Curzon Park is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The area, which adjoins the southern banks of the Dee, was first laid out in the 19th century. It is situated next to the

Grosvenor Bridge Grosvenor Bridge, originally known as, and alternatively called Victoria Railway Bridge, is a railway bridge over the River Thames in London, between Vauxhall Bridge and Chelsea Bridge. Originally constructed in 1860, and widened in 1865 and ...

and is the location of some of the city's most prestigious properties. Curzon Park also houses Curzon Park Abbey, a retreat house for members of the

English Benedictine Congregation The English Benedictine Congregation (EBC) is a congregation of autonomous Abbey, abbatial and Priory, prioral monastic communities of Catholic Church, Catholic Benedictine monks, nuns, and oblate (religion), lay oblates. It is technically the o ...

. Chester Golf Club adjoins the area.

History

Curzon Park, along with Queen's Park near

Handbridge Handbridge is a district of Chester, England on the south bank of the River Dee. A settlement has existed on the site since the Iron Age , but the site saw major expansion during the collapse of the Roman occupation of Britain, as the city grew ...

, was developed as an exclusive Chester suburb following the city's growing prosperity in the mid 19th century. Although the opening of Grosvenor Bridge in 1832 had improved access, it was the completion of the

North Wales Coast Line The North Wales Main Line ( or ; ), also known as the North Wales Coast Line (), is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, England, running from Crewe on the West Coast Main Line to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey. The lin ...

to Chester which prompted Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe to develop the aptly-named "Curzon Park" in the mid-1840s on private farmland situated between Hough Green and the river. Although the plan was to attract wealthy merchants from Liverpool, most of the early home owners were business people and professionals from Chester. Highfield House was the first property to be built in 1847. By 1851 there were nine large detached houses along the cliff above the River Dee. With the development of Curzon Park, the City of Chester corporation began auctioning off land it owned on the north side of Hough Green as individual plots. By 1861 a line of 30 smaller detached and semi-detached villas stretched for half a mile along Hough Green towards Saltney. Despite the initial interest in Curzon Park, the remainder of the estate remained largely incomplete throughout the latter half of the 19th century. Only six large houses had been built at the eastern end of Park Road (later Curzon Park South) by 1870. Likewise just four villas and two semi-detached properties had been built in Queen's Park, suggesting the demand for exclusive property in Chester was much smaller than anticipated. It was not until 1914 that all plots within the eastern end of Curzon Park had been sold. Work to develop the largely-vacant western end did not begin till after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In conjunction with the development of the eastern end of Curzon Park, large detached houses were also constructed around Westminster Avenue, a tree-lined road just south of Hough Green. The avenue originally complimented the main lodge entrance to Curzon Park at the junction with Overleigh Road.

References

A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 part 1: The City of Chester: General History and Topography

External links

Curzon Park Residents Association

Curzon Park Abbey

Chester Golf Club
{{coord, 53, 10, 59, N, 2, 54, 10, W, type:landmark_scale:5000_region:GB, display=title Areas of Chester