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LOCATED at the neck of the Wirral peninsula formed by the Rivers Dee and Mersey, Chester was known to the Romans as Deva. There are substantial Roman remains and even the Racecourse - The Roodee - was once a Roman harbour. Chester continued to be a place of importance in Anglo-Saxon times, due to its strategic location on the borders of Mercia, Northumbria and Wales. Indeed, some Chester suburbs are still in Wales. During the Viking raids Chester became the burial place of Saint Werburgh, a Mercian princess whose body was brought here from Lincolnshire. Chester soon became a place of pilgrimage and a cathedral was built here in the 11th century to house Werburgh's remains. The Cathedral was extensively restored during the nineteenth century but the full two miles of Chester's Medieval City Wall remain intact. Also from the Medieval period are the famous Chester Rows - black and wide arcaded shops on raised platforms overlooking the historic streets. For much of its history Chester was the major port of the area, but the increasing size of ships and silting of the River Dee meant that it was easily eclipsed by Liverpool in the eighteenth century. Today Chester is one of the most popular tourist centres in the North West.