After the Norman conquest, the walls were extended to the west and the south to form a complete circuit of the medieval city.

The walls are now a major tourist attraction, and form an almost complete circuit of the former medieval city, with a total walkway length of 2.95 kilometres (1.8 mi).

[2] The fortress was initially defended by an earth rampart surmounted by a wooden palisade and surrounded by a ditch with a sharp V-shaped profile.

[3] From about 90 AD Chester was occupied by Legio XX Valeria Victrix, who started a programme of rebuilding, including the improvement of the walls.

This consisted of large square blocks of stone built on a chamfered plinth up to a walkway about 4.9 m (16 ft) above the base.

[7] Nothing is known about the condition of the walls between the end of the Roman occupation in the late 4th century and the refounding of Chester by Æthelflæd as a burgh in 907 as part of the reconquest of Mercia by the Anglo-Saxons.

[8] Following the Norman conquest the army of William the Conqueror arrived in Chester in 1069–70, and the king ordered that a castle should be built.

However, following a siege of Chester Castle during the Second Barons' War in 1265, a larger ditch was dug, this one being over 2 m (6 ft) deep.

[12] The finance required for the upkeep of the walls was mainly by a series of murages granted by the king, duties levied on merchandise passing into and out of the city.

[4] In the expectation of the coming Civil War, repairs were carried out in the early 1640s, and further fortifications were added to the walls and in the outer suburbs.

[4][13] After the end of the Civil War, the walls ceased to have any military or defensive function, and increasingly became used for recreational purposes.

In 1707 the City Assembly made a grant of £1,000 (equivalent to £210,000 in 2023)[14] to repair and re-flag the walls to make a walkway with an unfortified parapet.

Notable people walking the walls in the early 18th century included John Wesley and Samuel Johnson.

The gaol yard extended southwards towards the river and this necessitated removing Shipgate, thus creating a permanent breach in the wall.

[4][17] In 1846 the Chester and Holyhead Railway was built, cutting the walls and passing through arches under the northwest corner.

Where it breached the north wall a concrete footbridge, named St Martin's Gate, was built and opened in 1966.

[27] The walk is approximately rectangular in plan, on a continuous elevated walkway, apart from a short section on the south of the city.