Bingley 5-Rise celebrates 250 years of use.

[Alan de Enfield]

The Yorkshire Post ;

 

Bingley Five Rise Lock: The incredible history of an iconic piece of engineering (msn.com)

 

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The Yorkshire Post ;

 

Bingley Five Rise Lock: The incredible history of an iconic piece of engineering (msn.com)

 

"The intermediate and bottom gates are the tallest in the country".

Taller than those at Tuel Lane or Bath Deep Lock?

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

"The intermediate and bottom gates are the tallest in the country".

Taller than those at Tuel Lane or Bath Deep Lock?

Probably, they go from the bottom of the camber to the water level of the next chamber 

[David Mack]

Intermediate gates of staircase locks are no deeper than the bottom gates of single locks of the same depth. The only difference is that you can see the whole gate whereas the lower part of bottom gates is always under water.

Tuel Lane and Bath Deep locks both replaced two locks, so are double the rise.

[Pluto]

The photo dates from 1956, when Coronation Road School, Crosby, hired Crucis, Plover and Darlington, for a trip to Boston, with 25 people on each boat. No on-board toilets seem to have been provided! A BBC crew started filming the trip, but the programme was cancelled. A newspaper report suggests they averaged about 80 miles per day, so no hanging about.

[TheBiscuits]

4 hours ago, David Mack said:

Taller than those at Tuel Lane

 

Local press, innit.  They're not even the tallest gates in the county, never mind the country!

[IanD]

2 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Local press, innit.  They're not even the tallest gates in the county, never mind the country!

 

True, but there's probably still information around in lots of places -- especially newspaper back issues or articles, if they still exist, but also some web pages -- that predates Tuel Lane (and was never updated) which still says they're the tallest.

[Alan de Enfield]

And (1 hour ago) the Guardian jumps on the band-wagon.

 

The canal lock flight in West Yorkshire, the steepest in the UK and a true wonder of the nation’s waterways, will this weekend celebrate its 250th birthday.

When it opened in 1774, about 30,000 people gathered awestruck to watch the first boats make the 60ft descent through the five linked locks.

There will be events marking the anniversary on Saturday, and genuine pride that such an incredible feat of engineering is still in use today.

“We are so proud of it,” said Sean McGinley, a regional director of the Canal & River Trust. “It should be in a museum really. It is sort of mad but it’s wonderful. The fact that boats still go through it after 250 years, in pretty much the same way they always did, is outstanding.”

Behind that pride and joy are concerns that canals in England and Wales could be in peril. The trust was told last July that it would get less money from the government, a cut it equates to 40%.

It felt like “a kick in the shins,” said McGinley. There was a real chance Britain’s canal system could in future years see Beeching-style cuts, he said

 

More ....................

 

UK’s steepest lock flight marks 250th birthday amid canal funding fears (msn.com)

[Stroudwater1]

On 17/03/2024 at 08:05, David Mack said:

"The intermediate and bottom gates are the tallest in the country".

Taller than those at Tuel Lane or Bath Deep Lock?

 

 

12 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

And (1 hour ago) the Guardian jumps on the band-wagon.

 

The canal lock flight in West Yorkshire, the steepest in the UK and a true wonder of the nation’s waterways, will this weekend celebrate its 250th birthday.

When it opened in 1774, about 30,000 people gathered awestruck to watch the first boats make the 60ft descent through the five linked locks.

There will be events marking the anniversary on Saturday, and genuine pride that such an incredible feat of engineering is still in use today.

“We are so proud of it,” said Sean McGinley, a regional director of the Canal & River Trust. “It should be in a museum really. It is sort of mad but it’s wonderful. The fact that boats still go through it after 250 years, in pretty much the same way they always did, is outstanding.”

Behind that pride and joy are concerns that canals in England and Wales could be in peril. The trust was told last July that it would get less money from the government, a cut it equates to 40%.

It felt like “a kick in the shins,” said McGinley. There was a real chance Britain’s canal system could in future years see Beeching-style cuts, he said

 

More ....................

 

UK’s steepest lock flight marks 250th birthday amid canal funding fears (msn.com)

Isn’t the Guardian article correct, it’s the longest steepest gradient in the Uk system? (not quite 60 foot drop but within inches of it) ? Neptunes staircase being longer provides a less steep gradient? 
 

In fairness to the Yorkshire Post the quoted phrases about deepest gates appear to come from the Wikipedia entry on  the Bingley five rise so they had done some reading on the subject. Perhaps someone with editing rights on Wiki can suggest the alteration? 

[LadyG]

I'm thinking about going that way, are they manned all year?

.

[Moke]

You have to book during the winter season

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

I'm thinking about going that way, are they manned all year?

.

I hope you get a better lockie than I did 

[Tacet]

3 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

 

 

Isn’t the Guardian article correct, it’s the longest steepest gradient in the Uk system? (not quite 60 foot drop but within inches of it) ? Neptunes staircase being longer provides a less steep gradient? 
 

Mmm.  I think you need to set some rules before deciding which is the longest or steepest gradient.  Tuel Lane has a steeper gradient and plenty of flights are longer, depending on where you view the start and finish.

 

Bingley might be the longest-and-steepest (together) given favourable definitions.

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, Tacet said:

Tuel Lane has a steeper gradient

Well you can only really talk about gradient with reference to a flight of locks (not a single lock), and since there are reasonably long pounds between lock 1 and lock 2 and between lock 2 and lock 3/4 at Sowerby Bridge, the gradient of the flight must be a lot less than that at Bingley.

[Tacet]

16 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Well you can only really talk about gradient with reference to a flight of locks (not a single lock), and since there are reasonably long pounds between lock 1 and lock 2 and between lock 2 and lock 3/4 at Sowerby Bridge, the gradient of the flight must be a lot less than that at Bingley.

There is a gradient to be found between the levels below the tail gate and above the head gate even on a single lock.  Presumably one would measure the gradient of a flight using equivalent points?

 

If you are only concerned with gradients over flights of locks, a definition of a flight would be required.  But taking the Bingley Three and Five as a single and complete flight, it would be a strong contender.  The three locks comprising the Bratch flight would be a serious challenger too.

Edited March 22 by Tacet

[Stroudwater1]

9 hours ago, Tacet said:

There is a gradient to be found between the levels below the tail gate and above the head gate even on a single lock.  Presumably one would measure the gradient of a flight using equivalent points?

 

If you are only concerned with gradients over flights of locks, a definition of a flight would be required.  But taking the Bingley Three and Five as a single and complete flight, it would be a strong contender.  The three locks comprising the Bratch flight would be a serious challenger too.

Ah don’t forget Bingley are shorter locks though-62-64 foot. I suspect Northgate are deeper than Bratch (It sure feels a long way down when ascending) but both being longer lengths at 70+ foot  per lock are unlikely to have as much of a gradient I suspect. 

[Lady M]

What about Foxton?

[Tacet]

10 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Ah don’t forget Bingley are shorter locks though-62-64 foot. I suspect Northgate are deeper than Bratch (It sure feels a long way down when ascending) but both being longer lengths at 70+ foot  per lock are unlikely to have as much of a gradient I suspect. 

It comes back to definitions; if we are only considering flights - and it seems to be the suggestion that a staircase is not, in itself, a flight.  There is a fair gap between the Bingley Three and Five so my guess is the Bratch has a steeper gradient notwithstanding its longer locks

1 hour ago, Lady M said:

What about Foxton?

Indeed; it could be the record holder?