Caen Hill Locks, Along the whole length of the Kennet and Avon Canal, there are numerous examples of excellent canal engineering. The Caen Hill flight of 16 locks is a protected ancient monument that all boaters are required to navigate in order to continue on their journey. This obstacle is of Olympic proportions.
The Caen Hill Lock Flight is one of the nation's longest continuous flights of locks. It features a total of 29 locks, an elevation gain of 237 feet over a distance of 2 miles, and a gradient of 1 in 44.
This flight was conceived of and executed by John Rennie the Elder. It connected Bristol and Reading by way of the last 87 miles (140 kilometres) of the Kennet and Avon navigation, which had initially opened for business in 1796. Bricks were produced at a brickyard that was established to the south of the site. These bricks were used to line the lock chambers. This was still a prosperous economic choice all the way up until the middle of the twentieth century. John Blackwell, in his capacity as Rennie's site agent, was in charge of supervising the construction of the locks. The only remnants of a tramway that linked Foxhangers and Devizes for commercial purposes between the years 1801 and 1810 are the towpath arches that are located on road bridges that straddle the canal.
During the early part of the 19th century, between the years 1829 and 1843, the flight was illuminated by gas lamps.
Because of the development of railroads, the canal was decommissioned, and it was finally filled in. The last load, which was a shipment of grain travelling from Avonmouth to Newbury, was transported by this trip in October of 1948. The operation to clear and reconstruct the flight began in the 1960s, despite the fact that it had been navigable for some years previous to Queen Elizabeth II's visit in 1990 to officially inaugurate the new locks.
Discovering Caen Hill Locks Local Holiday Accommodation Guide
- Caen Hill Locks Postcode SN10 1RF
- Caen Hill Locks Geolocation Latitude 51.3525° N Longitude -2.0180° W
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In 1996, Foxhangers built a back pump that has the capacity to return 7 million imperial gallons of water daily to the top of the staircase, which is equivalent to one lockful of water being returned every eleven minutes. This is essential due to the fact that the locks can only operate properly when supplied with a substantial quantity of water.
In order to reduce the amount of water that was lost throughout the course of that year, British Waterways planned to instal sixteen new locks gates within a period of twelve weeks as part of its winter maintenance schedule. Because of the extremely cold weather, construction was hindered, and by the time the portion was reopened for Easter in 2010, only twelve sets of gates had been fixed. The festival was given a contribution of wood from the previous gates, and they used it to build a new bridge in her honour. This was done in order to pay homage to Arabella Churchill, who was one of the festival's founders.
