The Chester Historic Buildings Preservation Trust Limited (CHBPT) was formed in 1981 with the active support and encouragement of the Chester Civic Trust. CHBPT is a private company, limited by guarantee, and registered as a charity.
Often described as ‘the agents of last resort’, building preservation trusts exist across the country to save listed buildings and local landmarks from terminal decline.
Our remit covers a wide range of properties in various stages of disrepair, but in order to qualify for grants and take advantage of low-interest loans from the Architectural Heritage Fund, the building or structure has to be special and its restoration has to be commercially unviable. In other words, we tend to take on only the desperate cases.
In 2013 the Trust was reformed to cover a wider geographical area as ‘The Cheshire Historic Buildings Preservation Trust’ to include Wirral, Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington.
Latest News
Update: Summer 2023
Come and meet us! Sunday 25 June 2023 — 10:30AM - 4:00PM. at St. Mary’s Creative Space, St. Mary's Hill, Castle Street, Chester, CH1 2DW. CHBPT will have a stall at The Local History Fair, part of Chester Heritage Festival June 17-28, where you can find out all about...
Trial contactless payment donations for Chester Walls
Cheshire Historic Buildings Preservation Trust is working with Cheshire West and Chester Council to consider ways of generating funds via public donations to support improvement and enhancement projects for targeted heritage assets across the Borough. The Trust...
Update: Spring 2023
Voluntary donations from the open days at King Charles' Tower in September raised over £120 and Cheshire Historic Buildings Preservation Trust (CHBPT) has plans to hold more open days, subject to volunteer availability, at the tower and other locations. If you have...
Current Projects
Chester City Walls and Towers
Many of the sites on Chester City Walls are grade I listed as well as a Scheduled Ancient Monument forming one of the most complete city walls in the UK. Key stages to Chester City Walls conservation over the last six years have included major works to Watergate...
The Flat Shed, Tower Wharf, Chester
A Grade II listed boat-building shed which has been on the Buildings at Risk register for nearly 30 years. The Flat Shed is a covered slipway and workshop in which broad beam barges called Mersey ‘flats’ were built and repaired. It dates from 1892/3 and was part of an...
Barton Stocks, Barton
The Grade II listed stocks at Barton are likely 17th Century, from a time when public spectacle was local and used as a form of discipline. Very few remain in the UK. The stocks need restoring and consist of rectangular uprights of stone grooved for stocks, oak boards...