England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Chester Holy Trinity

The Parish

The city of Chester is one of the ancient places of England, supposedly pre-Roman in origin it was developed as a Roman settlement to hold the northwest and as a base for expeditions into northern Wales. The city is located in the west of the county of Cheshire and it forms part of the county border with neighbouring Flintshire. Chester sits at the junction of several major roads, it is roughly 17 miles south of the port of Liverpool and 36 miles southwest of the industrial city of Manchester. Chester is one of England's walled cities and those walls are still a feature of the city and a tourist attraction in themselves. Chester is the county capital of Cheshire and grew as a port and market centre for the region, it is sited at the end of navigation of the River Dee which flows through its heart, although problems of silting lent the necessity to canalise and the Ellesmere canal connects Chester with the Mersey and Liverpool. Chester is divided into 10 parishes of which Holy Trinity, being largely outwith the walls, was the fourth most populous supporting a population of around 3,300 parishioners. Holy Trinity occupies the land to the west and northwest of the city as well as a substantial portion of the land alongside the Dee, it was also fourth largest in acreage covering just over 700 acres. Today Chester is a bustling city and a tourist attraction for its history and architecture, the galleried rows being a major attraction. In Domesday times the city was shared between the Bishop of Chester, Earl Hugh of Chester and the King himself, whilst the book does not identify the individual assets this was a wealthy and prosperous place even then.

The Church

Holy Trinity church has been deconsecrated and now functions as the city's Guildhall. The former church stands at the junction of Watergate Street (the main western route out of the walled centre) and the city's inner ring road. The church is a Victorian replacement for an earlier building, it was built between 1865 and 1869. The building uses styles from the 14th century and is unusual in placing the steepled tower at the southwestern corner rather than the usual western end, perhaps constrained by the site. The building clearly has little architectural interest and Pevsner rather dismisses it in a mere 8 lines. The church has no bordering boundary sitting flush onto urban pavements, it is rather enclosed by shops and businesses and views are probably best obtained from a distance.