Chester’s role as a port city dates back to Roman times and continued to play an important role in the maritime and industrial history of the North West until the 19^th century, leaving a rich legacy of river and canal side buildings, warehouses, offices, quays and boatyard. Conserving these is now the basis of an imaginative Heritage Port scheme to restore the potential of the waterway network around the city which will encourage more traffic to use the local system.

Watch the YouTube video Chester’s Waterways Wharf and Weir for an understanding mainly of the heritage of this Inland Heritage Port but also with some hope for the future.

A walk from Chester’s Roman walls and down the spectacular Northgate staircase locks will take the visitor to Tower Wharf. Thomas Telford’s historic warehouse is now an attractive pub and restaurant which retains many historic features inside. At the other end of Tower Wharf Taylor’s boatyard survives as perhaps the best example of a traditional boat-building yard on the canal system. Historic craft can frequently be seen here. The Dee Branch and the adjacent tidal Dee frontage of the old port of Chester show the important links of the city’s waterway system, whilst a walk around the Roodee past Chester’s historic racecourse brings one to the Old Dee Bridge and the site for the proposed lock to the upper Dee. Around these areas the port buildings provide a rich assemblage of historic structures with good public access which are  attractive and have major regeneration potential