Graving Lock On Canal Link To River Dee

The Graving Lock on the canal link to the River Dee is a broad lock built in the early to mid-19th century. Constructed from brick, it was designed to facilitate the movement of "Mersey flats" between the Dee at Crane Wharf and Chester Basin. The lock chamber features brick walls with large sandstone blocks at the corners of the lock-gate recesses. It has pairs of timber lock gates that have been repaired. The upper end of the lock chamber is segmental in shape, and it includes steel-lined grooves that hold wooden planks, allowing a boat to rest on them for bottom repairs or other minor maintenance. There is an outlet from a sluiceway connected to an adjacent dry dock, which has roughly-shaped stone quoins and a segmental brick arch. The lower entrance to the lock is flanked by brick-and-sandstone walls, and there is a replaced broad footbridge crossing the lock.