| Chester | |
| Government: | Chester Rural District Council |
| Start: | 1894 |
| End: | 1974 |
| Divisions: | Civil parishes |
| Image Map Caption: | Chester RD within Cheshire in 1970 |
| Populationfirst: | 10,908 |
| Populationfirstyear: | 1901 |
| Areafirst: | 34266acres |
| Areafirstyear: | 1911 |
| Populationlast: | 34,686 |
| Populationlastyear: | 1971 |
| Arealast: | 43824acres |
| Arealastyear: | 1961 |
Chester was a rural district of Cheshire, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was located near the city and county borough of Chester but did not include it. The district saw various boundary changes throughout its life.[1] It included the small civil parish of Chester Castle, an exclave of the rural district within the boundaries of the county borough of Chester.
The district was created by the Local Government Act 1894 as the successor to Chester Rural Sanitary District. It initially consisted of the following civil parishes:[2] ‡ In 1901 the two parishes were merged to form a single civil parish of Mollington.[2]
† In 1910 the parish of Great Stanney was removed from the rural district and became part of an enlarged Ellesmere Port and Whitby Urban District.[2]
¶ In 1933 the parish of Ince and part of Thornton le Moors were added to an enlarged Ellesmere Port Urban district.[1]
In 1936 the boundaries of the rural district were substantially altered under a county review order:[1] [2]
In 1954 Hoole Urban District was abolished. The bulk of its area was added to the county borough of Chester, but 174acres were added to the rural district.[1] There were exchanges of very small areas of land with neighbouring districts in 1963 due to the diversion of the River Gowy.[1] The final change in the district's boundaries came in 1967, when 135acres passed to the Borough of Ellesmere Port.[1]
The Local Government Act 1972 completely reorganised council boundaries throughout England and Wales. On 1 April 1974, Chester Rural District was merged with the city of Chester and Tarvin Rural District to form the new non-metropolitan district of Chester.[2]