Chester - Industry

Boughton Watertower

As canals were built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, they attracted industrialists wishing to take advantage of the cheap and relatively fast transport the canals provided. In Chester, several industries grew up along the banks of the Canal.













One of the earliest and most important industries in the area was the Leadworks of Walkers, Maltby & Co. The Leadworks made a range of products such as pipe, sheet and paint but particularly lead shot, much of it for use in the Napoleonic Wars.
In the pic below workers are casting molten lead into ingots.

Various other industries were established alongside the canal in Chester, especially corn mills which ground the grain brought here by boat from nearby farms and Ellesmere Port docks. Some mills have been demolished but you can see two surviving buildings on both sides of the canal. The "Steam Mill" - now offices - which was originally built for F A Frost & Sons in 1834.