An Historical Map of Chester Launch

An Historical Map of Chester, now available in our online shop

To celebrate the publication of our An Historical Map of Chester: Mercantile Centre & Cathedral City we held a virtual launch on 16 June 2025, inviting guests and members of the public to hear more about the publication.

The event featured talks from Professor Vanessa Harding (Chair of the Historic Towns Trust), Prof Paul Bissell (Pro Vice Chancellor University of Chester), Prof Keith Lilley (Queen's University Belfast) and Dr Tom Pickles and Prof Katherine Wilson, both University of Chester. We were joined by over 100 attendees, who took part in the Q&A session at the end, along with Giles Darkes, our Cartographic Editor. You can watch the event on our youtube channel.

The map itself is the result of research by Dr Tom Pickles and Prof Katherine Wilson of the University of Chester, as well as contributions from their students. The map shows how the city developed across two millennia. It includes Chester’s walls and its famous Rows, as well as the sites of former religious buildings and its industrial heritage from the more recent past. A comprehensive gazetteer on the map’s reverse, complete with many illustrations, explains how Chester grew from a Roman legionary fortress into the modern cathedral city, and introduces its historic buildings and places of interest.

An extract from our An Historical Map of Chester

You can purchase a copy of the Chester map from our online shop. To hear more about our future projects or if you are interested in creating an historical map of your town or city, please contact Martin Wills at development@historictownstrust.uk. To donate to our work please click here to be taken to our donations page. Every donation – no matter how big or small – is greatly appreciated.