Chester at Work: People and Industries Through the YearsToday service industries predominate in Chester such as tourism, retail, public administration and financial services. This was not always the case, given the city’s location on the River Dee and its strategic military position. Chester was a port with ancillary industries from Roman times. In he mid-eighteenth century the port declined due to silting of the Dee and the rise of Liverpool. However, some port-related industries remained and a reduced amount of shipping continued into the twentieth century. The 1770s saw the opening of the Chester Canal and, in 1799, the lead works was developed. The arrival of the railways saw Chester become a transport hub with three locomotive depots and an LNWR wagon works. Other industries that subsequently developed included the Hydraulic Engineering Company, the Westminster Coach and Motor Works, the aluminium manufacturer Williams & Williams and Brookhurst Switchgear Ltd. In Chester at Work Stanley Jenkins and Stewart Shuttleworth trace the changes in the city’s working life from its pre-industrial beginnings, through the Industrial Revolution and right up to the present day. This book will be of interest to those who know the city and want to discover more about its rich heritage from an industrial and social perspective. |
Contents
Section 1 | |
Section 2 | |
Section 3 | |
Section 4 | |
Section 5 | |
Section 6 | |
Section 7 | |
Section 8 | |
Section 12 | |
Section 13 | |
Section 14 | |
Section 15 | |
Section 16 | |
Section 17 | |
Section 18 | |
Section 19 | |
Common terms and phrases
architect Bent’s boat Boughton brewing Bridge Street Brookhirst Brown’s building built business park castle Cestrians Cheshire Chester became Chester Canal Chester City CHESTER NORTHGATE ChesterBus city centre continued Crane Crane Bank Crosville CWAC Dee Mills demolished designed early Eastgate Street Electric Ellesmere Port established façade factory financial services firm Foregate Street Foundry freemen Frodsham Street gasworks Geoff Taylor Glover’s Grosvenor Museum Grosvenor Park guilds Handbridge Hydraulic Engineering Company important Industrial Development Iron later lead leadworks leisure Liverpool Manweb metal Morgan collection moved narrowboats nearby nineteenth century Norman North Wales North West Northgate Brewery Northgate station Northgate Street opened operation pipe premises Queen’s railway retail River Dee riverside Roman Roodee Royalty Theatre S. C. Jenkins collection Saltney Saxon shopping centre Shropshire Union steam engines Steam Mill Switchgear thirteenth century tobacco trade tramway unitary authorities Water Tower Williams & Williams yard