CHESHIEE. 



263 



their city Deva, after the river Dee. They certainly worked lead mines in its 

 vicinity, for two " pigs " of that metal have been found, one of which has impressed 

 upon it the name of Yespasian. That which distinguishes Chester more especially 

 from all other towns of modern England is its streets carved out of the rock, and 

 the covered arcades, or "rows," in front of the first-floor rooms of the houses 

 which line them. The old Roman ramparts have been transformed into walls, 

 which are wide enough to allow of three men walking abreast. Perambulating 

 them, we obtain curious glimpses of the city : we look down upon the famous 

 " Roodee," the Chester racecourse, backed by the Clwydian hills. The circuit of 

 the walls is interrupted by several towers, and from one of these Charles I. is said 

 to have witnessed the defeat of his array on Rowton Heath in 1645. 



Most prominent amongst the buildings of the town is the venerable cathedral, 

 reopened, after having been carefully restored, in 1876. Its foundations date back 

 to the twelfth century ; but the existing building, which is chiefly in the perpen- 

 dicular style, is of more recent date. Far more venerable than the cathedral is the 

 church of St. John, outside the city walls, with its detached belfry, one of the most 

 splendid examples of early Norman archi- 

 tecture ■^^' ^^^' — Watergate Row, Chest 



Chester is still a seaport ; but neither 

 its canalised river, nor the canul which 

 connects the city with the Mersey at 

 Ellesmere Port, is navigable by any but 

 the smallest coasting craft. Hence the 

 maritime commerce of Chester is no longer 

 what it used to be. Ship-building and 

 lead smelting are carried on to a small 

 extent ; but it is more especially through 

 its trade in cheese that Chester has become 



known throughout the commercial world. Many strangers have settled in the city, 

 attracted by its pure air and cheap living. Within a few miles of it is Eaton Hall, 

 the magnificent seat of the Duke of Westminster. Tarporley, a quaint old market 

 town, where hosiery and leather breeches are manufactured, lies about 10 miles to 

 the E.S.E. of Chester. 



Birkenhead, the principal town on the peninsula of Wirral, is a mere depend- 

 ency of Liverpool, which lies within sight of it, on the opposite bank of the 

 Mersey, and with which a tunnel will soon connect it. Its vast docks have been 

 constructed since 1847, principally through the exertions of Mr, Laird. They 

 cover an area of 165 acres, have quays 10 miles in length, and 235 acres of 

 warehouses. One of these artificial basins is the largest into which the waters of 

 the Mersey are admitted. Ship-building and machinery are the principal industries 

 carried on here. Tranmere and WaUasetj are populous suburbs of Birkenhead, 

 and from the latter a row of pretty villas extends to the delightful watering-place 

 of New Brighton, at the mouth of the Mersey, where a charming view of the 

 Welsh hills presents itself, and the crowds of shipping entering and leaving the 



