Chester Castle is an area around the castle in Chester. It was historically an

extra-parochial area In England and Wales, an extra-parochial area, extra-parochial place or extra-parochial district was a geographically defined area considered to be outside any ecclesiastical or civil parish. Anomalies in the parochial system meant they had no ch ...

and today remains a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, albeit with no inhabitants. The parish is bounded by Castle Drive to the south, Grosvenor Street (the A483) to the west, and Castle Street and St Mary's Hill to the east. Apart from the castle/prison, the parish also includes the courthouse for the Crown Court , County Hall, and the Cheshire Military Museum. In April–May 1966, the infamous

Moors murders The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...

case was tried at Chester Assizes held in the courthouse which is now the Chester venue for the Crown Court. It was part of the

Chester Rural District Chester was a rural district of Cheshire, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was located near the city and county borough of Chester but did not include it. The district saw various boundary changes throughout its life. It included the small ...

, despite being in the middle of the city, and did not form part of Chester County Borough. This meant that County Hall was in the

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

of Cheshire which it administered. The Local Government Act 1972 saw it become part of Chester District, along with the rest of Chester Rural District. Since April 2009 County Hall has been the headquarters of the Cheshire West and Chester Council. In 1891 it had a population of 249, which had declined to 8 by 1971. According to the 2001 Census it had no inhabitants at all.

References

Civil parishes in Cheshire {{Cheshire-geo-stub

See also

References