Gallery
Bingley Five Rise
Bow Locks
Watford Locks
Caen Hill flight
This is a selective list of canal locks in the United Kingdom which have unique features or are notable in some other way. This list is not comprehensive.
| Lock | Canal | Grid Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bath Locks | Kennet and Avon Canal | grid reference ST756643 | Flight of six locks, in a quite ornate setting and including the UK's second deepest lock, [1] two pumping stations and several Grade II listed buildings. |
| Bingley Five Rise Locks | Leeds and Liverpool Canal | grid reference SE107399 | These staircase locks are the steepest flight of locks in the UK, with a gradient of about 1:5. |
| Bow Locks | River Lee Navigation | grid reference TQ383824 | These locks are bidirectional to connect to the tidal Bow Creek. |
| Caen Hill Locks | Kennet and Avon Canal | grid reference ST978614 | Flight of 29 locks, 16 of which form an impressively steep flight in a straight line up the hillside. |
| Fourteen Locks | Monmouthshire Canal | grid reference ST282885 | Dramatic flight of narrow and very deep locks featuring a unique and complex series of interdependent pounds. |
| Foxton Locks | Grand Union Canal (Leicester Line) | grid reference SP691896 | Two "staircases", each of five locks. Alongside the locks is the site of the Foxton Inclined Plane, built in 1900 as a solution to operational restrictions imposed by the lock flight. |
| King's Norton Stop Lock | Stratford-upon-Avon Canal | grid reference SP055794 | Stop lock with two guillotine gates. |
| Neptune's Staircase | Caledonian Canal | grid reference NN113769 | Staircase lock of eight locks constructed by Thomas Telford in 1811 lifting boats 64 feet (20 m). |
| Tardebigge Locks | Worcester and Birmingham Canal | grid reference SO973681 | Longest flight in the UK. 30 locks rising 67m. |
| Tuel Lane Lock | Rochdale Canal | grid reference SE063237 | Deepest lock in the United Kingdom, with a fall of 19' 8½". [1] |
| Watford Locks | Grand Union Canal (Leicester Line) | grid reference SP592688 | Staircase of four locks, within an overall flight of seven. |
The Dorset and Somerset Canal was a proposed canal in southwestern England. The main line was intended to link Poole, Dorset with the Kennet and Avon Canal near Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. A branch was to go from the main line at Frome to the southern reaches of the Somerset coalfield at Nettlebridge. Construction of the branch started in 1786, using boat lifts rather than locks to cope with changes of level, but the company ran out of money and the canal was abandoned in 1803, never to be completed.
A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is the chamber itself that rises and falls.
The canal network of the United Kingdom played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution. The UK was the first country to develop a nationwide canal network which, at its peak, expanded to nearly 4,000 miles in length. The canals allowed raw materials to be transported to a place of manufacture, and finished goods to be transported to consumers, more quickly and cheaply than by a land based route. The canal network was extensive and included feats of civil engineering such as the Anderton Boat Lift, the Manchester Ship Canal, the Worsley Navigable Levels and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift in Tamfourhill, Falkirk, in central Scotland, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It reconnects the two canals for the first time since the 1930s. It opened in 2002 as part of the Millennium Link project.
The Ashton Canal is a canal in Greater Manchester, England.
A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock.
The Peak Forest Canal is a narrow locked artificial waterway in northern England. It is 14.8 miles (23.8 km) long and forms part of the connected English/Welsh inland waterway network.
The Somerset Coal Canal was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800. Its route began in basins at Paulton and Timsbury, ran to nearby Camerton, over two aqueducts at Dunkerton, through a tunnel at Combe Hay, then via Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal. This link gave the Somerset coalfield access east toward London. The longest arm was 10.6 miles (17.1 km) long with 23 locks. From Midford an arm also ran via Writhlington to Radstock, with a tunnel at Wellow.
The balance lock was a type of boat lift designed by James Fussell (1748-1832) to transport boats up and down a hillside on a canal. An experimental balance lock was built as part of the Dorset and Somerset Canal and work was started for four more, but the project failed for financial reasons and they were not completed.
Caen Hill Locks are a flight of 29 locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal, between Rowde and Devizes in Wiltshire, England.
Wilton Water is a small reservoir, southwest of the village of Great Bedwyn in the English county of Wiltshire, which supplies the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal with water. The reservoir lies in the parish of Grafton and collects rainfall from the eastern end of the Vale of Pewsey and the surrounding hills.
The caisson lock is a type of canal lock in which a narrowboat is floated into a sealed watertight box and raised or lowered between two different canal water levels. It was invented in the late 18th century as a solution to the problem posed by the excessive demand for water when conventional locks were used to raise and lower canal boats through large height differences. Such locks, each of which would only raise and lower boats through small height differences of a few feet, would not suffice when large height differences had to be tackled nor when water was in short supply. The caisson was thought to be one solution, although it transpired that the technology of the day was not capable of achieving this type of construction economically.
Aston Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Digbeth Branch Canal terminates and meets the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal near to Aston, Birmingham, England.
Tardebigge Locks or the Tardebigge Flight is the longest flight of locks in the UK, comprising 30 narrow locks on a two-and-a-quarter-mile (3.6 km) stretch of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Tardebigge, Worcestershire. It raises the waterway 220 feet (67 m), and lies between the Tardebigge tunnel to the North and the Stoke Prior flight of six narrow locks to the South. The Tardebigge Engine House is also on this stretch.
The Crumlin Arm of the Monmouthshire canal is part of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal network in South Wales. It connected Crumlin and its tramways to the Docks at Newport.
St Pancras Lock is a lock on the Regent's Canal, in the London Borough of Camden, England. The St Pancras Basin is nearby.
City Road Lock is a lock on the Regent's Canal, in the London Borough of Islington, England. It is located a short distance to the east of Islington Tunnel, and immediately to the west of City Road Basin.
William Bennet was an English civil engineer, noted for his work on canals. Nothing is known of his early life or family history, but details of his work from about 1790 until 1826 are documented. His major projects were for the Dorset and Somerset Canal and the Somersetshire Coal Canal.
The Combe Hay Locks is a derelict flight of locks on the Somerset Coal Canal near Combe Hay, Somerset, England. Twenty two locks raised the canal 134 feet (41 m) over approximately 1.6 miles (2.6 km). The lock flight was predated in the immediate area by two other methods of canal lifts—first by a series of caisson locks, then by an inclined plane. The lock flight opened in 1805, and was in operation until 1899.
