It runs just to the east of Chester and passes through a syphon under the Manchester Ship Canal to meet the Mersey near Stanlow.

Perennially popular with fishermen and home to several rare invertebrates,[1] it has been polluted in its lower reaches in recent decades, due in part to the oil refinery at Stanlow and the arrival of the nearby M53 and M56 motorways, leading to schemes by environmental groups to clean up the area and to restock the fish population.

This area of 160 hectares (395 acres), owned by Shell UK, has been created as a nature reserve by Cheshire Wildlife Trust.

Surveys by the Environment Agency show that the Gowy's eel population has held up well despite a Europe-wide massive decline in numbers.

It was on the marshes at Gibbet’s Field near Mickle Trafford that James Brown and Thomas Price were hanged in January 1795 for the abduction and robbery of a mail boy.