Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society 76

This paper reviews the evidence for IA settlement and society in the area, as far north as the Ribble. Models based on south-eastern England are explicitly rejected, as is the view that the region was populated by an egalitarian farming society. Rather there seems to have been a politico-economic elite who based their wealth on salt and engaged in trade with the continent via an emporium at Meols. Includes:

Speculative paper arguing that the reference to Chester being `waste' in 893 was not indicative of its status throughout the Dark Ages but a temporary state of affairs. It is argued that in the sub-Roman period it was the seat of secular and religious authority straddling the River Dee, supported by the estate at Holt-Farndon and the Cheshire salt industry respectively. After the imposition of Mercian rule the western boundary of this unit was delimited by Wat's Dyke. The traditional foundation date of 685 for St John's is accepted (indeed, it is thought it may represent a re-foundation) and the church became the see of a chorepiscopus supported by some of the land west of the Dee. Chester's pre-existing importance led to the creation of the burh in 907 rather than vice versa.

Notes that the nineteenth-century construction of Grosvenor Bridge and Grosvenor Street were the first major disruption to Chester's street plan since the Middle Ages. The paper also examines the process of land acquisition for the construction of the Grosvenor Street and the relocation of St Bridget's Church.