, 000, was commenced in 1868. The deanery was formed out of St. Thomas' chapel.

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 kingdom; 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. St. Bridget's church was built in 1828. St. Martin's has ceased to be used. St. Peter's is of the time of Henry VII., and was thoroughly repaired in 1854. St. Mary's is early English, and was renovated in 1861. 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. St. Paul's was built in 1830. St. Thomas' was founded in 1869, and to cost about £10, 500. 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 Unitarian chapel was built in 1700, and is associated with the labours of Matthew Henry. One of the Roman Catholic chapels was built in 1868.

Schools and Charities.—Henry VIII.'s grammar-school educates boys elected by the dean and chapter; is supported by property attached to the cathedral; and has one scholarship. 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. The Grosvenor free schools, for 400 or 450 boys and girls, are maintained by the Marquis of Westminster. Oldfield's charity, for apprenticing boys or sending them to universities, has an income of £405. Broughton's charity has £131; and Owen Jones' charity, £466. St. John's hospital, founded before Edward III. 's time by Randle, Duke of Brittany, and St. Giles' hospital, founded by Randle, Earl of Chester, have jointly £608. Deane's, Smith's, Jones', and Harvie's alms-houses have from £75 to £203. Total endowed charities, £2, 478. The general infirmary was opened in 1761; and is supported at a cost of upwards of £3, 000 a year. The house of industry is regulated by an act of parliament of 1763. There are likewise a county lunatic asylum and a female penitentiary.

Trade and Commerce.—The city has a head post-office, ‡ a telegraph office, three banking offices, and five chief inns; possesses the traffic of a county town, a bonding-port, and a seat of sessions and assizes; and publishes four weekly newspapers, and a monthly farmer's herald. Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays; cheese fairs on 23 Feb., 20 April, 4 July, 31 Aug., 8 Oct., and 23 Nov.; and cattle fairs on 27 Jan., 24 Feb., 31 March, 21 April, 31 May, 5 July, 2 Aug., 1 Sept., 10 Oct., 24 Nov., and 15 Dec. Ship-building and manufactures of shot, lead pipes, paint, ropes, leather, whips, fringe, thread, tobacco, and chemicals are carried on. Commerce is hampered by bad navigation of the Dee, and has been much impaired by steam communication between Wales and Liverpool. The port's jurisdiction includes Bagilt, Flint, Mostyn, Rhuddlan, and Wepre. The registered vessels at the beginning of 1863 were 54 small sailing vessels, of aggregately 1, 985 tons; 56 larger sailing-vessels, of aggregately 3, 917 tons; 3 small steam-vessels, of jointly 87 tons; and 6 larger steam-vessels, of aggregately 1, 952 tons. The vessels which entered in 1858, from foreign ports, were 15 British and 15 foreign, of aggregately 3, 131 tons; and those which entered coastwise were 1, 019 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 50, 544 tons, and 347 steam-vessels, of aggregately 25, 713 tons. The vessels which entered from foreign ports, in 1862, were 9, of aggregately 1, 749 tons; and those which cleared for foreign ports, in that year, were 5, of aggregately 950 tons. The customs in 1858 were £64, 027; in 1867, £89, 556. The imports are provisions, hides, tallow, timber, iron, hemp, flax, feathers, lamb and kid skins, fruit, oil, wine, barilla, and cork; and the exports are cheese, lead, calamine, copper-plates, cast-iron, and coals.

The Borough.—Chester was first chartered by its earls in the 13th century; and has sent two members to parliament since 1541. It is governed by a mayor, ten aldermen, and thirty councillors; and is divided municipally into five 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 city has a separate criminal jurisdiction, and tries by its own recorder. The county assizes are held at it in both Lent and summer; and quarter sessions in April, July, Oct., and Dec. Acres, 3, 010. Real property in 1860, £309, 091; of which £2, 545 were in gas-works, £12, 422 in mines, and £198, 369 in railways. Direct taxes, in 1857, £30, 017. Electors, in 1868, 2, 700. Pop., in 1841, 23, 115; in 1861, 31, 110. Houses, 5, 971. -Dr. Cowper, Raudle Holmes, Sir John Vanbrugh, Bradshaw, the early poet, Molyneux, the mathematician, Higden, the author of "Polychronicon, " Brerewood, the mathematician, Dean Whittingham, the translator of the Geneva Bible, and Kynaston and Downham, the divines, were natives.

The Sub-Districts.—The parishes and places in Chester city are united for matters connected with the poor under a local act; and, while in Great Boughton registration district, are not in Great Boughton poor-law union. The two sub-districts of Chester-Castle and Chester-Cathedral take name from extra-parochial places within the city; but include parishes and places far without. The extra-parochial place of Chester-Castle adjoins the parish of St. John the Baptist, and is mainly covered by the castle buildings. Pop., 128. House, 1. The extra-parochial place of Chester-Cathedral includes the cathedral and its precincts. Pop., 376. Houses, 68. The sub-district of Chester-Castle contains six parishes, parts of three other parishes, and four extra-parochial tracts. Acres, 16, 882. Pop., 21, 672. Houses, 4, 246. Chester-Cathedral sub-district contains eight parishes, parts of five other parishes, and three extra-parochial tracts. Acres, 25, 225. Pop., 19, 762. Houses, 3, 596.

The Diocese.—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, and the energetic Porteous. Its dignitaries include the bishop, a dean, four canons, two archdeacons, four honorary canons, a chancellor, and four minor canons. The income of the bishop is £4, 500; of the dean, £1, 000; of each of the archdeacons, £200. The diocese comprises all Cheshire, except part of the parish of Threapwood, and all the deanery of Warrington in Lancashire except the parish of Leigh; and is divided into the archdeaconries of Chester and Liverpool. Acres, 968, 312. Pop. in 1861, 1, 248, 416. Houses, 217, 350. Many of the livings have recently been raised in status, as named in our separate articles on them; but all shall be named here as they stood in 1861.

The archdeaconry of Chester comprises the deaneries of Chester, Frodsham, Macclesfield, Nantwich, Malpas, and Middlewich. The deanery of Chester contains the livings of Chester city; the rectories of Barrow, Christleton, Delamere, Doddleston, Eccleston-St. Mary, Pulford, Tarporley, and Thornton-near-Chester; the vicarage of Tarvin; the p. curacies of Farndon, Guilden-Sutton, Ince, Ashton-Hayes, Duddon, Kelsall, and Waverton; and the donatives of Plemonstal and Hargrave. The deanery of Frodsham contains the rectories of Ashton-upon-Mersey, Grappenhall, and Lymm; the vicarages of Bowdon, Great Budworth, Frodsham, Knutsford, Rostherne, Runcorn, and Weaverham; the p. curacies of Sale-St. Anne, Altrincham, Carrington, Dunham-Massey, Ringway, Timperley, Antrobus, Barnton, Northwich, Hartford, Little Leigh, Lostock, Lower Peover, Lower Whitley, Stretton, Tabley, Witton, Wilderspool, Alvanley, Arley, Kingsley, Norley, Lachford, Crosstown, Toft, Lymm-with-Warburton, Bollington, High Legh, High Leigh, Marthall, Over Tabley, Aston-by-Sutton, Daresbury, Halton, Runcorn-Trinity, Thelwall, and Weston-Point; and the donative of Over Peover. The deanery of Macclesfield contains the rectories of Alderley, Cheadle, Gawsworth, Mobberley, Northenden, Stockport, Taxall, and Wilmslow; the vicarages of Mottram-in-Longdendale and Prestbury; and the p. curacies of Birtles, Handforth, Newton-St. Mary, Godley-cum-Newton-Green, Stayleybridge, Tintwistle, Woodhead, Bollington, Bosley, Capesthorne, Chelford, Henbury, Hurdsfield, Macclesfield-Christchurch, Macclesfield-St. Paul, Macclesfield-St. Peter, Macclesfield-Forest, Marton, North Rode, Poynton, Pott-Shrigley, Rainow, Salters ford, Siddington, Sutton-St. George, Sutton-St. James, Wincle, Woodford, Stockport-St. Peter, Stockport-St. Matthew, Stockport-St. Thomas, Bredbury, Castle Hall, Disley, Dukinfield, Dukinfield-St. Mark, Hyde, Hyde-St. Thomas, Marple, Norbury, Portwood, Romily, and Werneth. The deanery of Nantwich contains the rectories of Baddiley, Barthomley, Coppenhall, Nantwich, and Wistaston; the vicarages of Acton, Andlem, and Wybunbury; the p. curacies of Burly Dam, Wrenbury, Alsager, Crewe-Green, Haslington, Bunbury, Burwardsley, Calveley, Tilston, Crewe-Railway, Doddington, and Weston; and the donative of Minshull. The deanery of Malpas contains the rectories of Aldford, Coddington, Handley, Malpas, Lower Malpas, Marbury, Tattenhall, and Tilston; and the p. curacies of Harthill, Whitewell, Bickerton, Chadd, and Shocklach. The deanery of Middlewich contains the rectories of Astbury, Brereton, Smethwick, Davenham, Lawton-Church, Swettenham, and Warmingham; the vicarages of Middlewich, Over, Sandbach, and Whitegate; and the p. curacies of Buglawton, Congleton, Congleton-St. Stephen, Congleton-St. James, Eaton, Mosley, Odd-Rode, Smallwood, Little Budworth, Wharton, Byley-with-Lees, Minshull-Vernon, Wettenhall, Winsford, Sandbach-St. John, Wheelock, Church-Hulme, Elworth, and Goostrey.

The archdeaconry of Liverpool comprises the deaneries of Wirrall and Warrington. The deanery of Wirrall contains the rectories of Bebington, Heswall, West Kirby, Thurstaston, Wallasey, and Woodchuch; the vicarages of Backford, Eastham, and Neston; and the p. curacies of Higher Bebington, New Ferry, Tranmere-St. Catherine, Tranmere-St. Paul, Bidstone, Birkenhead-St. Anne, Birkenhead-St. James, Birkenhead-St. John, Birkenhead-St. Mary, Birkenhead-Trinity, Birkenhead-Woodside, Bromborough, Burton, Port-Ellesmere, Frank-by, Hoylake, Willaston, Overchurch, Seacombe, Shotwick, Capenhurst, Stoak, Egremont, and New Brighton. The deanery of Warrington contains the rectories of Winwick, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Croft, Golborne, New Church, Newton-in-Makerfield, Warrington, Liverpool, Sephton, Walton-on-the-Hill, West Derby, Wigan, Aughton, Halsall, and North Meols; the vicarages of Ashton-St. Thomas, Walton-on-the-Hill, Childwall, Huyton, Prescot, Sutton, and Ormskirk; the numerous p. curacies in Liverpool parish and in Toxteth; and the p. curacies of Golborne-St. Mary, Bury-Lane, Newton-St. Peter, Warrington-St. Paul, Warrington-Trinity, Burton-Wood, Hollingfare, Padgate, Great Crosby, Sea-forth, Waterloo, Bootle, Everton-St. George, Everton-St. Augustine, Everton-St. Chrysostom, Formby, Kirk-by, Kirkdale, Edge-Hill, Edge-Hill-St. Stephen, Edge-Hill-Innocents, Edge-Hill-St. Aidan, Aigburth, Garston, Grassendale, Hale, Halewood, Wavertree, Wavertree-St. Mary, Woolton, Knowsley, Roby, Eccleston-Christchurch, Eccleston-St. Thomas, Farnworth, St. Helen's, Parr, Rainford, Rainhill, Sankey, Whiston, Stanley, Fairfield, Knotty-Ash, Kirby, Wigan-St. George, Abram, Billinge, Haigh, Hindley, Pemberton, Scholes, Upholland, Altcar, Maghull, Melling, Lydiate, Crossens, Southport-Christchurch, Southport-Trinity, Bickerstaffe, Lathom, Newbrough, Scarth Hill, Scarisbrick, and Skelmersdale.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a city and two sub-districts"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Chester Inc/PLU       Great Boughton PLU       Cheshire AncC
Place: Chester

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