Nursery

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In the 19th century Chester became a centre for market gardening, plant nurseries, and seed merchants. As early as 1837 Chester market gardens were supplying Liverpool, and the coming of the railways allowed some Chester firms to expand greatly. The trade increased in importance right up to 1914 and maintained its position until the 1930s. The city's location at the geographical centre of the British Isles, together with its good rail connexions and mild climate, made it an ideal place to serve the national market.

The deep blue areas on this map are the various nurseries around Chester.

Dickson

The Dickson family, established in Chester by 1820, was pre-eminent in the trade. Cousins Francis R. Dickson and James Dickson came down from Perth by stage-coach in the early 1800s. The Dicksons were already (since 1728) well established as seed and nursery-men in Scotland, and may have originally come to Chester when Mr Potts of Hoole Hall ordered a vast number of trees for his estates in Wales. Francis (born on Christmas Day, 1793) was the youngest son of the Dickson who had the nursery at Leith Walk, Edinburgh. He had trained at the famous Malcolm's nursery in Surrey.

They occupied the ground at Bache Pool for nearly two decades before moving to nurseries at Newton and Upton. F. & A. Dickson operating at Upton nurseries and James Dickson & Sons at Newton. Francis died on 3 March 1866 and warranted a considerable obituary. He had been a friend of John Loudon, who often consulted him when writing his many books. In 1825 he was nominated, by Thomas Andrew Knight, to be a corresponding member of the Royal Horticultural Society. Francis liked the challenge of growing those plants considered the most difficult; he was known for his integrity, warm-heartedness and generous hospitality. His two sons, Francis Arthur and Thomas took over the business. James died on 28 December 1867 and likewise was succeeded by his sons. The two firms The families had prospered and Francis Arthur's obituary (in 1888) dwelt more on his contribution to the running of Chester (he had been an Alderman and Mayor) than on his horticultural abilities.

The two enterprises separated in 1853 and continued to operate separately until, by the time Francis Arthur died, they had amalgamated.and merged again, when the grounds under cultivation extended to over 400 acres. It was one of the largest businesses of its type in the country.

By the late 19th century the firm supplied all types of bedding plants and trees, together with farm and garden seeds, garden tools, and agricultural implements, and undertook commissions to design gardens for country houses. The rise of a new middle class and an explosion in house building, resulting in the creation of entire suburbs, created an open and hungry market for the nursery industry, which grew rapidly to meet the demand for ornamental plants. Dickson was an important supporter of William Billington and is listed as a subscriber in Billington's: "A Series of Facts, Hints, Observations, and Experiments on the different Modes of raising young Plantations of Oaks, &c". The main gates of the nursery were on Brook Lane with the drive (now Dicksons Drive) - a cobbled road heading north towards Upton with ornate gardens and features such as pools and an alpine rockery. The whole area is now a housing estate.

An advert for Hunters from 1931.

"Mr. Dickson" used to drive his trap to Chester Station every morning at 6 a.m., except Christmas Day and Sundays, to fetch the letters, of which there would be 800 - 1,000. In time the nurseries had their own special post bag and postman. At its height in the latter half of the 19th Cent, the business employed many hundred - most of whom are believed to have lived in the Newton area. The Newton part of the nursery show grounds was very resplendent at its height - probably aligned with the strong national interest in horticulture and the plant explorers. The whole nursery area was reputedly never short of water with springs and brooks draining from the Upton Heath area. Dicksons appear to have managed these water sources with culverts taking them under the various lanes Many of the greenhouses (especially on the west side of the drive had their own wells. The "Guide to Chester" in 1892 has an extensive description of the work of Dicksons Ltd., at Chester and their branches in North Wales:

  • Dicksons, Limited, Nurserymen and Seedsmen to the Queen and to the Prince of Wales, Chester: Dicksons of Chester, are well known to all connected with floriculture, horticulture, and agriculture. They are by special appointment, nurserymen and seedsmen to H.M. the Queen and H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, and besides the extensive grounds, the largest in the county, at Chester, they have branches in Newtown, Montgomeryshire; Dolgelly, Merionethshire; and Pwllheli, Carnarvonshire ... Their extensive nurseries at Chester are situated within ten minutes walk of the Railway Station. It is one of the largest businesses of the kind to be found in the whole of the United Kingdom, the grounds under cultivation exceeding four hundred acres in extent.

According to local tradition, well-to-do Welsh farmers used to apprentice their sons to Dicksons in order to combine with their work the learning of the English language.

The Dobie home/warehouse at Christleton.

The business appears to have got into financial difficulties in the early 20th century with them selling off ground - Newton Park on the 1908 OS survey - and attempts to sell land in Upton. By the 1920s much of their land readily accessible and suitable for housing development had been sold and the nurseries closed in 1933. Stanton House - to the west of Upton Park - the former home of the Dicksons - was derelict by the 1930s. Finally. the Chester shop closed in 1936.

Plants

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor "Dicksonii", commonly known as Dickson's Golden Elm, is a yellow-leaved tree raised in Chester in 1900 by Dickson's Nursery, which distributed it from the autumn of 1907 as "Golden Cornish Elm". "Dicksonii" is now very rare in the UK.

Other Nurseries

Other large nurseries were operated by Samuel Dobie and John Kirk in the Vicar's Cross area, F. W. Dutton at Queen's Park, McHattie & Co. at Overleigh, and Alexander McLean at Upton.

The firm “Dobies of Chester” Seed Merchants was particularly well known throughout Britain, symbolising high quality seeds for garden flowers or vegetable plots. It was founded in Chester in 1894 and the founders appear to have include Samuel Dobie who purchased Heathfield House in Christleton in 1895. Samuel Dobie died in 1908, but his wife lived on at Heathfield for many years. They had the nurseries next door for seed trials and development, and stored seed in the centrally heated barn behind Heathfield House.

According to its later history McHattie & Co had premises located at 8 Gorse Stacks, Chester, and this firm of Chester seedsmen and nurserymen came into being in 1803. By 1870 the business was that of a sole trader, John McHattie. He was joined in partnership by George McHattie soon thereafter, trading in 1872 as J. &. G. McHattie. John died in 1886 and the partnership was dissolved only to be replaced by a new partnership, styled McHattie & Co., and comprising A.W. Armstrong, an employee for some seventeen years previously, and W. Ferguson. In 1911 W.C. Armstrong was admitted to the partnership and in 1942 the limited company of McHattie & Co., Ltd., was formed.

The Steam Mill with the "Miln" Livery, probably about 1944. Note the canalside cottages to the left.

In 1883 James Hunter established a farm seed business in Chester, attracted to the city solely by its location. Hunter was a leading advocate of the need for scientific testing of seeds and his firm was the first to offer a guarantee of purity, genuineness, and germination rate. Operating from premises in Foregate Street, by 1913 it had become one of the leading farm seed suppliers in the country. In 1911 at least 413 people living in the city, together with an unknown number from outside, worked in nurseries or related businesses, double the number in 1861. Hunter's branched out into the provision of grass airstrips for relatively early aviation. Hunters laid out properly levelled and seeded grass landing areas over much of Britain. Among airfields to be "Hunterised" became the Great West Aerodrome, later far better known as Heathrow. In the 1930s the Great West Aerodrome was thought to have the smoothest landing surface in Britain.

Edward Webb and Sons (Webbs) were formed around 1850 in Wordsley, near Stourbridge. By the 1890s, they were appointed seedsmen to Queen Victoria and became a well-known name in the UK. In 1894, they took over Proctor and Ryland, a bone manure works in Saltney, near Chester, and expanded their activities. During World War II, they were the primary supplier of grass seeds and fertilizer for airfields. In the 1960s he company merged with Bees, another seed firm and transferred most of its business to Chester.

DAVID MILN & CO. (Seedsmen) of Boughton was founded in 1936. David Miln took over the Frost/Spillers flour mill known as the Steam Mill in 1938 and renamed it Miln's Seeds. By 1990, Miln's Seeds closed, and the buildings were converted to the Steam Mill Business Centre offices.

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