Understand
Chester originated in the Romano-British period at the latest, when it formed the settlement known as Deva or Castra Devana, the fortress city of the 20th Legion Legio XX Valeria Victrix. As a result some parts of Chester are around two thousand years old. It was a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War in the 1640s, and along the walls one can see the tower from which King Charles I watched his troops do battle.
A native of Chester is called a 'Cestrian'; though as is the case that Cockneys must be born within earshot of the Bow Bells to be classed a 'true' Cockney, to be strictly deemed a 'Cestrian' the person must have been born within the boundaries of the city's Roman walls. However, the last maternity ward within those defined limits was relocated to its current site a couple of miles outside the City Walls in the mid-1960's.
