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Kings Norton Lock restoration in the news

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nicknorman Veteran II

nicknormanDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

_67312473_finishedguillotinelock.jpg

 

Is it my eyes or an illusion? I can see horizontal gaps in the guillotine gate. Surely that can't be right, the water would all leak out!

 

MtB

Except that the water levels are identical on both sides and both gates are permanently open! It's a non-functional lcck.

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RLWP Veteran II

RLWP

Posted
Posted

Presumably because it's a very nice piece of historical canal structure.......

 

Well....

 

It's certainly interesting, however that photo is very flattering. There are two of those guillotine gates, one each end. You won't see a photo including both though as in the 1960s an ugly concrete road bridge was built that spans the lock.

 

Richard

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

It's almost certainly a listed structure.

 

Not almost - but certainly.

 

A Grade II-listed canal lock gate in Birmingham is set to be unveiled later after a £200,000 restoration.

 

Well....

 

It's certainly interesting, however that photo is very flattering. There are two of those guillotine gates, one each end. You won't see a photo including both though as in the 1960s an ugly concrete road bridge was built that spans the lock.

 

Richard

 

 

Possibly - but that operating mechanism looks worth preserving to me, that said,

 

Does it actually lower and rise or has it just been fixed in the raised position... does anyone know.

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

Posted
Posted

Sod the gates, have they dredged the bloody thing!

 

(A year back it was so silted that it was nigh impossible with a deep draughted boat to get through with the prop actually turning........)

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Tuscan Veteran

Tuscan

Posted
Posted

Sod the gates, have they dredged the bloody thing!

 

(A year back it was so silted that it was nigh impossible with a deep draughted boat to get through with the prop actually turning........)

 

Doubt it but the grass has been cut, and there's a nice information board describing what it as like when working boats used to pass through. !!

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john6767 Veteran II

john6767

Posted
Posted

It is fixed, the gates are for show basically. While I appreciate it is history and should be preserved, I do wonder how long it will be before it is vandalised and covered in graffiti again (I hope I am wrong).

 

I guess I will find out shortly when I go up that way, but hopefully they dredged the lock as well, as before you almost ground to a halt going through there.

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted (edited)

Strikes me CRT just can't win sometimes.

 

Let it rot - they'd get jip.

 

Fix it up and restore it (at no cost to us if I read the article correctly) they get sarcasm and cynicism .

 

Sometimes I don't know why they bother getting out of bed in the morning.

Edited by The Dog House
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Fu Manchu Engager

Fu Manchu

Posted
Posted

_67312473_finishedguillotinelock.jpg

 

Is it my eyes or an illusion? I can see horizontal gaps in the guillotine gate. Surely that can't be right, the water would all leak out!

 

MtB

 

And the BBC item specifically says:

"A Grade II-listed canal lock gate in Birmingham is set to be unveiled later after a £200,000 restoration."

 

So they haven't restored it very well.

 

More seriously, I presume the levels in the two canals were originally slightly different. Which one was higher, and by how much?

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carlt Veteran II

carlt

Posted
Posted

Which one was higher, and by how much?

I think it varied which was the reason for them being guillotines, rather than standard gates.

 

Sometimes the Stratford was higher and sometimes the W&B but the important thing was that one company was not giving water to the other.

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Fu Manchu Engager

Fu Manchu

Posted
Posted

I think it varied which was the reason for them being guillotines, rather than standard gates.

 

Sometimes the Stratford was higher and sometimes the W&B but the important thing was that one company was not giving water to the other.

 

Interesting.

 

Thank you

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IanM Experienced

IanM

Posted
Posted

I can't recall seeing a second one and also have a funny feeling about it being moved a few years ago, maybe 20 years.

 

There's definitely a guillotine gate each side of the bridge.

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Allan(nb Albert) Veteran

Allan(nb Albert)

Posted
Posted (edited)

I was told that the S-on-A was 4" to 6" higher than the W&B for the usual reasons and that it has guillotine gates due to being converted from a conventionally gated broad lock..

However, I am quite willing to accept that was given bad information.

With regard to why money was spent on it, it was put on the 'Buildings at Risk' register in 2011 and BW (now Cart) has an objective to reduce the number of assets on the register. The amount spent on it was £210,000 (not £200,000 as CaRT states) from the following sources. Peoples Post Code Lottery £60,000, English Heritage £15,000, CaRT major works budget £35,000, CaRT West Midlands local budget £100,000.

That catalyst for the repairs was, of course, the Peoples Postcode Lottery.

The works overran as it was found that a large section of the lock wall, on the offside had failed.

Edited by Allan(nb Albert)
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ditchcrawler Veteran II

ditchcrawlerDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted (edited)

There's definitely a guillotine gate each side of the bridge.

Yes I realised that after posting, but I think the west gate has been moved a bit to the west to make room for the road

 

Just found a photo with the gate down

Edited by ditchcrawler
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