Calcutt Bottom Lock - Gate Replacement

[Llamedos]

The gate replacement work at Calcutt Bottom Lock seems to be progressing well.
 

The new gates are now in place at each end but without their beams at the moment. They’re also having to replace the lock ladders to bring them up to the latest standards ie wider and more deeply recessed. According to the guy I spoke to this is now a requirement whenever they do major work on a lock.

 

They’re only doing the bottom lock. Shame that, the other two aren’t in the best condition. I guess one is better than none at all. 

[Wafi]

The bottom lock was by far the leakiest, so it'll definitely be an improvement. Hope building new recesses for lock ladders isn't as expensive as it sounds!

[alan_fincher]

1 hour ago, Wafi said:

The bottom lock was by far the leakiest, so it'll definitely be an improvement. Hope building new recesses for lock ladders isn't as expensive as it sounds!

 

If it is like ones they have done on the Southern GU, it usually involves gringing a much deeper recess into the existing brickwork with no new additions other than the ladders.

I have often wondered how they know they are not going deep enough to reach a point where there is little (or no!) brickwork left to tunnel into.

[Dorlan]

Another view of the bottom lock, taken this afternoon.

[Llamedos]

22 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

 

If it is like ones they have done on the Southern GU, it usually involves gringing a much deeper recess into the existing brickwork with no new additions other than the ladders.

I have often wondered how they know they are not going deep enough to reach a point where there is little (or no!) brickwork left to tunnel into.

According to the chap I spoke to the original depth of the ladders only allows you to put the ball of your foot on the rung, the new depth allows you to rest your full instep on the rung so it’s much safer. They do the work because there have been several nasty accidents over the years with people slipping.

[IanD]

16 minutes ago, Llamedos said:

According to the chap I spoke to the original depth of the ladders only allows you to put the ball of your foot on the rung, the new depth allows you to rest your full instep on the rung so it’s much safer. They do the work because there have been several nasty accidents over the years with people slipping.

Some of those shallow lock ladders are really rather dangerous, especially if wet and slimy -- I've had a foot slip off a rung before now, though I had both hands on the ladder so didn't fall off, others may not be so lucky... 😞 

 

Deepening the recess while the lock is out of service anyway seems a sensible course of action to me, though no doubt the "nanny-state/elf'n'safety/it was good enough for the ODGs" brigade will disagree.. 😉 

Edited November 14, 2025 by IanD

[J R ALSOP]

Bring back the old days when there weren't any ladders, you had to jump down or have some reins on.

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, J R ALSOP said:

Bring back the old days when there weren't any ladders, you had to jump down or have some reins on.

You mean, those ladders that have been there since the locks were built?

[ditchcrawler]

13 minutes ago, IanD said:

You mean, those ladders that have been there since the locks were built?

Have they ?

[IanD]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Have they ?

AFAIK that's when at least some of them were installed -- is this wrong?

 

I guess any more recent ones are likely to have been installed during things like the canal improvements in the 1930s -- and for anyone still alive "the good old days" were after that, weren't they?

Edited November 14, 2025 by IanD

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

Have they ?

I thought they were added in the 50’s or 60’s? 🤷‍♀️
I’m glad they’re there as I travel alone and find them useful but can’t see a point to them if you’ve a crew,

 but perhaps useful for escape if something goes wrong 

[davidg]

55 minutes ago, IanD said:

You mean, those ladders that have been there since the locks were built?

Unless my memory is incorrect they didn't. I thought I should take a look at photos to see if I'm right and the best I can come up with so far is this:

Watch Grand Union Canal online - BFI Player

when it covers Stockton & Hatton. Can't see any ladders there though it is difficult to make out so I could be wrong.

 

I remember we all moaned when the ladders went in as the handrails projecting upwards were in many cases in just the right place to be in the way when strapping a boat into a lock off the back end rail - see the Stockton section to see how this was done.

 

Edit: should say I'm referring to the "new" GU locks here which includes Calcutt.

Edited November 14, 2025 by davidg

[IanD]

20 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

I thought they were added in the 50’s or 60’s? 🤷‍♀️
I’m glad they’re there as I travel alone and find them useful but can’t see a point to them if you’ve a crew,

 but perhaps useful for escape if something goes wrong 

Still "the good old days" though, if by that what was meant was "not namby-pamby elf'n'safety days"... 😉 

 

I thought I'd seen constructional drawings from older locks (L&L?) which had ladders, but I could well be mistaken... 🙂 

Edited November 14, 2025 by IanD

[alan_fincher]

Certainly the Southern GU didn't have them in the 1960s/1970s, and based on what davidg has said it may well be true of the Birmingham line, (where of course the current wide locks were not built until the improvements of the 1930s.

 

For other canals I couldn't presume to even guess.

 

When the ladders were added to GU locks my memory is that the intention was that they were there for emergency use only, and it was not anticipated that people working through the locks would use them all the time.

Sample image shows Lock 54 (Raven's Lane Berkhamsted) in the 1970s - No ladders

 

 

None on the Regents back then, either

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

there must have been some fatalities that prompted the introduction of the ladders?

 

 

 

I always understood there was a time when access to the towpath was restricted/prohibited.

 

so was the introduction of ladders also an interest in public safety ?

 

it’s interesting, the locks had no ladders for 200(ish) years,

there was no need for ladders to work a lock because the infrastructure was there to allow this and boats were crewed

 

 

 

 

[Stroudwater1]

58 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

there must have been some fatalities that prompted the introduction of the ladders?

 

 

Probably more that it gave difficulty for single handers? Post working boats in the 60s and 70s many boats were GRP and often bow hauled out or hire boats with several crews. 

 

I can’t remember them on narrow locks either. I’ve a photo of  one of the Stockton locks in the late 1960s and no ladders were there then. 

There’s still one lock with no ladders 😉

 
 

The Weaver navigation did have ladders when built, with new ladders added more recently 

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2025 by Stroudwater1

[J R ALSOP]

Not forgetting the  toe holes on the L & Liverpool gates, and the brick finger/ toe slots on the top  copping  bricks on the Ashton Canal [ you have to look very hard to find them these days.

If I could remember how to post photos I would put them up.

[David Mack]

7 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

I thought they were added in the 50’s or 60’s?

My recollection is that most were installed in the 1970s - they weren't there when I first started boating.

5 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

 

The first lock ladders recesses were crudely chopped out of the brickwork, and often cement rendered to cover up all the broken brick ends. Later they developed a sort of giant hole saw that slid down a frame hung over the lock side, that cut the rather nice semicircular recesses such as the one on the left in the photo above.

[Tonka]

8 hours ago, David Mack said:

My recollection is that most were installed in the 1970s - they weren't there when I first started boating.

The first lock ladders recesses were crudely chopped out of the brickwork, and often cement rendered to cover up all the broken brick ends. Later they developed a sort of giant hole saw that slid down a frame hung over the lock side, that cut the rather nice semicircular recesses such as the one on the left in the photo above.

Well there's a bodge right there. Using cement where lime based mortar should have been used

[cuthound]

18 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

I thought they were added in the 50’s or 60’s? 🤷‍♀️
I’m glad they’re there as I travel alone and find them useful but can’t see a point to them if you’ve a crew,

 but perhaps useful for escape if something goes wrong 

 

Later than that. I remember BW fitting them in the 80's and 90's on the GU, T&M and L&L when we were hiring and later when had the first share boat moored there.

Edited November 15, 2025 by cuthound
Clarification

[magpie patrick]

19 hours ago, IanD said:

You mean, those ladders that have been there since the locks were built?

 

Ladders were introduced in the 1970s when the rule changed from leaving gates open to leaving them closed - it took a coroner to point out that someone falling into an empty lock with the bottom gates closed was trapped 

[Stroudwater1]

41 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

 

Ladders were introduced in the 1970s when the rule changed from leaving gates open to leaving them closed - it took a coroner to point out that someone falling into an empty lock with the bottom gates closed was trapped 

I think this has been discussed before!

 

I dont think it was the rule  over most of the network if anywhere apart from the Nene and maybe some river sections. It was often done in parts of the GU. Gates  leaked so much that it wasn’t wise to do this even in the 1950s. 

[Pluto]

On 14/11/2025 at 16:57, IanD said:

Still "the good old days" though, if by that what was meant was "not namby-pamby elf'n'safety days"... 😉 

 

I thought I'd seen constructional drawings from older locks (L&L?) which had ladders, but I could well be mistaken... 🙂 

You are. On the L&LC you climbed up the gate, wth iron staples fitted for that purpose.

[Rob-M]

On 14/11/2025 at 17:33, alan_fincher said:

When the ladders were added to GU locks my memory is that the intention was that they were there for emergency use only, and it was not anticipated that people working through the locks would use them all the time.

That was my understanding of why ladders were installed.

 

I can remember my dad climbing up a gate to get off the boat in a lock.

[IanD]

1 hour ago, Pluto said:

You are. On the L&LC you climbed up the gate, wth iron staples fitted for that purpose.

No problem, I'm always happy to admit I'm wrong when the facts show this -- I did think that at least some lock ladders were installed when locks were built, but it seems they were mostly (or all?) installed in the 20th century or later.

 

It would be interesting to find out more about when this was done and why -- was it mid-20th-century for the convenience/safety of boaters, or in the 21st century for "elf'n'safety" reasons as some people have claimed -- not that it makes that much difference since both are perfectly valid reasons for installing them... 😉 

Edited November 17, 2025 by IanD