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Lecture: Working Class Housing

April 17th April at Bishop Lloyd’s Palace, 2.00pm

We frequently visit mansions, built by the wealthy but in this lecture the emphasis was changed to look at the often neglected development of housing for workers.

Our speaker Elizabeth Davey has written extensively about the Wirral and Birkenhead. In her talk she used the Wirral as an example of how workers’ housing developed, equally applicable to the situation in Chester and Cheshire.

This talk was originally prepared as a tribute to the late Professor Tarn, who in his two books, Working-class Housing in 19th Century Britain (Architectural Association, 1971) and Five Per Cent Philanthropy: An Account of Housing in Urban Areas between 1840 and 1914 (CUP, 1974) went a long way to popularising the subject of artisan dwellings.

A retired teacher and lecturer, Elizabeth has a particular interest in the built environment and has written and lectured on numerous aspects of local history for many years.

Refreshments followed the talk. The cost was £7.50.

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Cyril Morris recognised for architectural preservation

LORD Mayor of Chester, Councillor Sherin Akhtar, and representatives from the Bluecoat Charity and Chester Civic Trust have recognised Cyril Morris for his lifelong services in the architectural preservation of the city of Chester.

Born within the city walls in 1927, Cestrian Cyril graduated in architecture and town planning before joining the Cheshire County Architect’s department shortly after the Second World War in 1949. Following the Blitz, many of the UK’s historical towns were in a sorry and neglected state with notable buildings of character and value damaged or destroyed. Chester was no exception.

In his role as director of technical services, Cyril led the post-war clean up and was actively engaged in the development and management of an innovative conservation programme dedicated to restoring and reviving the special architectural character and identity of the town.

Since retiring, Cyril has kindly donated some of his earliest architectural drawings, many of which were done by hand, to the Bluecoat Charity where they now hang proudly in the offices on Upper Northgate Street.

As a thank you, the Lord Mayor and representatives from Bluecoat presented Cyril with a beautiful drawing of his own, a pencil sketch of the historic Bluecoat building which now has pride of place alongside other mementoes in his bedroom at Grosvenor Manor.

Lord Mayor of Chester, Cllr Akhtar, was honoured to make the presentation to Cyril. She said: “It is thanks to the tireless work of Cyril in protecting and preserving Chester’s heritage that we have an architecturally significant city that we can be proud of, one that garners interest and visitors from around the World. On behalf of the city and all at Bluecoat, I’m delighted to make this presentation today. Thank you Cyril.”

Christine Russell added; “Cyril is a founder member and former Vice-President of Chester Civic Trust who we were honoured to see at our Garden Party in 2024. The drawing of the Bluecoat shows the building without the decorative railings that had been removed earlier in the 1940s for ‘the war effort’. The Civic Trust campaigned for the reinstatement of the railings, finally restored and unveiled by the former Duke of Westminster in 1987. Cyril Morris has been a lifelong champion for heritage and conservation. He is one of Chester’s unsung heroes.”

Cyril summarised; “Conservation is not about living in the past, it is the creation of an environment within which our architectural heritage can survive for future generations.”

LtoR: Chief executive officer at Chester Bluecoat Charity Mike Jenkins, Grosvenor Manor resident and architectural preservation hero Cyril Morris, chairman of Chester Civic Trust Christine Russell and Lord Mayor of Chester Cllr Sherin Akhtar.

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Visit to Hooton Hangers

Day Visit: Tuesday, June 9th 
Our day began at Hooton Hangars on the Wirral. Once a home of the Stanley family, it became an aviation centre in both World Wars. It was even Liverpool airport for a few years. The hangars are now a cornucopia of retired aeroplanes. There is a Second World War theme, because of its connection to the Airforce during this period. There is a collection of Victorian printing presses. We had a wonderful guided tour with Cake and a hot drink on arrival.

The hangers are renown for their ‘Belfast Truss’ construction which allow this type of truss to span distances of up to 36 metres, a quality very useful for large open spaced buildings. More information here.

The day continued to Allerton Hall, Sudley House and St Michael’s-in-the-Hamlet, a cast iron church.

This visit is linked to, but independent of, David Mottram’s talk at the BLP on May 21st, 2026.

Photo courtesy of Marketing PRojects.

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Visit to Gdansk

March 29 – 3 April

A Chester Civic Trust group visit to Gdańsk, a medieval gem on the Baltic coast. In addition to Gdańsk, the flashpoint of WW2, and site of the Solidarity Shipyard and WW2 museum, the itinerary included day visits to UNESCO World Heritage sites like Torun, the birthplace of Nicholas Copernicus, Malbork Castle, Sopot and Gdynia.

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April Lecture: Update on Chester’s One City Plan

Chester’s One City Plan (OCP) was first produced in 2012 and revised in 2022 through a large engagement process coordinated by Cheshire West and Chester Council. Its time period now covers 2022 to 2045 with its vision for Chester as a place ‘that is proud of its history and confident about its future’.

April’s crowded lecture from Andy Farrall provided an expert update on the 45 action areas to be delivered by 2045.  A link to his informative slides is here.

The plan is now in delivery mode, being achieved through 5 partnership delivery groups:

  • Making – development, regeneration, investment, heritage, the environment, green and blue networks, enterprise and skills, digital and the public realm.
  • Connecting – transport and mobility
  • Experiencing – culture and health
  • Visiting – the visitor economy and tourism
  • Being-in – safely, management and maintenance.

More information on the Chester OCP is here: Chester One City Plan – where you can also subscribe to the OCP newsletter.

Speaker Andy Farrall BA(Hons) MA PGDIP MRTPI chairs the ‘Making Group’ – the delivery partnership that is delivering the development, regeneration, economic growth, environment, heritage and investment stream of the Chester One City Plan.

Born in North Wales, Andy is a chartered town planner and urban designer of some 45 years-experience working in the private and public sectors. Starting in South Wales and in the city of Hull, Andy then led the planning and urban design team at London-based Tibbalds working on major commissions across the UK for major public and private sector clients.

Andy was Executive Director, Development and Regeneration at Chester City Council and then Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director at Warrington Borough Council. He then become Managing Director for Marketing Cheshire and Deputy CEO at the Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership. He now leads his own firm, Andy Farrall Limited, providing consultancy advice for developers, investors, government agencies and local communities. Andy is also a trustee of the Chester Bluecoats Charity and serves on the board of Chester BID.

The talk took place at the Grosvenor Museum on Wednesday 15th April.

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