| Whilton Locks | |
|---|---|
 The second lock of the Whilton flight | |
 | |
| Waterway | Grand Union Canal |
| County | Northamptonshire |
| Maintained by | British Waterways |
| Operation | Manual |
| First built | 1796 |
| Length | 72 feet (21.9 m) |
| Width | 14 feet 3 inches (4.34 m) |
| Fall | 63 feet (19 m) |
| Flight of 7 locks | |
Whilton Locks is the name of a flight of seven locks on the Grand Union Canal near Daventry, in the county of Northamptonshire, England. They are also referred to as Buckby Lock Flight.
The Grand Junction Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 30 April 1793, and was to run over 90 miles (140 km) from Braunston on the Oxford Canal to Brentford near London, where it would join the River Thames. Construction of the northern section, which included the Whilton locks at Buckby, was complicated by the need for two tunnels, one to the north of the locks near Braunston, which was 2,042 yards (1,867 m) long, and the other to the south at Blisworth, which was 3,057 yards (2,795 m) long. Despite encountering quicksands in Braunston Tunnel, it was finished on 21 June 1796, and the canal opened to Weedon Bec, around 2.7 miles (4.3 km) to the south of the locks. Shortly afterwards, it was extended further south to Blisworth, but there were serious problems with Blisworth Tunnel, which had failed in January 1796. William Jessop was the engineer and wanted to abandon the idea of a tunnel. He proposed to build 29 locks to get beyond Blisworth, but was persuaded to try a different alignment by three engineers who were brought in to advise. Low level headings were cut to drain the main workings of water, and the tunnel opened on 25 March 1805, the last part of the canal to be completed. [1] The Grand Junction Canal became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1929, following amalgamation with the Regents Canal, the Warwick and Birmingham Canal and the Warwich and Napton Canal. [2]
Below the bottom lock was a long level pound stretching to beyond Blisworth Tunnel. The seven locks raised the level of the canal by 63 feet (19 m) to a fairly short summit pound, which passed through Braunston Tunnel and then descended through five locks to Braunston. [3] The locks were built wide enough to take two narrow boats side by side, in the hope that the canals beyond the northern terminus could be persuaded to widen their locks and that wide barges carrying 70 tons could be operated. [1]
The locks at Buckby were all built with side ponds, to conserve water. These are maintained at an intermediate level between the upper and lower pound. When a lock is emptying, water from the top of the lock fills the side pond, and the rest is then discharged to the lower pound. When a lock is filling, the bottom of the lock is filled from the pond, and the rest is drawn from the upper pound. Typically, this system uses 40 per cent less water, but the ponds have been disused for a long time, and an electric pump is now used to pump water from the bottom of the flight to the top. [4] The Grand Junction Canal experimented with side ponds from the early 1800s. The locks at Bourne End had several radial ponds, but use of the ponds was abandoned because it took too long to use the lock. Those at Buckby had two rectangular side ponds per lock, at different levels, and this design was eventually installed at most locks between Buckby and lock 45 at Bulbourne, the junction with the Wendover Arm. [5]
The locks are numbered from 7 at the top of the flight to 13 at the bottom. To the south of the flight is a long level pound, which stretches 14.6 miles (23.5 km) to the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum and the top of the Stoke Bruerne flight of seven locks. Towards the southern end of this section is Blisworth Tunnel and Gayton Junction, where the Northampton Branch turns off to join the River Nene at Northampton. Just below the junction, the railway line from London to Rugby crosses the canal and then runs parallel to it. About 1 mile (1.6 km) below Whilton Locks, the M1 motorway approaches, and runs along the east bank, so that the bottom four locks are sandwiched between the railway and the motorway. The railway then crosses to the east bank, and the canal diverges to the west. Just before the final lock, the canal passes under Watling Street, once a Roman road and now part of the A5 road. The Leicester section of the Grand Union Canal then turns off at Norton Junction, and the canal continues on the level, passing through Braunston Tunnel to reach the top lock of the six that descend to Braunston, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from the top of the Whilton flight. [4] [6]
The canal is 377 feet (115 m) above sea level at the top of the flight, [6] and the locks drop the level by 63 feet (19 m) to 314 feet (96 m). Whilton Marina is located close to the bottom lock. It was set up in 1971 in a field beside the canal, and now has 200 private moorings, while another 50 are occupied by boats which are for sale. The marina offers a full range of services. [7] Between locks 7 and 8 there is an early nineteenth-century bridge, resting on stone supports. The piers and parapets are made of brick, and the structure is grade II listed. [8] Beside lock 9 is a cast iron milepost, dating from the same period, indicating that it is 5 miles (8 km) to Braunston, which is also listed. [9]
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter stretching for 137 miles (220 km) with 166 locks from London. The Birmingham line has a number of short branches to places including Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover, and Northampton. The Leicester line has two short arms of its own, to Market Harborough and Welford.
The Oxford Canal is a 78-mile (126 km) narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thames at Oxford, and links with the Grand Union Canal, which it is combined with for 5 miles (8 km) between to the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill.
The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-passing the upper reaches of the River Thames near Oxford, thus shortening the journey.
A canal pound, reach, or level, is the stretch of level water impounded between two canal locks. Canal pounds can vary in length from the non-existent, where two or more immediately adjacent locks form a lock staircase, to many kilometres/miles.
Blisworth Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Grand Union Canal in Northamptonshire, England, between the villages of Stoke Bruerne at the southern end and Blisworth at the northern end.
The Warwickshire ring is a connected series of canals forming a circuit around the West Midlands area of England. The ring is formed from the Coventry Canal, the Oxford Canal, the Grand Union Canal, the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. It is a popular route with tourists due to its circular route and mixture of urban and rural landscapes.
Norbury Junction is a hamlet and former canal junction which lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south east of Norbury, in Staffordshire, England. The junction is where the Shrewsbury Canal meets the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal. Both canals opened in 1835 but the Shrewsbury Canal closed in 1944. The main line still runs through the former junction.
The Grand Union Canal was a canal in England from Foxton, Leicestershire on the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal to Norton Junction, close to Long Buckby Wharf on the Grand Junction Canal. It now forms the first 23 miles (37 km) of the Leicester line of the Grand Union Canal.
Fourteen Locks is a series of locks, also known as the Cefn Flight, on the Crumlin arm of the Monmouthshire Canal at Rogerstone in Newport, South Wales. The flight of locks was completed in 1799 and raises the water level 160 ft in just 800 yd. This is one of the steepest rises for a major run in the UK which, combined with the sheer number of locks, makes it one of the most significant in the country. The run of locks includes a series of embanked ponds, pounds, sluices and weirs to control the water supply, with no set of gates shared between individual locks. It therefore comprises a flight of locks rather than a lock staircase.
Aldersley Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Birmingham Main Line Canal terminates and meets the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near to Oxley, north Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It opened in 1772.
Bordesley Junction is a canal junction where the Grand Union Canal splits near to Bordesley, Birmingham, England. It opened in 1844, when the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal was built as part of a scheme to bypass the congestion at the Farmers Bridge flight of locks.
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 North Pennine Ring is a canal ring which crosses the Pennines between Manchester, Leeds and Castleford. It follows parts of five canals, and shares much of its route with the Outer Pennine Ring, which uses a different route for the southern crossing of the Pennines.
Bosley Lock Flight is a flight of twelve canal locks, situated on the Macclesfield Canal at Bosley, near Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. The locks are substantially built with stone blocks, and unusually for narrow locks have mitre gates at both ends. They were each built with a side pond, which enabled some of the water to be re-used during a filling and emptying cycle. The side ponds have been disused for many years, but there are plans to reinstate one of them for demonstration purposes.
Marple Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Macclesfield Canal terminates and meets the Peak Forest Canal at Marple, Greater Manchester, England.
Rumer Hill Junction was a canal junction on the Cannock Extension Canal where the Churchbridge Branch left to join the Hatherton Canal. The junction, along with the northern section of the canal was abandoned in 1963. The Churchbridge Branch and Rumer Hill Junction were subsequently obliterated by opencast mining.
Spon Lane Junction is the original junction of the Wednesbury Canal and the Birmingham Canal, near Oldbury in the West Midlands, England.
Hawkesbury Junction or Sutton Stop is a canal junction in England, at the northern limit of the Oxford Canal where it meets the Coventry Canal, near Hawkesbury Village, Warwickshire, between Bedworth and Coventry. The alternative name, Sutton Stop, arises from the name of a family which provided several lock keepers there in the nineteenth century.
Shrewley Tunnel is a canal tunnel near Shrewley, Warwickshire, England, which opened in 1799. It became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1929.
Bascote locks form a flight of four locks on the Grand Union Canal, which is part of the British canal system and connects London and Birmingham. The lock flight has a staircase, and at the highest lock the remains of older narrow locks can be seen.
