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Chester Leasing

Did You Know?

Chester has the only surviving rock cut Roman Shrine in the Country. Called Minerva’s Shrine after the goddess of war it is situated in Edgar’s field in Handbridge and is designated as a Grade I listed building by English heritage.

Chester is the best preserved walled city in England. Its grade I listed walls originate from 100 AD and form an almost complete circuit around the city. With a total walkway length of 1.8 miles there is only a small 100-metre section which is no longer intact.

Chester’s racecourse, the Roodee, is Britain’s oldest sporting venue in continual use. The very first race took place in 1539 and replaced the particularly violent and bloody traditional local football game which was played there. The substitution was thought up by Mayor Henry Gee. It is thought that this is where the term ‘gee-gees’ (to refer to horses), comes from.

The car park just before New Gate stands on the site of the “Chester Lion Brewery Co Ltd” which was founded in 1642. The figure of the Lion belonged to the brewery and, from the 1840s, it was displayed upon a tall tower on the site of the existing car park. When it was known that the brewery was to be demolished, Chester Civic Trust stepped in to save the Lion.

Daniel Craig. That’s right, the famous 007 actor is from Chester, born on March 2, 1968, at 41 Liverpool Road where his dad Tim lived with then wife and Daniel’s mum Carol Olivia. His mother was also an art student in Liverpool, whose parents had run The Deva Hotel in Watergate Street.

One of many great historical facts about Chester was that it was one of the last cities in England to fall to the Normans, and William the Conqueror ordered the construction of a castle to dominate the town and the nearby Welsh border. The Norman Conquest was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Bretons, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy.

It was the Saxons who rebuilt the city in the 10th century AD, reestablishing the city's strategic importance as a military and trading centre. This work involved the repair and enlarging of the walls to their current position. The Saxons named Chester 'Legacaestir' from 'fortress city of the legions'.

Chester is home to some of the best preserved Roman ruins in Northern Europe, from the remains of the city fortifications to the underground heating systems once found around the back of an old Spud-u-Like. Gladiators once battled to the death in the Roman city’s amphitheatre, the remnants of which are Britain’s largest surviving example of a Roman fighting arena.