Main Page

The definitive "Wiki" site all about the City of Chester in the UK. With a detailed Timeline and in-depth information about architecture.


 * "I have come to Chester, madam, I cannot tell how, and far less can I tell how to get away from it." - James Boswell (as reported in a letter to Samuel Johnson October 22, 1779),

Start Exploring Chester


If you are really just wanting to wander around, try doing a "mouse-over" on the map above and click when you see something which interests you, or click on City Walls to go to another map with even more places to visit. Another way to navigate is via the Site Index.

In some places you will see navigation icons like the compass rose on the right. These are used to navigate through a series of pages on related topics.

The little symbol on the left will take you to the relevant part of the timeline. You can "mouse over" to see where you are going.

If you get lost (but are still in Chesterwiki), then the top link in the menu-bar at the left hand side will bring you back here.

Visiting Chester for the first time




There is a lot to see in Chester. For a first visit, a walk around the complete City Walls and a detailed look at The Rows can take a whole day.The Millennium festival trail takes in most of the highlights. On a short trip it is worth a visit to the Grosvenor Museum, and possibly even the Military Museum. Unfortunately, Chester Castle can only be seen from the outside at present, but the Town Hall may be open and the Cathedral offers the spectacular view of Chester from above. Given an extra day, Chester Zoo should not be missed.

Using this site
The site is built about the Timeline, which traces links (some of which are tenuous) between the history of Chester and the River Dee and the wider world. The point of the timeline is not to make Chester appear any more important than it is, but simply to provide a place to start other journeys through history. A Short History is expanded upon in a series of Articles which focus on specific themes, places and characters. In addition there is a extensive series of Links to other resources, and a special section on Wildlife. The Books page has links to books about Chester, many of which are available online as part of the Google Books project and other archives, often as free "e-books". The Maps page deals with old maps of Chester, and if you want to walk around the City Wall, our City Walls page may add to your experience. The Rows of Chester also have their own section, and if you are interested in Chester Castle, the Norman Earls of Chester, or Roman Chester we have something here too.

Welcome to Chesterwiki


"Wikis" are an example of collaborative, user-generated content - Wikipedia is the best known example. Not everything you read in a Wiki may be true: someone may have gone in there and said "the earth is flat" - its up to you to check. For an example of how this site works click on Heronbridge.

If you want to know about the history of this site (or how to set up your own) see; Chesterwiki.

We are not the only website about Chester. You might want to visit:


 * http://www.chesterwalls.info/ - written by Chester's best informed city guide, this really is worth a look. Call him if you want a guided tour, but don't miss his site if you are going to walk around the City Walls.
 * http://chesterculture.wordpress.com/category/chester-culture/ - an interesting blog site about Chester - also has listings for cultural events.
 * http://aroundchester.blogspot.co.uk - a really nice blog about Chester.
 * http://www.medievalchester.ac.uk/index.html - hardcore history, but a very well-made website.
 * http://www.chestertourist.com/ - put together by the incomparable James (who also has a good hotel guide on his site).
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester - a bit like us, then again a bit different (but do give them a visit) - don't bother adding a link to this site because some "Wikiboyscout" will delete it - they seem to think they are the "only source of truth".
 * http://www.visitchester.com/ - the official tourism site, very useful (nice if they gave us a link).
 * http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=49810749&page=1 - Geograph on Chester: lots of pictures.
 * http://www.chesterontheweb.net/ - seems quite up to date - especially as regards news.
 * http://www.docbrown.info/docspics/lakes/lakespage22.htm - "Doc Brown" has an eye for detail.

Some Earlier Writers On Chester
Click on the name and go straight to a free "e-Book" of these guidebooks from over the years:- NB (the Books page opens up many more books):

Become a contributor (no, we are not asking for money)
We want you to help with this site:

Once you are signed-up, the Chester Wiki Guide will give you an introduction to creating and editing pages. Edit and add anything you wish (within the policy guidelines). However, please don't simply copy content from any of the other websites about Chester (such as ChesterWalls and ChesterTourist), as it will save a lot of typing to simply link to those as appropriate. And please don't add advertising, that is against the terms of use of the free hosting service that we use.

The page we would really like to expand upon is that on the Grosvenor Museum. This is one of the best "small museums" in the country (and has nothing officially to do with this website).

Writing articles
This is really easy. If you think that it would be a good idea to write about "Thorntons" then why not? There is the building itself, and all those stories about the hauntings...

Adding links
Links both out of and into Chesterwiki help tie things together (none of the sites linked to below are in any way affiliated with ChesterWiki);