Brayford Pool is the natural broadening of the River Witham that became Lincoln's harbour in Roman times — the city was founded specifically because of the river crossing here, and the Foss Dyke canal (which leaves the Pool to the west, heading for the Trent and Stainton) is one of the oldest navigable canals in Britain, dug by Roman engineers in the 1st century AD.
Today the Pool is a marina full of narrowboats, ringed by modern hotels, the riverside campus of the University of Lincoln, and a strip of restaurants and bars that come into their own on summer evenings. Swans congregate in front of the pubs. The view from the Brayford Wharf North bridge looking back up through the city to the cathedral on the hill is one of the city's classic photographs.