What exactly is a lock clough?

[MikeV]

I came across the word clough in relation to a lock recently but Googling only throws up one exact match which is relevant:

 

Byelaws for River Ouse and Foss Navigation

Interfere with any lock gate, lock clough, sluice, bywash or dam.

 

A dictionary definition for a "clough" includes:

2. A sluice used in returning water to a channel after depositing its sediment on the flooded land.

 

So does anyone know how a "lock clough" is different from the definition above?

[magnetman]

I came across the word clough in relation to a lock recently but Googling only throws up one exact match which is relevant:

 

Byelaws for River Ouse and Foss Navigation

Interfere with any lock gate, lock clough, sluice, bywash or dam.

 

A dictionary definition for a "clough" includes:

2. A sluice used in returning water to a channel after depositing its sediment on the flooded land.

 

So does anyone know how a "lock clough" is different from the definition above?

 

Also called a 'Jack Clough'

 

http://www.ukcanals.net/what.html

 

look under 'Clough'

Edited August 5, 2009 by magnetman

[rallyfan]

I came across the word clough in relation to a lock recently but Googling only throws up one exact match which is relevant:

 

Byelaws for River Ouse and Foss Navigation

Interfere with any lock gate, lock clough, sluice, bywash or dam.

 

A dictionary definition for a "clough" includes:

2. A sluice used in returning water to a channel after depositing its sediment on the flooded land.

 

So does anyone know how a "lock clough" is different from the definition above?

 

I thought "clough" was a northern (ie L&L) term for a paddle. Particularly the wooden handle type that you lift vertically.

Edited August 5, 2009 by rallyfan

[magnetman]

I thought "clough" was a northern (ie L&L) term for a paddle. Particularly the wooden handle type that you lift vertically.

 

Years ago (in the old days......small boys in the park, jumpers for goal posts ) paddles on the Lea, and I believe elsewhere in East Anglia where known as "slackers". Has anyone else come across that expression.

 

They are called slackers on the Middle Level Link weed ridden ditch from Stanground to Salters Lode as I remember it.

 

 

 

They are called slackers on the Middle Level Link weed ridden ditch from Stanground to Salters Lode as I remember it.

or were they penstocks?

[NB Willawaw]

They are still called slackers on the River Cam.

[County4x4]

Is this clough as in "cluff" or clough as in "clow" (sounds like cow)? Our length inspector on the Lancaster uses the latter in relation to ground paddles.

 

Andy

[Dominic M]

And "dollies" on the Worcester and Birmingham.

[the grinch]

definately the term used for ground paddles on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal

[MikeV]

Now I know where to search I found in Wikipedia:

 

A paddle – sometimes known as a slacker, clough, or (in American English) wicket – is the simple valve by which the lock chamber is filled or emptied.

 

Not sure on pronunciation though. Found in Wiktionary Rhymes:

 

...,chow ciao clough (one pronunciation), cow, daou, dhow, dow, ....

 

And in thefreedictionary.com UK pronounciation is given as "clow" while the US pronounciation is "cluff".

 

While in a book: Freedom to Roam Forest of Bowland By Andrew Bibby, there is a discussion of the general pronounciation of Clough as found in many place names in Lancashire and the fact that the pronounciation changes across the region from "clow" to "cloo". Apparently linguists call these pronounciation boundaries an isogloss!

[CanalWalker]

 

clough like plough!

[howardang]

 

clough like plough!

For what it's worth, at Hull Docks the lock paddles are called "clews"

 

Howard

[MartinClark]

While in a book: Freedom to Roam Forest of Bowland By Andrew Bibby, there is a discussion of the general pronounciation of Clough as found in many place names in Lancashire and the fact that the pronounciation changes across the region from "clow" to "cloo".

Well, Andrew Bibby hasn't got it totally right because here in southern Lancashire the word "clough", meaning a wooded valley, is pronounced "cluff".

[Pluto]

definately the term used for ground paddles on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal

It is actually used for all paddles on the L&LC, with jack cloughs being ones using gearing and/or racks for raising and lowering the paddle. I must get down to identifying the various terms for paddle gear on the L&LC, with one set of old engineer's notes suggesting that a clough was the wooden frame against which the paddle sits.

 

If you want a more obscure term, what is a turnpike on a waterway?

[the grinch]

i bow to your superior knowledge on this

 

turnpike i believe is used to describle the wooden handle used to raise and lower a paddle with a spindle and chain mechanism. used in a few locks and also canal drain plugs.

[Pete of Ebor]

I came across the word clough in relation to a lock recently but Googling only throws up one exact match which is relevant:

 

Byelaws for River Ouse and Foss Navigation

Interfere with any lock gate, lock clough, sluice, bywash or dam.

 

A dictionary definition for a "clough" includes:

2. A sluice used in returning water to a channel after depositing its sediment on the flooded land.

 

So does anyone know how a "lock clough" is different from the definition above?

 

There are the remains of a now long gone lock on The River Foss near Haxby, north of York. There is just enough rusted metalwork remaining of the lock paddle mechanism to make it recognisable as being similar to the type used on The Calder & Hebble, operated by the handspike. These are what I thought Jack Cloughs were.. Sorry, I don't have a picture but if anyone really wants to see it, I could be persuaded to go and take one..

Edited August 6, 2009 by Pete of Ebor

[Pluto]

i bow to your superior knowledge on this

 

turnpike i believe is used to describle the wooden handle used to raise and lower a paddle with a spindle and chain mechanism. used in a few locks and also canal drain plugs.

Turnpike was the term used for certain locks on the River Lea when chamber locks were first introduced into Britain, and the term was also used on other seventeenth century navigations for a specific type of lock. It is likely that these were locks with swinging gates, either hinged conventionally, or hinged across the cill so that they folded down, for boats to pass. The name turnpike was used to differentiate them from simple flash locks or even chamber locks, where the water was held back by removable boards. There has recently been discussion about the term amongst the Railway & Canal Historical Society's waterway history research group.

[RLWP]

Turnpike was the term used for certain locks on the River Lea when chamber locks were first introduced into Britain, and the term was also used on other seventeenth century navigations for a specific type of lock. It is likely that these were locks with swinging gates, either hinged conventionally, or hinged across the cill so that they folded down, for boats to pass. The name turnpike was used to differentiate them from simple flash locks or even chamber locks, where the water was held back by removable boards. There has recently been discussion about the term amongst the Railway & Canal Historical Society's waterway history research group.

 

So, is this because turnpike roads, being toll roads, often had gates across them to prevent progress until the toll was paid? You can't proceed through a chamber lock until the gate opens.

 

Richard

[carlt]

So, is this because turnpike roads, being toll roads, often had gates across them to prevent progress until the toll was paid? You can't proceed through a chamber lock until the gate opens.

 

Richard

I think the "Turnpike" was originally a spiky device to stop horses going along footpaths, which evolved into the gated toll road.

 

I was told this by my boss, in the highways dept., who's love of road related trivia did not always mean they were fact.

[RLWP]

I think the "Turnpike" was originally a spiky device to stop horses going along footpaths, which evolved into the gated toll road.

 

I was told this by my boss, in the highways dept., who's love of road related trivia did not always mean they were fact.

 

 

Well, yes. And it's also a gate across a road at a toll point: click

 

Richard

 

So, a gate with pikes that can be turned across a path as a defensive measure

[Pluto]

So, is this because turnpike roads, being toll roads, often had gates across them to prevent progress until the toll was paid? You can't proceed through a chamber lock until the gate opens.

 

Richard

The waterway term dates from the 1570s, when chamber locks were built on the Lee. Not all the locks were called turnpikes, with some of the others definitely flash locks. The term was also used for the locks on the first Stour Navigation. It seems to suggest a lock with turning gates, either mitre gates or folding gates. I have also found a turnpike illustrated in an A&CN engineer's notebook from around the 1950s, where it was shown as a board in a weir fitted on a horizontal shaft and which could be turned to increase water flow. The continued use suggests some form of rotating gate or sluice, in earlier days part of a chamber lock. You have to decide yourself what sort of gate, which is part of the enjoyment of history - things are rarely black or white.