Chester City Walls
Completed repair projects
Handrails at Watergate Bridge
Last summer new assistance rails were installed on both approaches to Watergate Bridge. The new rails have been well-received by the public and people with reduced mobility and will now be the template for assistance rails in other areas with difficult access around the City Walls.
Replacement staircase at King Charles Tower Green
A set of wooden steps leading onto the City Walls from King Charles Tower Green and the Iceland car park had been propped for several years because the wood was slowly rotting away.
This dark and damp north-eastern corner of the City Wall receives very little sunlight even in high summer, which has provided perfect conditions for rot-causing fungi to flourish year-round.
Last year the wooden steps were dismantled and replacement steps were produced to conform more closely to current design and accessibility regulations to make them easier to use for people with reduced mobility or vision.
The new structure is made from fibre reinforced polymer which looks almost identical to wood but is made from recycled plastic bottles (approximately 140 x 500ml plastic bottles per square metre of material) surrounded by a glass fibre outer skin. It has a design life of 60+ years, requires little to no maintenance, is resistant to vandalism and blends in well with the historic backdrop of the City Walls.
The new steps are now in place and were opened in early March 2023.
Northgate steps
The rebuilding of Chester's historic Northgate Steps, began in September 2019. A set of solid, vertical steps have been revealed now the scaffold has been removed, bringing this famous section of the City Walls back to its former glory. Handrails have been installed and a mysterious-looking polymer panel has been put in place on the landing (this is only a temporary measure while plans to display archaeology from the site via a viewing chamber are in progress).
Although work at Northgate Steps was completed recently, a section of wall immediately west of the site also needed to be investigated in phase two of the repairs, this section of the famous City Walls is fully open to public.
