The town owes its origins to the Romans, and a fort was erected around the area now occupied by St. Alkmund's church in the first century. The reason for this site was probably because it was roughly midway between Viroconium and Chester, and the low hill made it the best defensible place in the neighbourhood. The modern Whitchurch has no visible traces of its Roman past as successive ages have slowly turned the town into a typical Georgian or Victorian town with a wealth of attractive buildings. The building that dominates the town however, is St. Alkmund's church, which stands at the top of the high street and can be seen when approaching the town from many directions. Probably its two most famous industries are its cheese and clock manufacturing. The clock in the tower of St. Alkmund's is of local manufacture (Thomas Joyce & Sons) and has apparently kept good time for over 100 years with little maintenance, although the present clock faces are more recent and are made of fibreglass. From the church down the High Street to the south are some interesting buildings and wherever one walks, above and behind the facade of modern shop-windows are some fine Victorian buildings. | 
