Chester

Founded in the 70s AD as the Roman fort of Deva Victrix under Vespasian, one of the main army camps in Britain, and later a substantial civilian town. Æthelred of Mercia founded a minster here in 689 that became the first cathedral, and the Angles strengthened the walls against the Danes. It was among the last English cities to fall to the Normans, who built a castle to hold both the town and the Welsh border a few miles off. The walls are among the best preserved in the country and almost complete, bar a hundred-metre section.