Canal Locks

In our travels around England, we have enjoyed visiting the canals and their locks. Locks began to be developed in the 10th Century. Over time, many types of locks have been developed to deal with Great Britain's challenging landscape. There are narrow locks, wide locks (for two boats side-by-side), single locks, and double locks (two locks next to each other. Some are powered by hand: you need a crank to open the water valve, and the gates are pushed open. Some are electric, with a code to operate them. Some have operators and others are do-it-yourself.Read more