CHESTER, an ancient and episcopal city, municipal and parliamentary borough, and river-port, the capital of Cheshire, on the right bank of the Dee, 22 m. from the mouth of its estuary, 16 m. s.e. of Liverpool. It stands on a rocky sandstone height, and is mostly inclosed in an oblong quadrangle of ancient walls, 7 or 8 ft. thick, nearly 2 m. in circuit, and with 4 gates, and now forming a promenade with parapets, where two persons can walk abreast. The two main streets cross each other at right angles, and were cut out of the rock by the Romans 4 to 10 ft. below the level of the houses. The houses in these streets are curiously arranged; the front parts of their second stories, as far back as 16 ft., form a continuous paved promenade or covered gallery, open in front where there are pillars and steps up from the street below, with private houses above, inferior shops and warehouses below, and the chief shops of the town within. This arrangement, called the "rows," together with the ancient walls, and the half-timbered construction of many of the houses, with quaintly carved ornamented gables of the I6th c., render C. perhaps the most picturesque city in England. C. cathedral is an irregular massive structure of crumbling sandstone, 375 by 200 ft., with a tower of 127 feet. It was formerly the church of the abbey of St. Werburgh, and for 650 years was one of the richest in England. St. John's church, now in ruins, is supposed to have been founded by Ethelred in 698. The Dee is crossed by a superb stone arch of 200 ft. span. Suburbs of villas have recently arisen outside the walls; and a public park, pre sented by the marquis of 'Westminster, was opened in 1867. The C. railway station is the center of several important railways, and is one of the largest and finest in the king dom. C. has manufactures of lead, iron-foundries, chemical works, and an iron-ship
building yard. The chief exports are cheese, copper, cast-iron, and coal. C. has many charitable and religious institutions, and is the abode of many wealthy families. Pop.
'71, 35,257. The city is a county in itself, and returns two members to parliament. In 1675, 3,550 vessels, of 218,368 tons, entered and cleared, but the silting up of the mouth of the Dee is against the shipping trade.
C. was Derana Castro, or Colonia Devana, an important Roman station, and has yielded many Roman remains—as masonry, coins, inscriptions, fibulte, altars, a hypo caust, and a statue of Pallas. C. was only in 828 taken by the Saxons from the Britons. Its strength made it a refuge against the descents of the Danes and Northmen, but the Danes took it in S94. Etlielfrida retook it in 904, and rebuilt the walls. From the Norman conquest to the time of Henry III., the earls of C. had their own courts and parliaments at C., with 8 subfeudatories and the superiors of the great religious houses, C. being then a county palatine. Henry III. made his eldest sou earl of C., a title held since by the prince of Wales. Llewelyn ravaged C. in 1255. The 25 famous C. mys teries or religious plays by Randle, a monk (1250-60), were acted in the church. After a long siege, the parliamentary forces defeated those of Charles I. at C., and took the city. Pearson and Porteus were bishops of Chester. Trinity church contains the remains of Matthew IIenry, the Biblical commentator. The commerce of C. has stead ily declined since the rise of Liverpool.