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The Company of Proprietors of the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation was formed under an Act of Parliament in 1793, following an earlier unsuccessful Act in 1766 when insufficient funds were raised. Surveys had been undertaken and there had been discussions for promoting a navigation since the late 17th century. John Rennie was nominally in charge of construction of the navigation, but his assistant Richard Coates actually did the work. Although labelled the 'Chelmer & Blackwater', the Navigation mostly follows the river Chelmer, which is joined by the Blackwater just below Beeleigh Lock, near Heybridge.
The Navigation joined the sea at Heybridge rather than the sea port of Maldon owing to objections from landowners and other port interests in the town who feared the Navigation would bring a loss of trade. The community around Heybridge Basin rose following the construction work in the 1790s, as the area was entirely rural farmland until the building of the Navigation. For the first fifty years of its operation, the Navigation was very successful, but with the arrival of the Eastern Counties Railway in Chelmsford in 1843, trade steadily declined. After the 1939 - 1945 war, the sea lock at Heybridge Basin was enlarged (now 107' x 26') for bigger timber ships from the continent.
The only trade during the final the years of commercial carrying was timber to Brown's, timber merchants, in Chelmsford. When this trade stopped, in 1972, the Navigation Company was, at first, resistant to use of the waterway by pleasure traffic, but a spirited campaign by the Association's Chelmsford Branch led to acceptance and a steady growth in pleasure craft numbers. The Inland Waterways Association's Chelmsford Branch has supported the waterway ever since, and organised the restoration of Springfield Basin in 1993. Since then, the Association has raised over £400,000 to repair locks and weirs at Hoe Mill, Stoneham's, Barnes Mill and Sandford locks. More recently, a locally-based Chelmer Canal Trust was formed to add its support.
Heybridge Basin is a busy haven for boats sheltering from the tidal Blackwater Estuary, after which there follows 13 miles of tranquil rural river, with 12 locks (60' x 16'), until water meadows on the outskirts of Chelmsford are reached. The Navigation terminates at Springfield Basin, only a few minutes walk from the busy town centre. Major redevelopment of waterside properties followed the restoration of Springfield Basin, and there is potential for much more. The Association has also promoted an extension of the Navigation through a former gas works to the river Can (a tributary of the Chelmer), which flows through the centre of Chelmsford. The proposals have enjoyed the support of Chelmsford Borough Council, but funding has yet to be secured.
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