Newtown is an area of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England.

History

Newtown is an area of north-east Chester, just outside the city walls and to the east of

Chester Cathedral Chester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint ...

and the Phoenix Tower. The main layout of streets originated in the late 1790s because of the location by the cattle market and along the Shropshire Union Canal. Newtown, together with Boughton and

Hoole Hoole is a suburb in the east of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The area is contiguous with Newton to the north and Vicars Cross to the south. The A41 road marks ...

, provided most of the workers to Chester during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

of the late 18th century, leading to substantial wealth for the city. Newtown's growth and importance to the Chester economy was driven from about 1793 by its location in the canal network, and from the 1840s by its location in the railway network, close to the two Chester railway stations: Chester General and Chester Northgate. The area supported a thriving community of artisans and working-class families who lived mainly in "two-up-two-down" terraced housing with no bathroom and an outside toilet. The last canal-side flour mill closed in the late 1950s. Because of its location in the canal and railway networks, Newtown in Chester, along with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, became a hub of northern English commerce. The canal was the 'motorway' of its day and

narrowboats A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commer ...

carried produce and supplies to and from North Wales (

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

, slate,

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...

and

lead ore Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, l ...

). Finished lead (for roofing, water pipes and sewerage), produced in the huge leadworks in Egerton Street Newtown, was exported all over the country. Grain from the Cheshire farmlands was processed in the large mills and granaries on the banks of the canal at Newtown and Boughton; and salt (for preserving food such as fish and meat) came from Northwich.

Present day

The two large estates, run by Chester & District Housing Trust, referred to as 'The Saints' Area' and 'Francis Street Flats', are a mixture of sheltered accommodation and normal family occupancy. The 'saints' area has three large 1960s-built tower blocks (St Annes, St Oswalds and St Georges), along with many low-rise houses and maisonettes. On the opposite side of Hoole Way there are a further three tower blocks, namely, Heygarth Heights, Thackery Towers and Rowlands Heights, all built in the 1970s. These properties were built on an area which used to contain the old 'back-to-back' terraced houses; housing workers from the two railway stations, the Royal Mail depot and the old Chester Cattle Market. Hoole Way virtually dissects the 'old' Newtown in half, and runs almost exactly along the route of what was Back Brook Street. There are still some surviving buildings which used to form part of the bottom end of the street (the top end being the Cattle Market end) - notably, number 24 Back Brook Street. In addition, the backs of the old vegetable and butchers shops can still be seen. Brook Street is a local shopping area with a Post Office, shops, pubs and restaurants. The street used to be the main route into Chester from the north, leading to the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

and Francis Street, another area of Newtown. Francis Street has three further 1970's-built high-rise tower blocks and more Chester & District Housing Trust social housing along with private housing. The Newtown area also contains a small 'arts' cinema.

Governance

Newtown forms part of an

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unpa ...

within the city of Chester. Administratively, the area is part of the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

of Cheshire West and Chester in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. Cheshire West and Chester came into force in April 2009, when the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act was enacted, and replaced the boroughs of

Ellesmere Port and Neston Ellesmere Port and Neston was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It covered the southern part of the Wirral Peninsula, namely that part which is not included in the Metropolitan Borough of ...

Vale Royal A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipa ...

and Chester District. The equivalent unitary authority in the other half of the county is called Cheshire East. The decision to create the Cheshire West and Chester unitary authority was announced on 25 July 2007 following a consultation period, in which a proposal to create a single Cheshire unitary authority was rejected. The area is within the City of Chester parliamentary constituency.

References

{{authority control Areas of Chester