Handbridge

Handbridge is a district of Chester, England on the south bank of the River Dee. A settlement has existed on the site since the Iron Age , but the site saw major expansion during the collapse of the Roman occupation of Britain, as the city grew too large for its walls. The site was originally mainly a quarry for the abundant red sandstone that much Chester is built from, but in later years became a centre for salmon fishing in the Dee. The area runs continuously into Queens Park. Within Handbridge there is a primary school, Overleigh St Mary's, and two secondary schools: Chester Catholic High School and Queens Park High School. There are also colleges, Cheshire College - South and West, formerly known as West Cheshire College and Chester International School (CIS) that provides a range of courses including International Baccalaureate. Although there has been some activity on the site since the Iron Age, the first settlement on the site was built around 74 CE shortly after the foundation of the fort at Deva, now the Chester city centre. The site was used as a quarry; Handbridge is built on a large sandstone outcrop, material from which was used to construct the city walls and buildings, although the quarry ceased production at the end of the fourth century CE. The quarry was also the site of a small shrine to the goddess Minerva which is still visible in what is known as Edgar's Field. The shrine is protected as a Grade I listed building but has suffered from weathering. After the Romans left Britain, the city fell into disrepair. Little is known of Handbridge from this time, as Chester was repeatedly attacked by Viking raiders, leading one commentator to describe it as "an abandoned city on The Wirral". Nevertheless, by the time of the Domesday Book, the site had grown large enough to be divided into three manors: Overleigh, Netherleigh and Royal Handbridge. The book also tells of the constant repairs that had to be made to the river crossing there, the first written record of what would eventually become known as the Old Dee Bridge.