(The King Charles Tower) forms part of the Roman Walls of Chester. Newtown is an area of north-east Chester, just outside the
city walls and to the east of
Chester Cathedral and the
Phoenix Tower. The main layout of streets originated in the late 1790s because of the location by the cattle market and along the
Shropshire Union Canal. Newtown, together with
Boughton and
Hoole, provided most of the workers to Chester during the
Industrial Revolution of the late 18th century, leading to substantial wealth for the city. Newtown's growth and importance to the Chester economy was driven from about 1793 by its location in the canal network, and from the 1840s by its location in the railway network, close to the two Chester railway stations:
Chester General and
Chester Northgate. The area supported a thriving community of artisans and working-class families who lived mainly in "two-up-two-down" terraced housing with no bathroom and an outside toilet. The last canal-side flour mill closed in the late 1950s. Because of its location in the canal and railway networks, Newtown in Chester, along with
Liverpool and
Manchester, became a hub of northern English commerce. The canal was the 'motorway' of its day and
narrowboats carried produce and supplies to and from North Wales (
coal,
slate,
gypsum and
lead ore). Finished lead (for roofing, water pipes and sewerage), produced in the huge leadworks in Egerton Street Newtown, was exported all over the country. Grain from the Cheshire farmlands was processed in the large mills and granaries on the banks of the canal at Newtown and
Boughton; and salt (for preserving food such as fish and meat) came from
Northwich. ==Present day==