Change of canal gauge locations

[magpie patrick]

I found myself idly looking at locations where there are wide locks on a through route for narrow boats but which lead to a dead end for wide boats. I'm not counting locations where there is a narrow branch off a wide canal, only where a wide boat going through the lock would have no choice but to turn round and return through it. A quick review suggests the following locations and reasons

 

Bunbury - Chester Canal led to Nantwich and predates all the narrow canals that lead off it

Stenson - Trent barges to Burton

Whitsunday Pie - Trent barges to Retford

Middlewich Big - Mersey Flats to Middlewich? (although this wasn't actually possible?)

Kibworth - supposed to be a through route for barges between Leicester and Northampton

Bancroft (Stratford) - to get barges off the Avon? 

Knowle - to get barges to a new depot at Bordesley (1930s inprovements) 

Droitwich - Barge lock in Vines park - ???? (It only led to about 100 yards of narrow river before the first narrow lock, and was owned by the same company as the narrow canal beyond it)

 

Bunbury and Kibworth are the last locks on a canal, the narrow locks beyond were built by a different company. All the others are a change of gauge under the same canal company. 

 

Have I missed any? 

Are my suppositions as to why these locks were wide correct? I know some of them are but some are speculation on my part

Were these wide locks ever used for their intended purpose, or did narrow boats carry all the traffic?

 

Anyone anything to add? Thank you for helping me get distracted!   

 

[IanM]

Would the wide locks at Ellsemere Port fall into that category?

[magpie patrick]

1 minute ago, IanM said:

Would the wide locks at Ellsemere Port fall into that category?

 I guess they would now although it's not a lock that stops them!

[IanM]

6 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

I guess they would now although it's not a lock that stops them!

 

That is very true! My brain isn't working too well today.

[David Mack]

18 minutes ago, IanM said:

Would the wide locks at Ellsemere Port fall into that category?

Similarly the wide locks at Stourport and Diglis.

 

Northampton Lock on the River Nene.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Dutton Stop Lock on the T&M. First lock reached after joining from the wide Bridgewater canal. Not wide enough for two narrowboats, but a lot wider than the subsequent narrow locks.

If you think of the Anderton Lift as a sort of very tall lock, then that probably counts. CaRT have a wide beam trip boat that goes up and down, but can only use a restricted section of the T&M at the top end.

30 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

 I guess they would now although it's not a lock that stops them!

The Chesterfield Canal has wide locks to Retford, but a narrow bridge hole prevents wide beams reaching them from Stockwith Basin and the Trent.

[Pluto]

Wigan flight Lock 21 could be considered.

[Heartland]

In the past the original lock on the Stratford upon Avon canal at Kings Norton was wide until replacement by the Guillotine Gate Lock

There was at least one barge that navigated from Birmingham to Hockley Heath

 

Then there was the Ashby made wide in parts but the lock with the Coventry was narrow

[billh]

Rochdale Canal onto Ashton Canal ? Wide boats could reach the lower end  of  Ashton Lock 1 , there was a wide stop lock under the Ducie St bridge, installed so the RCC couldn't get the Ashton's surplus  water for nowt. Unfortunately the canal was narrowed here about 20 years ago, for no good reason, so Rochdale size boats can no longer use Whittle's Croft Wharf etc.Note that Store St aqueduct  was built wide but maybe  reduced width now.

[magpie patrick]

8 hours ago, David Mack said:

Similarly the wide locks at Stourport and Diglis.

 

Northampton Lock on the River Nene.

 

Thanks - Stourport & Diglis are I guess similar to Bancroft, get the barges off the river into a canal basin. 

 

Northampton is one of very few places where narrow locks connect directly to a wide beam river navigation. I think Oxford is the only other one (twice) and the wide beam route there is a through route. 

 

7 hours ago, Pluto said:

Wigan flight Lock 21 could be considered.

 

The larger navigation is a through route - unless a 70 foot boat can get through lock 21? 

[Francis Herne]

1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:

Northampton is one of very few places where narrow locks connect directly to a wide beam river navigation. I think Oxford is the only other one (twice) and the wide beam route there is a through route.

 

Technically Stourport again - there are both wide and narrow locks in parallel between the basins and river.

 

Various river navigations have locks that get narrower going upstream.

 

The Great Ouse system does so on a canal-boat scale - lower reaches are mostly 14ft beam, but gradually narrows to 10ft 1in at Cardington or 9ft 8in at Jesus Lock.

 

Other examples I can think of like the Trent and Severn only go from "huge" to "still pretty big".

Edited December 20, 2023 by Francis Herne

[Stroudwater1]

Was Over lock on The Hereford and Gloucester canal narrowish  beam, around 8ft ? I believe it was, so perhaps qualifies as a narrow lock onto a river?

 However I’m not clear if Llanthony Lock was always the way onto Over lock off the river Severn. Pretty sure Llanthony was a wide lock? 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by Stroudwater1
Typo

[Francis Herne]

Over lock could be reached via either Llanthony or Maisemore.

 

Over is about 8ft beam, Maisemore about 7ft (narrower than Over), Llanthony 16-17ft (not authoritative, based on a bit of Google and measuring satellite views).

 

Technically Llanthony can be on the wide through route up the Severn if you're mad enough to boat on the upper estuary like the Wye Invader 2 guy.

Discounting that, I think you've found the first (and only?) downhill example.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Francis Herne

[Ogwr]

Huddersfield Broad to Huddersfield Narrow similar to Bunbury

[John Brightley]

19 hours ago, Heartland said:

Then there was the Ashby made wide in parts but the lock with the Coventry was narrow

According to Geoff Pursglove in his article about the Ashby Canal in Narrow Boat magazine summer 2012, "the Ashby Canal structures were all built to the 14ft standard, including the stop lock at Marston Jabbett", but the stop lock was reduced to narrow beam in 1819.

[Pluto]

12 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

 

Thanks - Stourport & Diglis are I guess similar to Bancroft, get the barges off the river into a canal basin. 

 

Northampton is one of very few places where narrow locks connect directly to a wide beam river navigation. I think Oxford is the only other one (twice) and the wide beam route there is a through route. 

 

 

The larger navigation is a through route - unless a 70 foot boat can get through lock 21? 

There is a change in lock length. All the locks from Poolstock to Wigan were originally for 62 feet long boats only, but were quickly rebuilt so that narrow boats could reach Liverpool, hence locks 22 and 23 at Wigan were lengthened, as were the locks on the Leigh branch which were then at Poolstock and Dover. These were replaced by the Poolstock 2 around 1900-1915 because of mining subsidence.

[Tim Lewis]

Seem to recall that the locks on the Thames and Severn canal were originally longer that those on the Stroudwater Navigation so Wallbridge could have been a Transshipment point!   
 

I believe that the T& S locks were eventually shortened to match those on the Stroudwater

Edited December 21, 2023 by Tim Lewis

[magpie patrick]

10 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

Seem to recall that the locks on the Thames and Severn canal were originally longer that those on the Stroudwater Navigation so Wallbridge could have been a Transshipment point!   
 

I believe that the T& S locks were eventually shortened to match those on the Stroudwater

 

That gets messy.... 

 

Stroudwater locks were shorter and wider the T&S locks - the break of guage came at Brimscombe so the first seven T&S locks were Stroudwater size and Bournes was wide and long to allow both. Some of the T&S locks in the Golden Valley were shortened but I'm not sure the ones on the other side down to the Thames were. Overall the T&S locks were a pain as they were wide but not wide enough for two narrow boats. When built it was never imagined the narrow boat would become so ubiquitous so it was built for Thames barges

[noddyboater]

21 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

 

The Chesterfield Canal has wide locks to Retford, but a narrow bridge hole prevents wide beams reaching them from Stockwith Basin and the Trent.

True, but that bridge width was reduced relatively recently to raise the weight limit to the nearby farm.

Although it's hard to find evidence that barges ever made the trip towards Retford, I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't. 

[ditchcrawler]

What about Middlewich Big Lock

[PeterScott]

How about the River Stort connecting to the (wider) Lee. Discussed here:

 

[magpie patrick]

3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

What about Middlewich Big Lock

 

It's in my original list

 

It's doubtful whether a wide boat ever went through it, but I presume the logic was to get wide boats to a particular wharf in Middlewich.

 

I haven't a clue why the barge lock in Droitwich was built wide! 

[Captain Pegg]

1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:

 

It's in my original list

 

It's doubtful whether a wide boat ever went through it, but I presume the logic was to get wide boats to a particular wharf in Middlewich.

 

I haven't a clue why the barge lock in Droitwich was built wide! 

The lock at Droitwich could have served a similar purpose to that you suggest for Middlewich big lock. It’s also possible the term barge lock is a bit of a misnomer because it’s a flood lock and that may be the reason for its dimensions. If it were a narrow lock it would be largely unnavigable today because of the build up of silt behind the gates.

[Francis Herne]

2 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

I haven't a clue why the barge lock in Droitwich was built wide! 

 

Old maps show a canalside wharf with crane for the salt works just beyond the first bridge above the lock, on the offside. Barges could usefully have served this. No idea if they ever did.

[David Mack]

6 hours ago, PeterScott said:

How about the River Stort connecting to the (wider) Lee. Discussed here:

 

I thought of that, but discounted it as under @magpie patrick's original criteria, the River Lee is a through navigation beyond the junction with the Stort. Likewise the junction of the Oxford Canal with the Thames.