The Company of Proprietors of the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation Limited

Established by act of parliament in 1793

The Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation links Chelmsford with the Blackwater estuary, allowing suitably dimensioned boats to reach the centre of Chelmsford from the open sea via the sea lock at Heybridge Basin.

The founders of our company built the navigation between 1793 and 1797 to carry freight to Chelmsford. For more than 200 years the company has continued to maintain the waterway and act as the navigation authority.

Under a recent agreement, day to day management and maintenance of the navigation is now undertaken by Essex Waterways Limited, a division of the Inland Waterways Association.

The Company will continue to be the navigation's landlord, maintain it's statutory role as Navigation Authority and it will maintain the Bye-Laws for the Navigation.

If you wish to contact the company for any reason you can email us at this internet domain using the user name 'navco'


Further information about the Chelmer and Blackwater navigation can be found on the web sites below:

IWA
Paper Mill Lock
Chelmer Canal Trust