An original section of the Roman Fortress wall is visible from the Northgate

Foundations of the Roman South-East Corner Tower

The Roman Quay Wall

Chester's Roman Amphitheatre

Roman Antefix

Deva Victrix, or simply Deva, was a fort and town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Chester, located in the English county of Cheshire. Basic ideal plan of a Roman castrum. ... Main street in Bastrop, Texas, a small town A town is a residential community of people ranging from a few hundred to several thousands, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas. ... Map of the Roman Empire, with the provinces, after 120. ... Britannia on a 2005 £2 coin. ... Upper Bridge Street, Chester, England (2002) For the larger local government district, see City of Chester. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... The Cheshire Plain - photo taken adjacent to Beeston Castle The Cheshire Plain - photo taken towards Merseyside The Cheshire Plain panorama - photo taken from Mid-Cheshire Ridge Cattle farming in the county Black-and-white timbered buildings on Nantwich High Street Cheshire (or, archaically, the County of Chester)[1] is a...

Deva was founded around AD 79 during the reign of Vespasian. It is thought that the title 'victrix' in the name of the legion and Fortress refers to the defeat of Boudica and the British rebellion against Roman rule by the twentieth legion. The name for the city of Chester comes from the Latin word 'castra' which is present in many other cities that were once Roman towns and forts. The Roman name for Chester 'Deva' was pronounced 'Deewa'. The name comes from 'Goddess', and Roman fortress was named after the Goddess of the River Dee. AD79 Events June 23 - Titus succeeds his father Vespasian as Roman emperor. ... Statue of Boudica near Westminster Pier, with her two daughters upon a chariot Boudica (also Boudicca, formerly better known as Boadicea) (d. ...

The Romans positioned the larger than normal Fortress high on a sandstone bluff above the marshes. The Fortress covered 60.90 acres, 20% larger than York and Caerleon, which were founded at the same time. Free from the floods of winter and the ever-changing shorelines of the estuary. The bend in the River Dee provides protection on two sides South and West. It is also the lowest bridgeable and fordable point on the River Dee before it becomes too wide and treacherous. Drinking water was piped in from a spring in the suburb of Boughton. This article is about the historic English city. ... Caerleon (Welsh: ) (grid reference ST323914, ) is a suburban village situated on the River Usk on the northern outskirts of the city of Newport. ... There are at least two places in England with this name: Boughton, Northamptonshire Boughton, Nottinghamshire This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

During recent excavations at Chester Amphitheatre traces of an Iron Age Farm was discovered along with a ridge and furrow field system. Before this, it was suggested that the Roman Fortress was established on a totally green field site.

The Fortress plan was the standard 'playing card' shape with some modifications to the normal plan of buildings. It had four gates, corner towers and interval towers between the gates. The Roman gates had double arches and the Roman Eastgate had a statue of Mars the Roman god of War in the middle of the two arches. A fosse or ditch was dug around the north and east sides to provide extra protection. It has been calculated that the fortress was designed to accommodate 6000 soldiers. The internal buildings consisted of barracks, baths, a hospital, a granary and some ‘headquarters’ buildings. The main Fortress baths were located half way down the modern Bridge Street on the right hand side. The full plan of Roman Deva is still not known because only limited excavations have taken place after demolition work. It is speculated that a Roman temple may have existed under Chester Cathedral, this is yet to be proved.

A timber fortress was established first which was replaced later with a stone fortress. The local sandstone was quarried from the south of the river around the area now called 'Edgar’s Field' to provide building material for the fortress and its buildings. The Roman quarry face is still visible today on the outcrop of rock in the field. Through excavations carried out it has been established that many of the stone buildings were not completed and they were left abandoned for as much as one hundred years before they were completed to a slightly modified plan. One example of this is the unique and strange Elliptical Building.

This building was part of the original plan for the Fortress. It is unique in the Roman Empire, not even an example of this type of building exists in Rome itself. The building was located near centre of the fortress, it had its own bath buildings and a range of store rooms around the outside. On the inside was an oval courtyard with twelve alcoves and a large ornamental fountain at the centre. There is speculation that the oval represents the known Roman world and the alcoves had statues of Gods in them.

Traces of the concrete foundation of the fountain and lead pipe work have been excavated.

http://www.take27.co.uk/julianbaum/ChesterProject/EB/EB.html

Traces have been found under the amphitheatre and market hall of pre-fortress buildings on a different alignment. It is speculated that a forward camp was established before the first timber fortress was constructed. The castle hill is also a possible site for such a camp.

Second Legion built their fortress in the territory of the Cornovii. It soon became the main base for Legio XX Valeria Victrix, the 20th Legion,who used it as a port administration base and military fort. It was then one of the principal towns of Roman Britain, with many relics remaining today, including parts of the original Chester Roman walls, parts of a hypocaust system from a Roman bathhouse, and a strongroom from the 'principia', as well as the street pattern at the 'cross' where the four main streets intersect and, controversially, half of its original amphitheatre, with the other half built over. The Cornovii (perhaps meaning people of the horn Cornwall), were a people of Iron Age and Roman Britain, who lived in the modern counties of North Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire in the English West Midlands. ... Legio XX Valeria Victrix was a Roman legion, probably raised by Augustus sometime after 31 BC. It served in Spain, Illyricum, and Germany before participating in the invasion of Britain in 43 AD, where it remained and was active until at least the beginning of the 4th century. ... Principal sites in Roman Britain Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between 43 and 410. ... Ruins of the hypocaust under the floor of a Roman villa. ... The Colosseum in Rome, Italy. ...

Parts of the Roman quay wall of the port can still be seen under the medieval walls at the race course. It has been suggested that this quay wall formed a platform for a jetty which stretched out across the River to allow ships to dock at low tide.

Later on in the Fortresses history settlements began to develop outside the Fortress walls between the west wall and the port area near the River. Also Mansion buildings were created for wealthy Romans outside the Walls. An example of which was discovered on Castle Street. Roman shops and workshops lined the incoming roads and to the south as far away as modern day Eccleston. A bath complex was established outiside the Fortress walls on the modern Watergate Street under the site now occupied by Sedan House.

By Roman law, the dead were buried outside the Fortress in cemeteries along the incoming roads to the north and east. Some were cremated and buried in urns others buried in stone lined tombs. Elaborate monuments lined the roads. Sometime in the Roman period these monuments were broken up and used to repair the Fortress walls. During the nineteenth century these tombstones were recovered from the north wall and now form the best collection of Roman tombstones in the UK. They are now located in the Grosvenor Museum.

The Roman Fortress was occupied up to the Fourth Century, Roman coins have been found in the area dating up to this time. The Fortress was described as waste land in the sixth century. It is thought that some Roman building remained standing in to the Norman period, this is the reason why Northgate Street is dog legged in shape, a massive column base of the Roman 'principia' can be seen through the floor in the shop 'Blacks'. Much of the Roman masonry was robbed out and reused in later periods.

A recent Timewatch investigation by the BBC speculated that, from the size and scale of the fort, had the Roman Empire not begun to collapse, Deva would have become the Roman capital of Britain and a launch post for invasions on Ireland. In fact, recent discoveries of a fort in Ireland suggest that at least one foray was made. Timewatch is a long running television series produced by the BBC. It presents a broad range of historical investigations focusing forgotten events or forgotten aspects of major events. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is one of the largest broadcasting corporations in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the UK alone and with a budget of more than £4 billion. ...

Although both Gildas and Bede located the Roman martyrs, Julius and Aaron, in the 'City of the Legions', this is generally identified as Isca Silurum rather than Deva, because of the chapels there dedicated to the two saints from at least medieval times. Gildas (c. ... Depiction of Bede from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. ... Saints Julius and Aaron are celebrated as two British martyrs who died during the religious persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian in AD 304. ... Caerleon is a village situated on the river Usk on the northern outskirts of Newport. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...