FREELANCE PUBLISHER

A COMPLETELY NEW WEB RESOURCE, FEATURING INFORMATION ON A DIVERSE RANGE OF SUBJECTS

THIS 42 PAGE BOOKLET DETAILS THE FIRST PART OF CHESTER'S EXTENSIVE HISTORY FROM PRE-ROMAN SETTLEMENT THROUGH TO THE END OF THE ROMAN OCCUPATION OF BRITAIN. OFFERING INFORMATION ON THE VARIOUS IRON-AGE TRIBES THAT LIVED IN THE NORTHWEST REGION OF BRITAIN AT THE TIME OF THE CLAUDIAN INVASION AND THE VARIOUS MILITARY CAMPAIGNS WHICH LED TO THE FORTRESS' FOUNDATION.

HAVING ESTABLISHED THEIR MILITARY GARRISON ON THE RIVER DEE, FOR THE NEXT THREE HUNDRED YEARS OR MORE THE BASE WAS SUBJECTED TO EXTENSIVE PERIODS OF DECAY AND DEVELOPMENT AS THE FORTUNES OF THE WIDER EMPIRE CONTINUALLY EBBED AND FLOWED. ALTHOUGH LITTLE REMAINS OF THE IMPRESSIVE AND ELABORATE STONE BUILT LEGIONARY BUILDINGS, LATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS HAVE HELPED TO GIVE US AN INSIGHT INTO THE PHYSICAL LAYOUT AND HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE MILITARY FORTRESS.     

PART TWO OF THE HISTORY OF CHESTER CONTAINS 40 PAGES AND DEALS WITH THE PERIOD AFTER THE ROMAN WITHDRAWAL FROM BRITAIN AND THE RE-EMERGENCE OF THE NATIVE BRITISH TRIBES. FOR THE NEXT THREE HUNDRED YEARS OR MORE THE OWNERSHIP OF THE MILITARY SITE AT CHESTER WAS CONTINUOUSLY FOUGHT OVER BY THE NATIVE BRITONS AND THE SAXON PEOPLE'S WHO HAD SLOWLY BUT SURELY OCCUPIED MUCH OF THE COUNTRY.

THE CITY WAS REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE LAST ANGLO SAXON STRONGHOLDS TO SURRENDER TO THE FORCES OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR FOLLOWING HIS VICTORY AT HASTINGS AND FROM 1070 THROUGH TO 1237 CHESTER WOULD BE THE SEAT OF A SERIES OF NORMAN EARLS WHO HELD THE CITY AND SURROUNDING REGION "BY THE SWORD" FOR AND ON BEHALF OF SUBSEQUENT ENGLISH MONARCHS. FINALLY, THE CITY PASSED INTO THE HANDS OF THE CROWN, BEGINNING WITH EDWARD I "LONGSHANKS" WHO USED CHESTER AS HIS BASE FOR THE SERIES OF MILITARY CAMPAIGNS THAT HE WAGED AGAINST THE PRINCES OF NORTH WALES.

DESPITE ITS ALMOST INEVITABLE DECLINE AS A MAJOR NORTHWEST PORT, CHESTER REMAINED A STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT MILITARY CENTRE AND FOUND ITSELF EMBROILED IN THE DISPUTE BETWEEN KING RICHARD II AND HIS OPPONENT HENRY BOLINGBROKE. THE CITY'S ANCIENT CASTLE WAS REPORTED TO HAVE HELD RICHARD PRIOR TO HIS LATER DEPOSITION AND DEATH IN LONDON.

SOME 250 YEARS LATER THE CITY WAS ONCE AGAIN INVOLVED IN A BITTER MILITARY STRUGGLE, THIS TIME BETWEEN THE MONARCH CHARLES I AND THE FORCES OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT, LED BY SIR WILLIAM BRERETON. THIS 48 PAGE BOOKLET LOOKS AT THE SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF CHESTER'S ANCIENT FORTRESS, AS WELL AS NOTED INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE CENTRAL TO THESE EVENTS. ALSO FEATURED IS THE CITY'S POST PROTECTORATE PERIOD, THE RESTORATION OF THE MONARCHY AND CHESTER'S PART IN THE VARIOUS JACOBEAN PLOTS.

THIS FINAL 42 PAGE BOOKLET LOOKS AT CHESTER FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE 18TH CENTURY THROUGH TO THE MODERN DAY CITY THAT EXISTS TODAY, INCLUDING THE FINAL DECLINE OF ITS POSITION AS A STRATEGIC TRADING AND MILITARY CENTRE.

THE BOOKLET ALSO REVIEWS BOTH THE DESTRUCTION AND REDEVELOPMENT OF OLD CHESTER WHICH TOOK PLACE DURING THE GEORGIAN AND VICTORIAN PERIODS, AS WELL AS MORE RECENT RECONSTRUCTIONS WHICH HAVE HAD SUCH A DETRIMENTAL EFFECT ON THE CITY'S ANCIENT FABRIC.

FROM PROPOSED NEW RIVER CHANNELS TO THE CIVIC PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN BY A NUMBER OF NOTABLE ARCHITECTS, INCLUDING HARRISON, DOUGLAS, ETC CHESTER HAS LOST A NUMBER OF ITS ARCHITECTURAL TREASURES OVER THE PAST 250 YEARS AND APPEARS TO BE IN DANGER OF LOSING THOSE FEW THAT STILL REMAIN.

THIS 30 PAGE BOOKLET OFFERS A REVIEW OF THE 8 NORMAN EARLS OF CHESTER WHO HELD THE CITY "BY THE SWORD" FOR AND BEHALF OF SUBSEQUENT ENGLISH MONARCHS.

STARTING WITH THE FIRST EARL WALTER DE GERBOD WHO WAS GRANTED THE EARLDOM BY WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR IN 1070, FOLLOWING THE CITY'S SURRENDER TO HIS NORMAN FORCES, CHESTER BECAME THE SEAT OF THESE NOBLES FOR THE NEXT 167 YEARS, UNTIL THE DEATH OF THE 8TH AND FINAL EARL, JOHN THE SCOT, IN 1237.

SOME OF THESE MEN WERE UNREMARKABLE, WHILE OTHERS BECAME PIVOTAL FIGURES IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY. THERE WERE THOSE WHO REBELLED AGAINST THE CROWN, WHILST OTHERS DEFENDED THEIR MONARCHS REGARDLESS OF THE COST. SOME FOUND THEMSELVES IN ALMOST CONSTANT DISPUTE WITH THEIR WELSH NEIGHBOURS, EXPLAINING WHY CHESTER BECAME ONE OF THE MOST FORTIFIED CITY'S IN ENGLAND. AN INTERESTING LOOK AT THE LIVES AND LEGENDS OF MEN WHO ARE OFTEN OVERLOOKED BY HISTORY, BUT WHO HAVE BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN MAKING THE CITY AND ITS COUNTY THE PLACES THEY ARE TODAY.

2 X A4 COMPILATION BOOKLETS TOTALLING 90+ PAGES WHICH CONTAIN 32 OF THE VERY BEST ARTICLES AND 90 + IMAGES WHICH HAVE BEEN FEATURED IN PAST ISSUES OF THE BULL TERRIER TIMES MAGAZINE, WHICH WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE LATE 1990'S. THE ARTICLES AND STORIES FEATURED COVER A VARIETY OF SUBJECTS WHICH ARE PARTICULARLY RELEVANT TO THE BULL TERRIER BREEDS AND INEVITABLY INCLUDE REFERENCES TO ASPECTS OF THE DOGS BEHAVIOUR, CHARACTER AND HISTORY WHICH SOME PEOPLE MIGHT CONSIDER TO BE DISTURBING OR UNPALATABLE AND WILL BE UNSUITABLE FOR INDIVIDUAL TASTES, SO SHOULD BE AVOIDED

FOR THOSE STUDENTS AND ENTHUSIASTS THAT HAVE AN INFORMED AND REALISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF BOTH THE HISTORY AND NATURE OF THE BULL TERRIER BREEDS, THEN THIS BOOKLET MIGHT BE OF INTEREST TO YOU. MANY OF THE ARTICLES HAVE BEEN SOURCED FROM FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC PUBLICATIONS THAT ARE NO LONGER IN PRINT AND ARE GENERALLY UNAVAILABLE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. A NUMBER OF THESE ITEMS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY NOTABLE FIGURES WITHIN THE BULLDOG FRATERNITY AND WHO HAVE FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE OF THE DOGS, WHETHER THEY'RE AT PEACE OR AT WAR.

PROPOSED HISTORY OF THE ROMAN, SAXON, NORMAN AND PLANTAGENET CASTLES WITHIN CHESHIRE AND NORTH WALES. GENERALLY BUILT TO EXERCISE MILITARY CONTROL OVER THE WIDER REGION, THESE CASTLES AND FORTRESSES BECAME VITAL TOOLS IN THE SUPPRESSION OF THE NATIVE PEOPLE'S BY THOSE WHO BUILT THESE STRUCTURES. THIS BOOKLET IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION

A LOOK AT SOME OF THE HISTORIC CHARACTERS WHO HAVE VISITED, LIVED AND WORKED AT CHESTER, FROM THE TIME OF THE ROMANS RIGHT THROUGH TO THE PRESENT DAY. FROM JULIUS AGRICOLA, THE GREAT ROMAN GENERAL WHO EMPLOYED THE MILITARY FORTRESS AS A BASE DURING HIS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE NATIVE TRIBES OF NORTH WALES, TO HENRY "HOTSPUR" PERCY WHO RALLIED HIS TROOPS AT CHESTER BEFORE FACING HENRY BOLINGBROKE AT THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY SOME DAYS LATER. THIS BOOKLET IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

STARTING WITH AETHELFLAEDA, THE QUEEN OF THE MERCIANS WHO REBUILT THE CITY IN THE EARLY 10TH CENTURY THROUGH TO WILLIAM WEBB WHO CO-AUTHORED "VALE ROYAL" A HISTORY OF THE CITY OF CHESTER AND THE COUNTY OF CHESHIRE.