Renovated masonry walls of a former bridge have been given the seal of approval by Lord Mayor of Chester Bob Rudd.

Councillor Rudd, as Garden Quarter councillor, was contacted by resident Lila Hallett because Cheyney Road stone bridge needed attention.

The former bridge carried Cheyney Road over Finchett’s Gutter until the stream was diverted in the early 1970s.

Finchett’s Gutter is part of the stream which marked the northern boundary of Chester and is known at various points along its course as Flookersbrook, Newton Brook and Bache Brook.

In the past the River Dee roughly followed the line of Saughall Road and so the stream flowed into the river a little way south of the bridge.

The earliest reference to a bridge at this location is between 1220-1250 when it was known as Wyardesbrugge, a name that is partly Old English in origin and this might suggest a bridge was there much earlier in the medieval period.

The bridge is important because it marks the site of a medieval anchorage on the Dee known as the Portpool where cargoes were unloaded and the stream was then called Portpool Brook.

In the 1970s the stream bed to the north and south of the bridge was filled in and lower sections of the bridge buried so all that is now visible are the parapets and the wing walls which appear as walls bordering Cheyney Road.

The present day bridge is possibly nineteenth or early twentieth century in date but it could be as early as eighteenth century.

Councillor Rudd said: “I know that many will be fascinated by the history of what some people thought were just boundary walls in this particular location.

“I am very pleased that the work has been undertaken and that laser scanning was carried out before and after the work because these drawings will add to the historic record of the location.”

The Section 106 funded work included stone masons removing the modern hard cement mortar and re-pointing with a lime mortar to help preserve the soft sandstone blocks.

Damaged stonework was replaced and short sections of the wall were carefully dismantled and reconstructed using new stone to match the existing ones.

The historic bridge acts as a boundary wall to what is called a ‘Pocket Park’, a small area of greenery which is used by local people and children.